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English

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Initial sounds and letters

Match letters to the sounds they make at the start of words.

Blending CVC words

Blend three letter sounds together to read short words like cat, dog, and pig.

Common exception words Year 1

Learn to read and spell common Year 1 tricky words by sight.

Common exception words Year 2

Learn to read and spell Year 2 tricky words by sight.

Sentence formation (Y1)

Build simple sentences with a capital letter, a subject, a verb, and a full stop.

Capital letters

Use capital letters for the start of sentences, names, places, days, months, and the word 'I'.

Question and exclamation marks

Use ? for questions, ! for exclamations, and . for statements.

Past and present tense

Change verbs from present to past tense, including common irregular verbs.

Phonics & Digraphs

Learn common digraphs like sh, ch, th, ck, ng, ai, ee, oa, and oo.

Common Exception Words

Practise spelling tricky words that don't follow the usual rules.

Rhyming Words

Find words that sound the same at the end, even when spelled differently.

Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives

Identify whether a word is a noun (thing), verb (action), or adjective (describing word).

Sentence Types

Learn to identify and write statements, questions, commands, and exclamations.

Prefixes & Suffixes

Learn how adding letters to the start or end of a word changes its meaning.

Conjunctions & Connectives

Join ideas together using words like and, but, or, because, when, if, and although.

Homophones

Learn words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.

Punctuation (Apostrophes & Commas)

Use apostrophes for possession and contractions, and commas in lists and after fronted adverbials.

Adverbs & Adverbials

Use adverbs to describe how, when, or where something happens.

Vocabulary in context

Understanding word meanings from context clues in sentences

Reading comprehension

Short passages with questions about content and meaning

Synonyms & antonyms

Recognising words with similar and opposite meanings

Direct & reported speech

Converting between direct and reported speech, punctuation rules

Verb tenses

Past simple, present, future, present perfect, past progressive

Figurative language

Similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia

Statutory spelling list (Y5-6)

Key words from the Y5-6 statutory spelling list: accommodate, cemetery, conscience, environment, guarantee, parliament, rhythm, and more

Text structure & paragraphs

Topic sentences, paragraph ordering, connectives between paragraphs

Passive voice

Identifying and converting between active and passive voice

Inference & deduction

Reading between the lines to work out unstated meaning from clues in text

Expanded noun phrases

Add adjectives and prepositional phrases to nouns to make richer descriptions, for example 'the tall, friendly man with a hat'.

Subordinate clauses

Spot the part of a sentence that cannot stand on its own, often starting with words like because, when, if or although.

Fronted adverbials

Use words or phrases at the start of a sentence to say when, where or how, always followed by a comma.

Determiners

Pick the right little word that comes before a noun, such as a, an, the, this, that, my or some.

Pronouns

Replace nouns with pronouns like I, me, he, him, she, her, it, we, us and they to avoid repetition.

Contractions and apostrophes for omission

Shorten two words into one using an apostrophe to show where letters have been left out, like don't and I'll.

Spelling rules: double consonants

When adding -ing, -ed or -er to short words like run, hop and big, double the final consonant.

Compound words

Join two complete words to make a new word, like football, sunflower, rainbow and snowman.

Dictionary skills

Place words in alphabetical order and use guide words to find entries quickly.

Suffix rules (-tion, -sion, -cian, -ous)

Learn common word endings that change a word's meaning, like station, vision, magician and dangerous.

Main and subordinate clauses

Identify the main clause (makes sense alone) and the subordinate clause (depends on the main clause).

Relative clauses & relative pronouns

Using who, which, that, whose, whom to add information about a noun

Modal verbs

Verbs expressing possibility, ability, permission and necessity

Parenthesis (brackets, dashes, commas)

Using brackets, dashes or pairs of commas to mark off extra information

Semicolons and colons

Joining clauses with semicolons; introducing lists or explanations with colons

Hyphens

Joining words to avoid ambiguity in compound modifiers and numbers

Bullet points

Using bullet points with consistent punctuation and parallel structure

Subjunctive mood

Using the subjunctive form for hypotheticals, suggestions and wishes

Standard vs non-standard English

Recognising and choosing standard English forms in formal writing

Spelling rules: silent letters

Recognising and spelling words with silent letters

The 'i before e' rule

Applying 'i before e except after c' (for the /ee/ sound) and learning exceptions

Thesaurus skills

Choosing precise synonyms to improve your writing

Skimming and scanning

Reading quickly to find information or get a general idea

Summarising main ideas

Identifying key information and condensing a text into a short summary

Author's purpose and viewpoint

Identifying why an author wrote a text: to Persuade, Inform or Entertain (PIE)

About KS2 English practice

53 concepts of English grammar, punctuation, spelling and reading practice, covering Years 3 to 6 of the England national curriculum. Each concept has 10 questions across three difficulty levels, with hints if you need them and a short explanation after every answer. Your SmartScore tracks how you're doing in each concept. Get to 80 and it's marked as complete.

How it works

Pick a concept from the list above. You'll get 10 questions in mixed difficulty, using whichever question format fits the topic best: multiple choice, fill-the-blank, drag-to-order, true or false, word match, grid shading, an interactive clock face, label-the-diagram or sentence builder. Right answers add 8 to 12 points to your SmartScore; wrong ones take some off. Get to 80 and the concept is marked as complete.

Practise by year group

You can filter the concept grid above by year, or jump straight to one of the year pages:

Is it really free?

Yes. All 53 concepts and every question are free, with no signup. Your progress saves in your browser. We build this alongside our paid tutoring service, where live group lessons with qualified teachers are £5 per lesson.