What does a child have to do to complete a finite clause in the 11+?

Complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the grammar strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

What is the trap in an 11+ complete a finite clause question?

A joining word at the front proves nothing. "after the referee blew his whistle" is a clause, and "after two days of rain" is only a phrase, even though both start with "after". The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.

What is not part of complete a finite clause in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: Excludes ordering a whole sentence and selecting only a connector. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.

Which other 11+ skills should we practise alongside complete a finite clause?

The grammar strand holds 9 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to complete a finite clause are distinguish contraction and possession, distinguish a phrase and clause and maintain consistent tense. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.

How can my child practise complete a finite clause for free?

Use Sentence Surgery, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a finite clause, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

English · Grammar

Complete a finite clause

Complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb.

Practise it now

Lift the extra phrase out of the sentence, then fit the right verb into the gap.

This exercise practises complete a finite clause alongside its own main skill, Subject-Verb Agreement.

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A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

Finding the subject and the tensed verb

Worked example: only one of these word groups has its own subject and a tensed verb.

Every choice completes the sentence smoothly. Only one of them is a clause.

Priya finished the model aeroplane ….

Choices for the gap: without any help at all, before her cousins arrived, holding the wings very carefully, checking the plan at every stage.

Answer: before her cousins arrived

How you get there

"before her cousins arrived" has its own subject, "her cousins", and the tensed verb "arrived", so it is a clause and completes the sentence. "without any help at all" has no verb in it at all; "checking the plan at every stage" is built round "checking", which carries no tense and names nobody doing it; "holding the wings very carefully" is built round "holding", which carries no tense and names nobody doing it, so each of those is only a phrase.

Why the other answers tempt

A joining word at the front proves nothing. "after the referee blew his whistle" is a clause, and "after two days of rain" is only a phrase, even though both start with "after".

If they are stuck, say this

An -ing word is not enough on its own. Ask who or what is doing it, and whether the word would change if the sentence moved into the past.

Now do it live in Sentence Surgery

Kitchen-table script for parents

Try this together

A friendly mini script for the breakfast table, school run or a quiet two minutes. Read it aloud as written, or make it your own.

Ready? Let's try Complete a finite clause together. The choices are without any help at all, before her cousins arrived, holding the wings very carefully, checking the plan at every stage. Here comes the question: Worked example: only one of these word groups has its own subject and a tensed verb. A handy clue is: Ask who or what is doing it, and whether the word would change if the sentence moved into the past. Nice work. Here is the thinking: "without any help at all" has no verb in it at all; "checking the plan at every stage" is built round "checking", which carries no tense and names nobody doing it; "holding the wings very carefully" is built round "holding", which carries no tense and names nobody doing it, so each of those is only a phrase. So our answer is: before her cousins arrived. One sneaky trap is: "after the referee blew his whistle" is a clause, and "after two days of rain" is only a phrase, even though both start with "after". Can you show me the first move in your own words? No rush; one calm step is enough.

What this exercise is doing

Sentence Surgery

Lift the extra phrase out of the sentence, then fit the right verb into the gap.

This engine’s own main skill is Subject-Verb Agreement. It practises complete a finite clause alongside it.

The subject of this sentence is "box", not "pencils". "Of coloured pencils" is a prepositional phrase that only describes the box, and a subject never lives inside one. One box is singular, so it takes the singular verb "was". Lift the phrase out and the sentence tells you the answer itself.

What to say if they get stuck

Grab the little handle on "of coloured pencils" and drag the whole phrase upwards.
Read what is left behind: "The box ___ on the art room shelf." What is the sentence actually about?
The subject can never hide inside a phrase beginning with "of". One box, so: "was".

Open Sentence Surgery on its own page to share it

How complete a finite clause differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises several skills, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb, and it stops where excludes ordering a whole sentence and selecting only a connector.

Classify a word in context
Identify the grammatical function of one highlighted word in its sentence. Classify contextual function, not a word in isolation.
Maintain consistent tense
Choose a verb form that preserves the intended tense sequence. Excludes subject-verb agreement as the primary demand.
Match subject and verb
Choose a verb form that agrees with its true subject. Excludes tense selection when agreement is already fixed.
Select a pronoun form
Choose the pronoun form that fits its grammatical role. One pronoun case or reference decision.

Related english skills

Distinguish contraction and possessionChoose between a possessive form and a contraction in one sentence.
Distinguish a phrase and clauseDecide whether a group of words contains a clause and identify its role.
Order sentence elementsArrange supplied words into one grammatical sentence.
Select a clause connectorChoose a conjunction or connective matching the stated relationship.

All english 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about complete a finite clause

Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.

: Complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the grammar strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
: A joining word at the front proves nothing. "after the referee blew his whistle" is a clause, and "after two days of rain" is only a phrase, even though both start with "after". The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.
: Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. An -ing word is not enough on its own. Ask who or what is doing it, and whether the word would change if the sentence moved into the past.
: The skill map draws the line here: Excludes ordering a whole sentence and selecting only a connector. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The grammar strand holds 9 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to complete a finite clause are distinguish contraction and possession, distinguish a phrase and clause and maintain consistent tense. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
: Use Sentence Surgery, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a finite clause, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation are four different problems

A free diagnostic separates them, so practice goes where the gap actually is rather than on whichever one is easiest to set.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic