Sentence Mix is a simple game you can use to help your students practice sentence construction and revise parts of speech.

With no preparation it’s ideal as a five minute end-of-lesson activity or you can build it into something longer and more involved.

Simply write up on the board a long sentence suitable for the level of your class:

The old man worked hard during the afternoon on Friday.

Now, tell the students they have 10 minutes to come up with as many sentences as they can find using only the words you’ve written on the board. They get an extra point if they use all the words in the sentence as well!

1. The old man worked hard during the afternoon on Friday.
2. On Friday the old man worked hard during the afternoon.
3. On Friday the man worked hard during the afternoon.
4. On Friday the old man worked.
5. The old man worked hard.
6. The hard man worked on Friday.
7. During the afternoon the old man worked hard.

etc…

Variations

There are a number of easy variations with the activity. You can get the students into groups and give them a handful of words to work with. Or perhaps the students can take turns in choosing a new word to add to a sentence you’re writing on the board.

Essentially, the more the students work on this, the better.

Useful Links

Sentences‏‎ in English Grammar – all about sentences

Parts of Speech‏‎ in English Grammar – an overview of the various PoS.