Subject-Verb Agreement Drill
Practice correct subject-verb agreement across singular and plural subjects.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Read the pairs back to back and ask what changed. She walks against they walk makes the rule audible in two seconds, which is faster than any explanation of third person singular. Then give the subject and ask for the sentence, so the student produces the agreement rather than repeating it. Eight minutes covers the twelve.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintStress the part of the sentence that changes, or point to the word ending.Log as cued
- Sentence starterSay the first half of the sentence and let the student finish it.Log as cued
- ModelSay the correct form in the whole sentence; the student repeats it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give a sentence starter every time, and do fewer cards.
Ask for a new sentence of the student's own with the same form, with no card to lean on.
Matching IEP goal
Given sentence cards, Student will produce the target grammatical form in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve sentences arranged in pairs: she walks and they walk; he plays and we play; the dog barks and the dogs bark; my sister likes and my sisters like; the baby cries and the babies cry. The pairing is the whole design — only the subject changes, so the verb ending is the only thing that can carry the difference.
What to listen for
Listen for the -s being omitted, which is far more common than it being added wrongly. She walk is a normal early stage and also a feature of some dialects, so knowing how the family speaks matters before calling it an error. Watch the babies cry and the baby cries, where the plural marker and the verb marker move in opposite directions — that pair confuses more students than any other.
Carrying it home
Recasting works better than correcting here. When a child says she walk, saying yes, she walks to school supplies the form in a real sentence and does not stop the conversation.
What's in this activity
- She walks to school.
- They walk to school.
- He plays soccer.
- We play soccer.
- The dog barks loudly.
- The dogs bark loudly.
- It runs fast.
- They run fast.
- My sister likes pizza.
- My sisters like pizza.
- The baby cries.
- The babies cry.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- First through fourth, and older students learning English as an additional language.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, all twelve sentences play free.
- Is dropping the -s always an error?
- Not always. It is a normal developmental stage and a regular feature of several English dialects, so it is worth knowing how the family and community speak before deciding it needs work.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.