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  • 8.4

    Understanding post-modified sentences


    Why is this important?
    Understanding these more complex sentences enables children to
    process more complex instructions by building up their knowledge of the
    grammatical system and the unspoken rules that govern it. It also helps
    children to be able to relate back a new piece of information to something
    they already know.

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    What to do
    • Gather together some toys, e.g.
    ★ Big and little ducks (or other favourite toys).
    ★ Some big and little objects (e.g. cup/chair/bed).
    • Give the child an instruction:
    ★ ‘The duck sitting on the bed is little.’
    ★ ‘The duck holding the cup is big.’
    ★ ‘The duck standing on the chair is big.’
    N.B. You will need ‘big’ and ‘little’ objects as well as ducks because the child may
    process the last part of the sentence as

    ‘the bed is little’ rather than ‘the duck is little’.