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  • 6.3

    Understanding the negative form


    Why is this important?
    Children begin to understand negatives with ‘no’ and ‘not’ and then
    progress to understanding the reduced form (e.g. ‘isn’t’, ‘can’t’ and ‘don’t’).

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    What to do
    • Gather together some pictures of children doing various actions
    (e.g. climbing, running, jumping, eating).
    • Put out two pictures and ask:
    ★ ‘Who isn’t eating?’
    • When the child points to the right picture,

    reinforce this by repeating the sentence:
    ★ ‘Well done. He isn’t eating. He’s climbing.’
    • Have another go with two new pictures.