If we want to raise standards of English we need to improve grammar. However, there are better ways than simply telling pupils grammatical rules. When students use their mother tongue they are using a variety of grammatical structures but much of this usage is unconscious. In teaching grammar, we are trying to extend and develop what students already know (without knowing that they know) in their everyday usage.

We might tell pupils that a clause is a group of words containing a verb, and a noun clause is a clause which gives more information about a specific noun. The information may be vital for the sentence to make sense (as in a defining noun clause) or inessential but adding some extra information (as in a non-defining noun clause). The pronouns and punctuation in the sentence make clear what kind of noun clause it contains. But telling a restless class that the lesson will focus on the use of different noun clauses, and the use of the right pronouns and punctuation, will not grab their attention. However, the following might work.

Ask the class this question: A man shoots a woman in broad daylight. No one complains. Why?

Then give them these answers: The man who did the shooting was a policeman.

The woman that the man shot was a bank-robber.

At this stage you do not state that both these sentences use a defining noun clause.

Get the students to construct similar scenarios in groups. Then let the rest of the class explain the differences.

Only after the students have had the opportunity to explore this kind of sentence by practice should the teacher focus on the grammar itself. Bring the students’ attention back to the grammar again in an entertaining way, for instance in the form of a quiz with pupils working in groups.

An example is this gap-filling exercise, which includes examples of noun clauses with either defining or non-defining relative pronouns: a) T_ _ m_ _ that did the shoot_ _ _ was a pol_ _ _ man.

b) The man, w_ _ is 27, shot t_ _ w_man.

c) The w_ _ _ _, w _ o had fair hair, rob_ _ _ the bank.

d) T_e gun wh_ _ _ was used to shoot th_ w_man was the one I reme_ _ _ _ed.

Answers: a) The man that did the shooting was a policeman.

b) The man, who is 27, shot the woman.

c) The woman, who had fair hair, robbed the bank.

d) The gun which was used to shoot the woman was the one I remembered.

By constructing examples carefully, planning the letters or words omitted - in this case the spelling of “policeman”, “robbed”, “remembered”, “woman” and the gerund “shooting” and the usage of the relative pronouns “who”, “which” and “that”, the teacher has provided an exercise that will help students with spelling and the use of gerunds (nouns in the form of a verb participle, in this case “shooting”), as well as the use of relative pronouns.

You could take another tack and use different sentences eliciting positive information about some of the students themselves, for example, “The student who has been selected for the Olympics is S_ _ _ _ _.” In groups they can then make their own examples, which the other groups for the other groups have to guess correctly to win points.

The quiz can be adapted to teach punctuation, for instance: Which punctuation marks are contained inb) and c): (i) semi-colons (ii) commas or (iii) hyphens?

Answer: commas Multiple choice questions make the lesson move more quickly.

A supplementary question is really useful: Why do they have this punctuation?

i) because the information given is not important ii) because the information given is important iii) because the sentence is too long Answer (i) The main focus of the lesson falls on the final quiz question, which presents the students with the full explanation, for example: In the sentences below: Which groups of underlined words “define” or give important information about the noun “man” or “gun”?

Which groups of underlined words give additional unimportant information about the noun “man” or “woman”?

a) The man that did the shooting was a policeman.

b) The man, who is 27, shot the woman.

c) The woman, who had fair hair, robbed the bank.

d) The gun which was used to shoot the woman was the one I remembered.

Answers (give students the technical terms as well, but only as incidental information, not for scoring purposes): In a) the underlined clause defines or gives important information about the noun “man” and in d) it gives important information about the noun “gun”. (The clause is called a defining clause or a restrictive clause.) In b) and c) additional unimportant information is given about the noun “man” or “woman”. (The clause is called a non-defining clause or non-restrictive clause.) Most students will remember the game and the personalised sentence examples; few will remember the grammatical information. However, the aim of the lesson - to encourage them to use defining clauses - will have been achieved.

Rosemary Westwell is a freelance educational consultant