Remedial in a Sentence: Meaning, Examples & Practice

Remedial describes something meant to fix or correct a weakness rather than prevent one. To use remedial in a sentence, place it before the noun it repairs: “She took a remedial maths course before the entrance exam.” The adjective rarely follows the verb be, so it usually sits directly in front of a noun.

Remedial at a glance

• Remedial is an adjective; it has no plural form of its own.
• The dominant pattern is remedial plus a noun, as in remedial classes or remedial action.
• The word is neutral in register and common in education, law and health writing.
• Its usual nouns are class, course, work, action, measure, teaching and massage.
• The commonest error is using remedial as a noun, as in she attended a remedial.

What does remedial mean?

Remedial is an adjective meaning intended to correct or make good a weakness, fault or gap. The Cambridge entry for remedial records the corrective sense, and the detail that matters is that something is already wrong before remedial action begins. In education the word describes extra teaching for a skill a student has not yet mastered, which is why it is usually paired with class, course or reading. Where the aim is to cure a disease rather than close a gap, curative treatment is the accurate phrase.

One limitation is worth stating plainly. Remedial describes a response to something already faulty, so it is not the word for extra work that enriches a strong pupil. Calling a keen student remedial insults the student, not the class. Where nothing is broken, use extra, advanced or supplementary instead.

How do you use remedial in a sentence?

The adjective almost always stands immediately before its noun, and the sentence states what is being repaired. Five patterns cover nearly every real use, and the compound nouns are worth learning as whole units.

Two noun families do most of the work. Remedial action and remedial measures belong to law, management and government writing, where the phrase signals a formal response to a documented fault. Remedial class, remedial course and remedial teaching belong to schools, where the word names provision rather than a pupil.

Writers who mean the fix itself rather than the description reach for a remedy, which is a noun, or remediate, which is a verb. The adjective rarely follows is, so a sentence such as the class is remedial is possible but far less common than a remedial class.

Remedial in a sentence: examples across contexts

Remedial keeps one meaning while its partners change. The nine sentences below travel from a primary school to an environmental report, and each one names the weakness being corrected.

Only the health sentence uses the therapeutic sense, and only the legal sentence treats remedial as part of a formal remedy. Those two are the uses learners miss. In the classroom and school-letter rows the word stays close to its noun, because English expects the adjective directly before what it describes. The environmental sentence shows the broadest use, where remedial work repairs land rather than people, and the technical sentence applies the same idea to software.

Remedial vs curative

Remedial and curative both promise improvement, and they answer different problems. Remedial corrects a weakness or repairs damage, while curative treatment removes a disease. A remedial class fixes a gap in learning, while a curative drug attacks an illness.

Verdict: choose remedial when the aim is to close a gap or undo damage, and curative when the aim is to defeat an illness. Where the goal is simply to make someone feel better, healing is warmer and less clinical.

The two words also differ in direction. Remedial work looks back at damage that already exists, while curative treatment targets a condition that is present. A preventive measure looks forward and stops trouble before it starts, which is why prevention describes a safety programme that keeps injuries from happening at all.

Word forms and grammar of remedial

Remedial is an adjective with a small family of related words, and the forms learners invent are the ones to avoid. The table keeps the parts of speech apart.

Keep remediable apart from remedial. A remediable problem can be fixed at all, while a remedial measure is the fixing itself. Pages on the same root cover remediable and remediate in more detail.

Three roles sit inside this family, and keeping them apart prevents most errors. A remediable defect can be put right, the remedial work is the putting right, and remediation is the process as a whole. The adjective describes the fix, the -able form describes the possibility, and the noun names the activity.

Common mistakes with remedial

• Incorrect: This is a remedial for the leak. Correct: This is a remedy for the leak. Rule: Remedial is an adjective; the noun is remedy.
• Incorrect: We need to remedial the problem. Correct: We need to remedy the problem. Rule: The verb is remedy or remediate, never remedial.
• Incorrect: She attended a remedial to improve her writing. Correct: She attended a remedial writing class. Rule: An adjective needs a noun after it.
• Incorrect: The fault is remedial, so it can be fixed. Correct: The fault is remediable, so it can be fixed. Rule: Remediable means able to be fixed; remedial means corrective.
• Incorrect: He is in remedial because he needs help. Correct: He is in a remedial programme because he needs help. Rule: The adjective cannot stand alone as a noun phrase.

Practice using remedial

Work through the eight items, then check the reasoning rather than only the answer.

1. Fill the gap: The school added a ______ writing group for new pupils.
2. Choose the better word: After the diagnosis, the doctor offered (remedial / curative) surgery.
3. Correct the error: The council promised to remedial the broken path.
4. Build a sentence: use remedial action about a leaking roof.
5. Spot the register: which belongs in an official report — the company promised remedial measures, or the company said it would sort the mess?
6. Rewrite with the noun: Engineers will remediate the soil. Use remediation instead.
7. Fill the gap: The damage is ______, so the bank can be replanted.
8. Correct the error: She took a remedial to catch up in science.

Answers

1. remedial — the adjective describes the group that fills a gap.
2. curative — the aim is to defeat an illness, not to close a learning gap.
3. The council promised to remedy the broken path — remedial is an adjective, so it cannot follow to.
4. Model answer: The landlord took remedial action as soon as the ceiling leaked.
5. The company promised remedial measures — an official report keeps the formal phrase and drops the casual mess.
6. Remediation of the soil will take a year — the noun needs the actor turned into a phrase with of.
7. remediable — the sentence says the damage can be fixed, which is remediable.
8. She took a remedial course to catch up in science — the adjective needs a noun after it.

The bottom line

Use remedial in a sentence to describe teaching, work or treatment that corrects a weakness already present, and keep it in front of a noun. The two points that decide most sentences are these: the word implies something is wrong before the fix, and the chiefly British therapeutic sense covers massage as well as repair. Keep it apart from remedy and remediable, and makeup work is the friendlier term for missed lessons.

Frequently asked questions about remedial

What does remedial mean in education?

In education, remedial describes extra teaching that closes a gap in a skill a student has not yet mastered. A remedial reading group, for example, helps pupils who need more practice. The word flags the gap rather than the pupil, which is why careful teachers attach it to the class or course, not to the child.

Is remedial a negative word?

It is neutral on its own but can wound if aimed at a person. Attached to a class, a course or a measure, remedial simply describes a fix. Attached to a student, it labels them as behind. Write remedial support or a remedial programme, and the word stays professional and fair.

What is the difference between remedial and remediable?

Remedial means corrective, describing the action that fixes something. Remediable means able to be fixed, describing the thing that can still be put right. A remediable fault can be repaired, and the repair is a remedial measure. One word describes the cure, the other the possibility of curing.

Is remedial used in British English for therapy?

Yes. In Britain a remedial massage or remedial therapy treats muscle and joint problems, similar to physiotherapy. American writers more often say therapeutic or physical therapy. The split is a tendency, not a rule, so both regions understand both, but the massage use sounds distinctly British.