Formal and informal vocabulary: phrasal verb to single verb
Recognise vocabulary typical of informal speech and choose the single formal verb that replaces it, swapping the word without lengthening the sentence.
Board title: Formal and informal verbs · Say it: “Today we're swapping everyday two-word verbs like find out for one formal verb like discover, without letting the sentence grow a single word longer.”
phrasal verb · single verb · register · formal · informal · precise
Formal mistaken for long. It is with the deepest regret that I write to inform you… and the everyday verb still sitting at the end of it. The sentence has grown and nothing has been chosen. Make them count the words before and after: the formal version is usually shorter.
Assuming every two-word verb has a single-word twin. Look forward to, look after, get up have no neat replacement, and children invent one rather than admit it. Tell them plainly that some stay. Some dictionaries give anticipate for look forward to, but it means expect and loses the happy feeling, so look forward to stays. Knowing which is part of the skill, not a failure of it.
The particle left behind. We postponed off the trip. We will discover out who took it. They insert the new verb and forget to delete the little word. It reads as carelessness and is not, it is the swap only half made. Cross out the two old words as one unit.
The informal verb treated as an error. They start correcting dialogue, texts and their own speech. Find out is right in a conversation and wrong in a report. Keep asking where the sentence is going before they decide anything.
Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.
Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.
The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.
Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.
Lesson code FRMLF at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.