Mark the words

Use it to keep students working inside a text: finding a word class, picking out key terms, spotting errors, or finding the evidence for a claim. Every word in the passage can be clicked, so students have to decide about each one instead of choosing from a short list.

1. In a worksheet, use the + between two items, search for Mark the words task and choose it.

2. Click the pencil on the new task and write the instruction at the top, for example "Mark the adjectives in the sentence."

3. Type or paste the passage into the text area.

4. Click inside a word that belongs to the answer, then click Mark word. You do not need to select the word exactly: the whole word is marked, without the punctuation around it.

5. Repeat for every correct word. The counter beside the button shows how many words are marked.

6. Click the tick.

To take a word out of the answer, click inside it again and choose Unmark word.

Students see the passage with nothing highlighted. They click a word to mark it, click it again to undo, and submit.

If Show correct answers is turned on in the presentation settings, every word gets its outcome after submitting: the words they marked correctly, the words they marked wrongly and the correct words they missed are each shown differently.

The marks are checked automatically against your answer. Each wrongly marked word cancels out one correct mark, so marking every word in the passage scores nothing. Finding some of the words counts as partially correct.

Open Results on the question to see each student's marks highlighted in the original passage.

• Say in the instruction how many words to find if you want to reduce guessing, or leave the number out so students have to judge every word.

• Keep the passage short enough to read in one go. A sentence or two is plenty for younger students.

• Check the marked words once more before you click the tick: what you marked is exactly what the answer is checked against.