Lesson 7: Fill Blanks with "Is" or "Are" - Teacher Answer Key & Explanatory Guide

Core Pedagogical Objectives

Subject-Verb Agreement Discrimination: Fluently select is/Is for singular nouns and are/Are for plural nouns.
Capitalization in Inversion: Enforce that verbs opening a question must be capitalized (Is / Are), while verbs inside a statement remain lowercase.
Terminal Punctuation Concord: Affirm that declarative statements terminate in a period (.) and questions in a question mark (?).

Instructional Focus & Strategies

Contrasting Pairs Routine: Have pupils read both paired sentences consecutively: "The horse is black. / Is the horse black?"
Capitalization Checkpoint: Remind pupils: "First word in ANY sentence must wear a capital hat!"
Number Clue Drill: Guide pupils to circle the noun suffix '-s' (boys, birds, hens) to trigger are/Are.

#	Target Filled Sentence	Syntactic & Grammatical Core	Evaluation Criteria
1	The horse is black.	Singular statement (horse + lowercase is)	Lowercase is; ends in period (.).
2	Is the horse black?	Singular question (Capital Is + horse)	Must capitalize Is; ends in (?).
3	The apple is green.	Singular statement (apple + lowercase is)	Lowercase is; terminal period (.).
4	Is the apple green?	Singular question (Capital Is + apple)	Capital Is; question mark (?).
5	The boys are happy.	Plural statement (boys + lowercase are)	Plural agreement: are; ends in (.).
6	Are the boys happy?	Plural question (Capital Are + boys)	Capital Are; question mark (?).
7	The baby is asleep.	Singular statement (baby + lowercase is)	Lowercase is; ends in period (.).
8	Is the baby asleep?	Singular question (Capital Is + baby)	Capital Is; question mark (?).
9	The birds are singing.	Plural statement (birds + lowercase are)	Plural agreement: are; ends in (.).
10	Are the birds singing?	Plural question (Capital Are + birds)	Capital Are; question mark (?).
11	The hen is too fat.	Singular statement (hen + lowercase is)	Singular noun selects is; period (.).
12	Are the hens too fat?	Plural question (Capital Are + hens)	Notice plural hens requires Are + (?).

Common Errors & Remediation Hints

Lowercase Question Start: Writing *is the horse black?*. Prompt: "Look at the first word of every sentence—it must be a big capital letter!"
Agreement Inattention: Writing *The boys is...* or *Is the hens...*. Direct attention to the plural marker '-s'.
Punctuation Slippage: Forgetting the question mark (?) when copying questions onto the ruled line.

Scoring Rubric (12 Points Total)

Correct Word Choice (is vs are) 6 pts (0.5 pt × 12)

Accurate Capitalization (is vs Is, are vs Are) 3 pts (0.25 pt × 12)

Handwriting & Terminal Punctuation (. vs ?) 3 pts (0.25 pt × 12)

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