Free short notes and revision cards
Grade 3 English on Temari has 27 revision cards, arranged by the chapters of the Ethiopian national curriculum. Every card says when the rule applies, what each symbol in it stands for, and the mistake students most often make with it. They are free to read and need no account.
Show one kind of card
When you use it
Reach for this when you must ask a teacher for permission, give permission, or refuse a permission request in English.
Watch out
A refusal needs 'No, you may not'. Writing 'No, you may' gives permission, the opposite of what you mean.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 1-20, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when you copy or write an English sentence or title and must decide which letters are capitals.
Watch out
The pronoun I is always a capital, even in the middle of a sentence. Names such as Abay, Ethiopia and Dechassa also need capitals; writing 'mohammed' or 'ethiopia' in small letters loses marks.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 1-20, then checked twice before it went up
| Facility/service | Used for |
|---|---|
| laboratories | making experiments |
| library | books |
| hall | meeting |
| café | drinking tea |
When you use it
Reach for this when a question asks what a school facility is for, or when you describe your school in English.
Watch out
Match each facility to its own use. Laboratories are for experiments, not for meetings, and halls are for meetings, not for drinking tea.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 1-20, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when you must say which month or day comes first or next, for example 'September comes before October' or 'January comes after December'.
Watch out
With 'comes after', the answer is the item that comes before the one named. For example, 'Friday comes after ___' is Thursday, not Saturday. Check the direction of the word before you fill the blank.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 21-33, then checked twice before it went up
| Months | Weather and crops |
|---|---|
| October, November, December, January | Dry months. Crops are harvested. |
| February, March, April | Shower rains in most regions. Wheat and barley are grown and harvested at the end of April. |
| May | Usually sunny with only little rain. |
| June, July, August | Rainy months. Almost all crops grow; heavy rains may cause floods. |
When you use it
Use this when a question asks which months are dry, rainy or sunny, or when crops are grown and harvested, according to the Months of the Year reading.
Watch out
Shower rains fall in February, March and April, not in May. May is mostly sunny, so do not mix it up with the rainy months June, July and August.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 21-33, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a question asks for the day after or before today, yesterday, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, using the week Monday to Sunday.
Watch out
Tomorrow is one day after today, but the day after tomorrow is two days after today. If today is Friday, the day after tomorrow is Sunday, not Saturday.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 21-33, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when you must choose which article goes before a noun in a fill-in-the-blank or sentence-writing task.
Watch out
Choose a or an by the sound of the next word, not its spelling: 'a university' takes a because it starts with a y sound, while 'an umbrella' and 'an engineer' take an.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 34-50, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when you write a sentence saying what a person or thing has or does not have.
Watch out
Use has with a singular subject (he, she, it, a name) and have with I, you, we, they or plural nouns. Writing 'Mesfin have a book' loses the mark.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 34-50, then checked twice before it went up
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| red | It means stop driving completely. |
| green | It means you can go. |
| yellow | It means get ready to stop. |
When you use it
Reach for this when a question asks what a traffic light colour means or what a driver must do at that colour.
Watch out
A yellow light is a warning to get ready to stop, so do not read it as a signal to speed up. Red means stop completely, not slow down.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 34-50, then checked twice before it went up
| Pronoun | Present | Past | Example in the past |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | am | was | I was at home. |
| He | is | was | He was late. |
| She | is | was | She was happy. |
| It | is | was | It was cold. |
| We | are | were | We were at school. |
| You | are | were | You were very kind. |
| They | are | were | They were friends. |
When you use it
Reach for this when you write about yesterday or last week with the verb be and have to pick was or were for the subject in front of you. Was and were are the past forms of am, is and are.
Watch out
The mistake is almost always "you was". You takes were every time, even when you are speaking to one friend. The other half of it runs the other way, "we was" and "they was", where a plural subject picks up was from the line above it. Count the subject: was goes with one person or thing (I, he, she, it), and were goes with more than one (we, they) and with you always.
When you use it
Use this when you write or say how much of something there is, especially for liquids, grains or substances such as water, milk, sugar or oil.
Watch out
Uncountable nouns such as water, milk and sugar cannot take a number or plural directly. Measure them with kilograms, litres, a glass of or a sack of, so write "three kilograms of sugar", not "three sugars".
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 51-65, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a sentence describes an action that is happening now or at the time of speaking, such as "The students are learning English."
Watch out
Never drop the be verb. Use am with I, is with he, she or a singular noun, and are with we, you, they or a plural noun. Writing "The students learning" without are loses the marks.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 51-65, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a blank asks how much or how many of a noun there is, and you must choose the quantifier that fits the noun.
