Grammar Fix: Does he plays?: where the s disappears

Objective & content

students recognise that does/doesn't already carries the third-person marking, so the main verb that follows them stays in its bare form (does he play, not does he plays; he doesn't like, not he doesn't likes), while a plain statement with no does/doesn't in it keeps its -s exactly where third-person-s put it. The printable is the unit's class pack: one A4 pupil sheet (recognition items, then fill-in and word-order drills) printed once per pupil, and one teacher sheet with the answer key and the notes below.

Pedagogical guide

this error surfaces right after third-person-s lands. Once learners internalise "add -s for he/she/it", they treat that ending as belonging to the subject rather than to one specific verb slot, so when does/doesn't turns up — itself already carrying the ending — they add the -s a second time and produce "does he plays" or "he doesn't plays". The over-application is universal across our markets for the same reason third-person-s itself is: none of our learners' first languages has an auxiliary that silently absorbs a person-ending while the main verb reverts to a fully bare form, so there is no L1 model for "the ending moved, so the verb goes bare" — learners default to marking the verb wherever the meaning is he/she/it, regardless of what has already been marked. Use it after the class has watched the unit, or on its own as a targeted repair when the mistake shows up in written work.

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Write the target sentence on the board and ask what is wrong with it. Collect the class's answers.
2. (10 min) Pupils work through the pupil sheet alone: recognition items first, then the drills.
3. (5 min) Check with the teacher sheet. Read the explanation of each recognition item aloud.
4. (2 min) Exit line: each pupil writes one correct sentence with the structure on a slip of paper.

Adaptations

• [S] Do the recognition items together as a class before pupils try the drills alone.
• [A] ask students to write 3 yes/no questions about a partner's daily routine using does or doesn't with a he/she verb, then swap sheets and check that the main verb stayed bare in every question.

Materials & prerequisites

One pupil sheet per pupil, one teacher sheet. No audio needed; the Grammar Fix unit video is an optional lead-in. Watch for: over-application after does/doesn't (does he plays, does Anna likes, he doesn't works) is this unit's core taught error, and most of this sheet's items test it directly; overcorrection is the matching risk on the other side — once told not to double the -s near does, some learners swing too far and strip the -s from plain statements that never had does/doesn't in them (the dog run fast, my sister work at a hospital), so at least a third of this sheet's items are built to catch that swing rather than the original mistake; does and doesn't also share their first two sounds, so watch for students confusing which one they are hearing under fast delivery.

Curriculum alignment

Grammar tags: present-simple. Filed at A1+ (the level where the mistake starts to appear); the example sentences stay inside that band.

Assessment & extensions

The exit line is the check. Extend with the Grammar Fix unit itself, or with the grammar sheet on the same structure when one exists.