Patterns Worksheets
Patterns in English are interesting to master and are a much more approachable way of teaching grammar. Although I love grammar, most people have an almost allergic reaction to it.
Most of my worksheets, and their style, are best found in the books. I’ve also made one-point cards as examples of common patterns.
Feel free to check them out or keep scrolling for the free worksheets.
Worksheets
Articles
Articles are notoriously overwhelming in English. I tend to teach the general patters first or as they come up in context. Overwhelming students with 57 rules they won’t remember five minutes after you say them isn’t going to help anyone.
Adjectives
I tend to teach adjectives in context, as they enter the students’ topic-based discussions. These sheets, or something you make similar to these, may be helpful for some learners to focus on adjectives.
To be honest, I don’t believe I’ve ever taught adjective word order. It’s never really come up.
Present Perfect
I’m actually surprised I haven’t made more sheets for present perfect. It’s another one of my favorites. Hmm, ok, that’s going on my to-do list.
Yes/No Questions
The sheet on the left is a little easier than the sheet on the right. Each of them should help students answer yes/no questions more smoothly and naturally.
Can you ?
Each of these sheets looks at questions using the modal “can”. Most of these worksheets focus on can as an ability.
Broken WH questions
A fun way to practice word order is to cut sentences up into smaller pieces. Then, have students put them in the correct order.
Must have
Patterns for speculating are deceptively similar: I used to, I didn’t use to, I got used to, I am used to. I’ve covered them briefly here. Any and all feedback is welcome.
Future Perfect
This pattern doesn’t really come up that often, but when it does, it’s a doozy.
Prepositions of place
In my adult classes I typically cover prepositions as they come up or students ask about them. It’s rare to actually cover them for an entire class. These worksheets however, have proven very popular with some young learners.
Prepositions of time
Adverbs of frequency
Not to be confused with prepositions of time, adverbs of frequency are another fun bunch of time-related words many beginners could stand to master.
Present Continuous
This pattern seems to come up in tests more often than it does in real life. More often than not, I use it in telephone conversations and while texting rather than when actually speaking to people.
Relative Clauses
Relative pronoun clauses can be tricky for many students. This particular worksheet helps describe the plots of famous books or movies with a simple pattern: It’s about a person who did something.
Once this simple pattern is mastered, it’s easier to expand into other topics and uses.
Getting things done
I don’t know why, but the causative voice is one of my favorite patterns. It’s the difference between me cutting my own hair and having someone do it for me.
Active and Passive voice
Passive voice tends to be a bit tricky for many students. This worksheet aims at making clear examples of both active and passive. No one will be an expert when this practice is done, but it might make understanding the differences a little easier.
Tag questions
Tag questions are easy, right? Right!?
Used to
These patterns are deceptively similar: I used to, I didn’t use to, I got used to, I am used to. I’ve covered them briefly here. Any and all feedback is welcome.
Defining
Sometimes I need students in technical English classes to make clear definitions of particular terms.
These three worksheets look at different patterns for writing definitions using verbs, nouns, or adjectives.
Regular / Irregular verbs
Nouns / Verbs / Adjectives
This is a simple worksheet asking students to correctly identify the parts of speech.
