Misapplied words exercises involve giving the students sample sentences with one or more words incorrectly used. The difficulty of these exercises can vary considerably, depending on which words the teacher chooses to call into question. For example, an easy question might be, "Correct the following sentence: I are very happy." A more difficult question might be, "Correct the following sentence: The speaker subtly inferred his true opinion of the guests through the use of a backhanded compliment." The necessary correction is, of course, the substitution of "implied" for "inferred." Misapplied words exercise are very flexible. The difficulty can be adjusted further by underlining the incorrect word.
Missing words sentence-revision exercises typically follow a similar format, but are more easily targeted toward problem areas. All English teachers are familiar with the difficulties students have differentiating between "Your" and "You're," or between "There," "Their" or "They're." Missing words exercises can be very useful to students struggling to overcome this common hurdle. Example questions might include "The twins rode _____ bikes to school," or "You can see _____ friends after you've finished _____ homework."
Sentence revision exercises can also be very useful for correcting students' spelling. There are numerous subtle grammatical rules that initially prove difficult for students. One of the most troublesome is the "I before E, except after C" rule, not least because it has a large number of exceptions (caffeine, sleigh, height etc...). Once your class clearly understands that the rule is general and doesn't apply in all instances, you can use sentence revision exercises to test students' ability to apply the rule appropriately. An example question might be "Sarah received/recieved a present she believed/beleived was delivered by Santa on his sleigh/sliegh."
While sentence revision activities are extremely useful educational tools, they can become tiresome for students if overused. One way to prolong their interest is to have them create tests for each other, on the subject of their choice. One popular exercise for younger students is to have them each write a short story in their workbooks about a trip to the circus, but to make sure they put in a couple of deliberate mistakes in each sentence. On a separate piece of paper they are to make a brief note of the mistakes that they made. They are then to swap workbooks with the child next to them, who must then locate as many errors in their partner's stories as possible. This exercise puts a more creative spin on sentence revision activities and helps children remain engaged with the lesson.