Third Person Singular -s
Practice adding the third-person singular morpheme in present tense sentences.
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
Ask what the person does rather than reading the sentence. What does the dog do, answered with the dog jumps, produces the marker; reading it aloud does not. Contrast with plural subjects where you can — the dog jumps and the dogs jump — since the marker moves from the verb to the noun and back, which is the confusing part. 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 requiring the third person singular -s: he runs every morning; she eats an apple; the dog jumps on the couch; my brother sings in the car; it rains a lot in April; the cat sleeps all day; mom drives to work; the baby claps her hands. The marker is one small sound at the end of a verb and it is one of the later of Brown's fourteen grammatical morphemes to stabilise, which is part of why it is still missing in school-age children.
What to listen for
Listen for omission, which is the usual pattern rather than incorrect addition. He run every morning is a normal developmental stage and also a regular feature of several English dialects, so the family's speech matters before calling it an error. Watch the ending's sound: runs ends in a /z/, eats in an /s/, and the student is producing whichever the preceding sound requires without knowing it.
Carrying it home
Recasting is the method. When a child says he run fast, saying yes, he runs very fast supplies the form in a real sentence without stopping the conversation.
What's in this activity
- He runs every morning.
- She eats an apple.
- The dog jumps on the couch.
- My brother sings in the car.
- It rains a lot in April.
- She reads before bed.
- The cat sleeps all day.
- He rides the bus.
- Mom drives to work.
- The baby claps her hands.
- He wants a snack.
- She helps her sister.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through third grade, and older students learning English as an additional language.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve sentences play with no account.
- Is omitting the -s always an error?
- No. It is a normal developmental stage and a systematic feature of several English dialects, so it is worth knowing how the child's 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.