Watch out
Few and many go with countable nouns (few students, many books), while little goes with uncountable nouns (little milk). Writing "few milk" or "little students" loses the marks.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 51-65, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a question asks you to turn a singular noun into its plural or the reverse. Most nouns add s (boy, boys; cash crop, cash crops), but some change completely (tooth, teeth; ox, oxen; man, men; woman, women).
Watch out
Potatoes is already plural, so do not treat it as singular. Sheep stays sheep in both forms, and teeth, oxen, men and women take no s at all.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 66-81, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when you say what you like, do not like or prefer, as in the coffee and tea dialogue. Prefer takes to, as in I prefer coffee to tea.
Watch out
Write prefer ... to, not prefer ... than. Answer Do you like...? with Yes, I do or No, I don't, not with Yes, I like.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 66-81, then checked twice before it went up
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| boy | boys |
| girl | girls |
| tree | trees |
| tooth | teeth |
| man | men |
| woman | women |
| sheep | sheep |
| ox | oxen |
| donkey | donkeys |
| cow | cows |
| bird | birds |
| lion | lions |
When you use it
Look here when you must write the plural of a noun from this unit or name the singular of a plural noun in a sentence.
Watch out
Sheep looks the same in both columns, so writing sheeps is wrong. Learn tooth/teeth and ox/oxen as pairs, not by adding s.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 66-81, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when you write a sentence comparing places, such as how cutting trees results in drier or hotter places.
Watch out
Do not write 'more hot' or 'more dry'. Short adjectives take -er: hot becomes hotter, dry becomes drier (y changes to i before -er).
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 82-89, then checked twice before it went up
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bad | not good |
| results | effects |
| migrate | move to another place to live |
| attractive | good looking |
| famine | shortage of food |
When you use it
Use this list when you must match a word from the reading passage to its meaning, or choose the right word to complete a sentence.
Watch out
In the passage, 'results' is a verb ('Cutting trees results in change of climate'), but in the matching list 'results' is a noun. Read the sentence before you choose the meaning.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 82-89, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a task gives short notes, such as the uses of forests or the uses of water, and asks you to write sentences or a paragraph from them.
Watch out
A note such as 'to protect soil erosion' is a phrase, not a sentence. Add a subject and a verb: 'Forests protect the soil from erosion.'
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 82-89, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when asked to describe a national flag or to explain what each of its colours means.
Watch out
Each colour is a singular subject, so use the third-person verb: 'The green colour shows fertility', not 'The green colour show fertility'.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 90-103, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when writing sentences about habits, daily routines, general truths or the meanings of the flag colours.
Watch out
After he, she or it, affirmative sentences add s or es to the verb (she eats, he goes). In negative and question forms, use doesn't or does with the base verb, so write 'she doesn't eat', not 'she doesn't eats'.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 90-103, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when you rearrange jumbled words into a sentence about an action happening now, such as 'Dawit is playing the guitar'.
Watch out
Match the helping verb to the subject. Use 'is' with one person or thing (teacher, Merima, Dawit) and 'are' with more than one (students, girls and boys). Writing the wrong one, or leaving it out, loses the mark.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 104-111, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when you write short sentences about your own habits, following a model such as 'I plant flowers.' in the writing section.
Watch out
After 'I', keep the verb in its base form: 'I plant', not 'I planting' or 'I planted'. Start each sentence with a capital letter and finish it with a full stop, because the marks are lost for either one missing.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 104-111, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when you speak to a teacher or classmate and need to ask for something, as Bekele does when he asks for the duster.
Watch out
Ask 'May I' before you act on your own, as Bekele does before closing the door, and thank the person who agrees.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 112-126, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a sentence says what someone will do later, such as 'My father will plough the land' in the grammar worksheet.
Watch out
The verb after will, shall or going to stays in its base form: write 'will plough', not 'will ploughs' or 'will ploughed'. Use 'is going to' with one person or thing, and 'are going to' with more than one.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 112-126, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when you compare two people or things by age, height, weight or intelligence, using than or as...as.
Watch out
A short adjective takes -er before than (shorter than, not short than). After as...as the adjective stays in its base form (as tall as, not as taller as).
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 127-137, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use this when a table gives the age, weight or height of several students and you must write sentences comparing them. Find the bigger or smaller value, write the -er or more form with than, and use as...as if the values are equal.
Watch out
Height is given in metres, so a larger number means taller: 1.20 is taller than 1.05. Do not reverse this, and do not write shorter for the larger number.
Drafted from Grade 3 English, pages 127-137, then checked twice before it went up
The student textbook for the new curriculum, free as a PDF. The cards on this page follow its chapters.
Ministry of Education edition, English
72 pages
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