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Expanded noun phrases
PROCEDURALUse expanded noun phrases to describe and specify, adding adjectives and other modifiers before a noun (e.g., 'the blue butterfly', 'the old, creaky door')
Mastery Evidence
- Expand 'the cat' into 'the fluffy black cat' by adding adjectives
- Use noun phrases with two or more modifiers in independent writing
- Choose precise adjectives to make a noun phrase more vivid: e.g., 'a tiny, shivering kitten'
Assessment Prompt
“When [child] describes something in writing — like a pet or a toy — do they add extra describing words, such as "the small, fluffy rabbit" rather than just "the rabbit"?”
Prerequisites3
- Defining WordssoftAges 6—9
- Building sentencessoftAges 4—6
- Basic Nouns & VerbshardAges 5—6
Show full prerequisite tree
- Defining Words soft
Defining words by attributes supports choosing descriptive adjectives for noun phrases
- How Many in Total? soft
Sorting and categorising objects uses the same counting/cardinality skills from maths
- One-to-one counting hard
Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
Unlocks5
- Expanded noun phrases (age 8+)hardAges 8—10
- Adjectives vs adverbshardAges 7—8
- Hyphens in Prefixed WordssoftAges 10—11
- Grammar Terms: Nouns, Verbs and TensesoftAges 6—7
- Adjective Order in SentenceshardAges 9—10