How to use Sentence Doctor with a class

This game helps children become more effective at proof reading their work. It helps to explore some of the different ways in which sentences have to make sense.

There are a range of different sentence problems that you can choose to concentrate on.

Problem Punctuation - Missing (or mixed up) capital letters, full stops, question marks etc.

Wobbly Words - Missing words and using the wrong homophones.

Vexing Verbs- Mixed up tenses and a lack of subject verb agreement.

Confusing Commas - Missing and muddled up commas.

Difficult Dialect - Some classic mistakes that arise.

Confounding Connnectives- Incorrectly used connectives.

How to play

Obviously you can use this game in any way you wish but what follows is one idea which has worked well in many classroom environments

Ask children to work in pairs or small groups. Mixed ability pairings are most effective. They will need one whiteboard and a pen between the pair/group.

1) Click to get a ‘patient’ – a sentence that has something wrong with it.

2) In pairs or independently children discuss what is wrong with the sentence.

3) Children write down on a whiteboard what a correct version of this sentence would be.

4) Click ‘diagnosis’ to get a correct version of the sentence and an explanation of what was wrong with the first sentence.

N.B. There may be other correct versions of the sentence that are just as valid as the one that appears.