Prove it! Advanced Negations
Prove It! – Advanced Negation Speaking Activity (B1–B2)
Get your students thinking creatively and critically with this fun, competitive way to practice advanced forms of negation!
This printable and online-friendly speaking activity is designed to help your B1 and B2 students master advanced negative expressions in English—words like nothing, nobody, nowhere, hardly, none, and more. The goal? To use these tricky structures naturally and fluently, while having a little fun (and maybe stretching the truth)!
What’s the Game?
Your students will take turns trying to “prove” unusual or imaginary facts using advanced negation expressions. Each Prove It! card gives a situation or statement (e.g., “This place is completely deserted.”), and students must respond using one of the negation expressions listed around the edge of the board.
The twist? They don’t have to tell the truth—just make a grammatically correct, logically sound sentence using one of the expressions. It’s a creative way to encourage flexibility with negative language.
How to Play:
-
Set up: Display the game board and scoring sheet. Add student or team names at the bottom.
-
Draw a card: Choose a “Prove It!” scenario from the center of the board.
-
Take turns: One by one, students try to “prove” the statement using one of the advanced negation expressions around the edge.
-
Score it: If their sentence is logical, grammatically correct, and includes the negation word appropriately—they get a point!
-
No repeats: Each expression can only be used once per round. Check the box after each use.
-
Advance: When all expressions are used or your students run out of ideas, uncheck the boxes and draw a new card.
You can play as many rounds as time allows. The student or team with the most points at the end wins!
Why It Works:
-
Encourages fluency and risk-taking with advanced grammar
-
Sparks creativity and logical thinking
-
Easily adaptable for pair work, teams, or whole-class play
-
Great for conversation classes, exam prep, or review
If your students think they know how to use negative structures—this game will put that to the test. And if they don’t? They’ll know soon enough.
Reviews
Ian Kime
It takes a team of 13 to create and produce this material. In order for that to continue, please think about purchasing your own subscription to ESL Expertz and encourage your colleagues to do the same. We appreciate your confidence and support!
There are no reviews yet.