Noun Phrases ESL Games and Activities

In this engaging noun phrases game, students complete sentences by creating noun phrases with adjective pairs and but. Teams take turns picking up a noun card from the pile and placing it face-up on the table, e.g. town. That team then has one minute to choose a sentence where they think the noun belongs and form a noun phrase using one of the adjective pairs with but between the adjectives. The team then writes the noun phrase in the sentence, e.g. It's in a remote but charming town called Aliston...' Once a sentence has been completed, it's the other team's turn to play. If, after one minute, a team hasn't found a matching sentence and adjective pair, the other team can choose to use the noun or place it back at the bottom of the pile and pick up another card. The game continues until all the sentences have been completed. Afterwards, elicit the correct answers from the class. Teams score a point for each correct answer and subtract a point for each incorrect answer. The team with the most points wins the game.

In this free noun phrases game, students practice changing verb phrases in sentences to noun phrases. In pairs, students take turns picking up a card and reading out the top sentence on the card to the other student, e.g. 'The little girl was obviously pleased to receive a new bicycle for Christmas'. The other student then tries to change the sentence by replacing the verb phrase with a noun phrase, retaining the original meaning, e.g. 'The little girl's pleasure at receiving a new bicycle for Christmas was obvious'. If the student successfully manages to say the sentence written at the bottom of the card or a similarly accurate sentence, they move their counter ahead one space diagonally. If the student is unable to form a correct sentence, they stay where they are. The two students then swap roles. The first student to reach the finish wins the game.

Here is a useful two-part noun phrases activity to help students practice noun phrases with possessive determiners. First, students ask their partner for information about guests at a wedding and complete a table with their answers. When the students have finished, they work alone and use the information from their table to complete sentences with noun phrases that match each guest to the wedding present they gave the bride and groom. Afterwards, check the correct answers with the class.