Interactive Sytax Exercise Editor

📝 How to Use This Syntax Exercise Builder

Getting Started

Edit the header: Click on the title, subtitle, or info sections at the top to customize them for your exercise.
Add your text: Type or paste your exercise text into the editor box below the toolbar.

Highlight the syntax features you are working on.

Select text: Highlight the word or phrase you want students to identify.
Choose a color:
- Blue - For one type of syntax feature (e.g., subjects)
- Green - For a second type (e.g., verbs)
- Yellow - For a third type (e.g., objects)
Number of Colored highlights: You do not have to use all three colors. One or two is just fine.
For example, "Click on all verbs below" only requires one color of your choice.
Syntax, not just grammar:You can use this in many ways, e.g. "Find all the collocations that were also in the article."
Or a more expansive example:
- Click on all the following collocations in the article below:
  wake up
  go out
  sit tight
  [horisontal rule]
  He didn't want to wake up and go out; he just wanted to sit tight and stay warm in his little corner of the world.
Format text: Use the simple editor buttons B for bold, I for italic, or HR to insert a horizontal line.
Warning: Don't bold or italic your highlightable/clickable word choices.

Creating the Exercise

Click "Make Exercise": This converts your formatted text into an interactive exercise block.
Check the counters: Each color shows how many highlights students need to find.
Create multiple exercises: Clear the editor and repeat to add more exercise blocks to the same page.

Saving Your Work

Enter a filename: Type a name in the "File Name" field (e.g., "prep_phrases_quiz.html").
Click "Save as Local": This creates TWO files:
- EditMode version: For you to reopen and edit later (highlights visible).
- Student version: For your students (highlights hidden until clicked).

Student Experience

Students open the file (without "EditMode" in the name).
They enter their name and ID, then can print/save as PDF.
Highlights are invisible - based on your instructions, students click where they think the syntax features are.
Correct clicks reveal the highlight and decrease the countdown.
A "Show Answers" button appears in the bottom-right for checking work.

💡 Pro Tip: You can create different exercises for SVO, IO DO, gerund phrases, participle phrases, clauses, use your imagination - just assign each concept/s it's own color in your instructions!

Blue Countdown: 5

Green Countdown: 39

Yellow Countdown: 4

It's Friday, the week is over, and Laura is ready to meet her friends. But when she reaches into her bag and finds her wallet missing, her relaxing evening turns into a cross-town search — with a very unexpected ending.

Jake: Hey everyone, welcome back to Everyday Stories. I'm Jake.

Priya: And I'm Priya. So Jake, we came across a really fun little story this week.

Jake: We did! It's called "Laura's Lost Wallet," and I think just about anyone can relate to this one from the very first line.

Priya: Oh, absolutely. It starts on a Friday afternoon — Laura's done with work, she's excited to meet her friends at a cafe, rushing out of the office with that end-of-week energy.

Jake: That Friday feeling. We all know it. And then she gets to the cafe, parks her car, reaches into her bag for her wallet, and — nothing.

Priya: Gone. So Laura goes into a panic. It's not just cash, it's credit cards, IDs — everything. Her heart is racing.

Jake: So she does what anyone would do — she starts retracing her steps in her mind. During her lunch break she'd been to the grocery store, the library, and a coffee shop next to the library.

Priya: And she works through it methodically. She remembers paying at the grocery store, so she knows she had it there. She showed her library card, so she had it there too.

Jake: The last place she remembered using it was the coffee shop, so that's where she goes first. She asks at the counter, they check the lost and found box — but nothing.

Priya: She walks out feeling completely defeated, and anyone's who's ever had trouble trying to find something can relate to that feeling.

Jake: Yes! But then — and this is where the story really picks up — she's standing outside, glances over at a nearby park, and suddenly remembers she sat on a bench there to enjoy her coffee.

Priya: So she heads over, searches everywhere... and then she spots a squirrel.

Jake: A squirrel. Playing with her wallet.

Priya: Not what she was expecting, I'm sure. I mean, under a bench, or another person found it, but not, "Oh, I bet an anmimal has carried off my wallet."

Jake: She handles it pretty well too. She doesn't panic or lunge at it. She thinks it through — pulls out a bag of nuts, crouches down, and very calmly tries to make a deal with this squirrel.

Priya: Which works! The squirrel goes for the nuts, Laura grabs her wallet, and off she goes to meet her friends.

Jake: Wallet recovered; and a great story that she can share with her friends when they meet up.

Priya: It really is. Alright, that's our take on "Laura's Lost Wallet." Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Jake: See you next time, everyone.

next + to works together as a preposition, meaning "beside", e.g. "next to the bed" = "beside the bed"

📝 How to Use This Syntax Exercise Builder

Laura's Lost Wallet

Podcast Script

Click on the prepositional phrases, verb phrases, and infinitive phrases (to + verb)