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When we use language to describe the world around us, we can make general statements or we can talk about specific people, places and things.
This is an important point in children's language learning. When children are very young they start to name the world in terms of familiar specific things (mama, puppy, my pillow, and so on). As they grow older, children start to notice that certain things have similar features. The family dog, for example, has four legs, sharp teeth, fur, and a tail - just like the dog next door. At this stage, the child starts to generalise - a very important step in the learning process. They can go beyond talking about a specific dog (My dog is called Barney) to talking about dogs in general: Dogs have four legs.
This shift from the specific to the general is reflected in the grammar:
| specific | general |
| proper nouns | common nouns |
I like Barney. |
Most dogs are friendly animals. |
| articles (a/an, the) | no article |
I saw a dog in our street. The dog was lost. |
Dogs like to play in the street. |
| demonstratives (this, that, these, those) | no demonstrative |
That dog is eating a bone. |
Dogs eat bones. |
| possessives (my, your, his, her, our, their) | no possessive |
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Dogs can be large or small. |
It is possible to use articles when referring to something in a general way, though this is less common:
The dog is a loyal animal.
A dog can give a painful bite.
Texts that make general statements about things usually use the 'timeless present':
Dogs are meat eaters.
They have sharp teeth.
They eat rabbits, fish and other small animals.
When we make a general statement, we often use a relating clause:
Dogs and cats are mammals.
All of these grammatical features are very common in general descriptions - the text type that we use when describing a general class of things (eg dogs, buses, clocks).
To find out more about making general statements, go to the following sections. (To return to this page, use the back button on your browser.)
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Grammar |
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Here you will find more information about making general statements by using various grammatical features.
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Text types |
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Here you will find examples of text types that focus on making general statements.
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Teaching activities |
For PrimeTeach teaching activities which provide
KS2 students with practice in making general statements, see:
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