Gramatic! Instructions

Learn how to play!

Instructions 

Contents 

  • 25 Subject/Object cards 

  • 24 Verb cards 

  • 20 Auxiliary verbs 

  • 8 Other cards 

  • 18 Play Cards

  • 5 Grammar charts/Steal cards 

Introduction 

Gramatic! is designed to help ESL students become comfortable with the mechanics of English grammar. Players are encouraged to use their knowledge of English to construct sentences based on certain grammar and vocabulary criteria. The game can also be adapted from simple to more complex rules to help players not only keep engaged with the game but also to think critically about how English is constructed to be both grammatically correct and precisely understandable. 

Objective of the Game  

Beginner 

Be the first to collect 3 red Play Cards by completing the requirements on each card. 

Advanced  

Be the player with the most points at the end of the game. 

Terminology 

  • Draw pile: the pile of face down cards. The player takes one card from this pile.  

  • Discard pile: the pile of cards players leaves a card in this pile. 

  • Hand: the 7 cards a player has in their hand 

  • Play Card: the card that tells the player what sentences to make.  

  • Steal Card/Grammar Chart: a helping card. Can be used for grammar support or to get a card from the discard pile. 

Set Up 

  • Give each player one Steal Card/Grammar Chart 

  • Put aside all red Play Cards in their own pile. Shuffle. 

  • Dealer shuffles all other colors together into one deck. 

  • Dealer gives each player 7 cards face down.  

  • Dealer places the deck in the center of the playing area. 

  • Dealer takes the top card of the draw pile and put it in the discard pile. 

  • Person to the right of the dealer goes first. 

How to Play 

  1. Draw a card from the Play Card pile. Look at the requirements for that card. The player must match each requirement in any order.  

  2. The player can either choose from the draw pile or the TOP of the discard pile. The player takes one card from either pile. 

  3. If the player can make a sentence that matches a requirement on their Play Card, the player puts the sentence down in front of them and announces it to the other players.   

  4. Player chooses a card in their hand to discard (unless the play card tells them not to).  

  5. The round ends when a player reaches all requirements of their Play Card. The player puts down their last sentence and Play Card.  

  • Beginner: the ending player draws a new Play Card and a new round begins. 

  • Advanced: all players tally their points and mark them down. The ending player draws a new Play Card and a new round begins. 

6. When a player completes requirements on three Play Cards, the game is over. 

  • Beginner: whichever player has three Play Cards wins the game. 

  • Advanced: Players tally up their points. Whichever player has the most points wins. The player with 3 Play Cards does not automatically win. 

7. During their turn, a player can exchange their Steal Card to take any card from the discard pile. Then, they choose and discard a card. Then, their turn is over. They can use the steal card once per round. For higher difficulty, take out the grammar chart/steal card before play.  

Different Ways to Play

Gramatic! is designed to meet the needs of all English proficiency levels. While the main objective is to practice grammar/tense mechanics, it is also important that the sentences maintain an understandable meaning. Therefore, depending on both the objective and skill of the players, the rules of the game can be adjusted in difficulty. Below are some alternative rules to use for different skill levels.

Beginner Rules

Mechanics only

This gameplay is only focused on making mechanically correct sentences. Players do not need to construct sentences that have an understandable meaning. The objective of the game is to meet the basic criteria of the Play Card. An example is below:

                If the Play Card says, “one present perfect tense,” a player could make the following sentences:

·         “I have eaten pizza” O

·         “Couch has eaten soda” O

·         “I am eaten pizza” X

·         “I have eating pizza” X

·         “Couch have eating soda” X

Even though the second sentence does not make any sense, it is still acceptable in the game since the grammatical structure is correct. However, if both the meaning AND the structure is incorrect, the sentence cannot be used, and the player must try again. This gameplay requires at least one participant to know correct conjugations and rules as a “judge.” If the judge deems the sentence is mechanically incorrect, the player needs to take the sentence back and play until they get the correct mechanics.

Before the game begins, the participants can choose which Play Cards to use in the game. If this is played in a classroom, the teacher may decide some Play Cards are too advanced and remove them from the deck and/or replace the advanced cards with easier cards.

Pronouns

Gramatic! has a set of both subject and some object pronouns (“me,” “him,” “her,” and “us” are not in the starter deck). For the purposes of this game, any pronoun may be used as either a subject or an object (“me eat they” could be a correct sentence) unless the judge says otherwise before the start of the game. If the judge declares that object/subject pronouns need to be correct, a sentence will only be accepted if the pronouns are in the correct place.

Advanced Rules

The Points System

Gramatic! can also be played with a points system that will reward players for making correct sentences both in mechanics AND meaning. Advanced games are organized in the following way:

1) Players count their points at the end of each round. Once a player obtains 3 Play Cards, the game is over, and a final points tally is completed. The player with the most points wins.

 A player can lay down any sentence that mechanically meets the requirements of the Play Card. However, they will only receive points if the mechanics AND meaning are correct.

·  For example, if the player puts down the sentence “couch eats soda,” it is acceptable for the requirements of the card because it is mechanically correct, BUT the player will receive 0 points for that sentence.

2) If a player lays down a sentence that also has an understandable meaning, the player receives one point per card to their score.

· For example, if the player puts down the sentence “cat eats pizza,” the player will receive 3 points for that sentence because it is both meaningful and mechanically correct.

3) Some cards will display extra points at the bottom of the card. If the player has a meaningful and correct sentence, the player adds those extra points to their overall score at the end of the round.

·  For example, the Auxiliary Verb card “am” can only be used with the subject pronoun “I.” Therefore, if the player has a meaningful and mechanically correct sentence using “am,” that player will receive the extra points located at the bottom of the card (+2). The Subject/Object card “I” also has an extra point value because it can only be used as a subject (+1). Therefore, if a player has the following sentence: “I am eating pizza,” the player would have a total of 7 points in that round.

4)  At the end of each round. If a player did not use their Steal Card, they will receive two extra points. If a player used their Steal Card, they do not get two extra points. Steal Cards are given back at the beginning of each round.