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.

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.’

• 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’.