Building questions and denials (e.g., "Does it often snow here?" ). Strengths of the Exercise
This is one of the most important exercises in the first half of the 4th-grade curriculum. It transitions the student from basic word-labeling to understanding English sentence logic. If you are helping a student with this, focus on the formula until it becomes second nature.
The exercise focuses on the verbs and to snow . In English, these are used as actions rather than just nouns, which is a major hurdle for Russian-speaking students. The task requires students to navigate different tenses and sentence structures using the impersonal subject "It." Grammar Breakdown The exercise pushes students to practice four key areas: Building questions and denials (e
Discussing previous weather patterns (e.g., "It rained a lot last month" ).
By providing a table or list of examples (as seen in the English 4 materials on Scribd ), it builds a solid foundation for more complex sentence structures. If you are helping a student with this,
It forces a clear distinction between the state of weather (using "It is...") and the action of weather (using "It rains...").
Exercise 17 in the 4th-grade English textbook by Vereshchagina and Afanasyeva is a pivotal grammar-focused task designed to master "weather verbs" and the usage of the impersonal "it." The task requires students to navigate different tenses
Describing climate and habits (e.g., "It often rains in autumn" ).