English topics for ages 11–12

Phonics and vocabulary through to grammar, comprehension and writing that holds together — the mechanics of reading and being understood.

The step up to secondary thinking — abstraction, formal terms and questions with more than one defensible answer.

20 topics · 120 hands-on stations · 1 free to try

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Meet All Eight

A part of speech is the grammatical job a word does in a sentence. There are eight of them, and between them they account for every word you will ever read.

Names a person, place, thing, idea or quality — Meera, Kolkata, monsoon, honesty. Test: can you put the in front of it?
Stands in for a noun so you do not repeat it — she, they, it, who, myself. The noun it replaces is called its antecedent.
Says what is done or what is — ran, thinks, is, has been. Test: can you shift it into the past tense? Every clause needs one.
Modifies a noun, meaning it narrows or describes it — ripe mango, three books, Tamil poetry.

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Free printable worksheet

Ten questions from The Eight Parts of Speech on one page, with an answer key at the bottom — a PDF you can print for homework, a car journey or a classroom. No account needed and nothing to sign up for.

⬇️ Download the The Eight Parts of Speech worksheet (PDF)See the whole trail →

A few of the English topics at this age

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The Eight Parts of Speech
Free

Every English word has a job — and the job, not the word, decides the label

📚 Meet All Eight · 🔀 The Word Does Not Decide — The Job Does · 🔎 The Little Words · 🧪 A Test for Each Category · 🎚️ One Sentence, All Eight · 🎯 Practice Zone
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Tenses — The Full Set

Three times, four aspects, twelve tenses — and a grid that makes them obvious

🔲 Time Times Aspect · 🎚️ All Twelve, One Slider · 🗂️ Which Aspect Is That? · 🚧 The Four Classic Tense Errors · 🏷️ Name That Tense · 🎯 Practice Zone
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Active and Passive Voice

Not a rule about good and bad writing — a choice about what you put first

🎭 What Voice Actually Is · 🎚️ Transform It, Step by Step · ⚖️ When Passive Is the Right Choice · 🕳️ Passive Traps · 👯 Match the Twins · 🎯 Practice Zone
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Direct and Reported Speech

Repeating what someone said — and the four things that shift when you do

🔀 The Four Shifts · 🔧 The Conversion Procedure · 🧳 Words That Travel · 🗂️ Statement, Question or Command? · 🧗 The Awkward Cases · 🎯 Practice Zone
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Clauses and Complex Sentences

Build longer sentences on purpose — and name the two errors that ruin them

🧱 Phrases, Clauses and Sentences · 🎚️ Build It Clause by Clause · 🚨 Comma Splice or Fragment? · 🔧 Four Ways to Fix a Splice · 🚦 What Each Conjunction Signals · 🎯 Practice Zone