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English Language Arts Basics
Strong fundamentals in the English language give students oral, writing, and reading proficiency
at school and in society. Students should have an understanding and use of application of the
following:
 There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective,
adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.
 Nouns identify a person, place, or thing.
 Pronoun is a word that can be used in place of a noun (i.e. he, she, we, they you, it).
 Verb is a word that describes the action (i.e. move, hit, hear, throw) and forms the
beginning of the predicate in the sentence.
 Adjectives describe a noun.
 In a sentence, adverbs modify a noun, adjective, or adverb expressing a relation of
place, time, or circumstance. Many adverbs end in “-ly”.
 Prepositions are words that show shows time or location (i.e. before, on, during, below,
through). Ex. She swam across the lake. The preposition across shows the relationship
of what she did in the lake. Ex. I looked in my drawer. The preposition is in. A
prepositional phrase begins with the preposition and ends with a noun (i.e. in my
drawer).
 Conjunctions (i.e. fan boys—for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so and use of subordinators)
 Interjections are an abrupt remark or showing of an emotion using the exclamation
mark (!).
 Subject and verb agreement and predicate. The subject identifies who or what is the
focus with the verb showing its action. The predicate tells the reader what the subject is
doing or what it is like.
 Punctuation (i.e. period (.), question mark (?), colon (:), semi-colon (;),
 Contraction means to squeeze together; therefore, a contraction is the squeezing of
two words together to shorten using an apostrophe in place of the missing letters (e.g.
it’s, it is; he’s, he is; can’t, cannot).
 Clauses and phrases. A clause contains a subject and verb and a phrase does not.
Independent clauses and dependent clauses are relative. An independent clause
contains a subject and verb and can stand alone, and a dependent clause (phrase)
cannot stand alone and is dependent on an independent clause.
 Sentence structures are simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex
sentences. A simple sentence contains one independent clause. A compound sentence
contains at least two independent clauses joined by a conjunction or semi colon. A
complex sentence contains a subordinate clause and an independent clause. The
subordinate clause does not contain a subject and verb and cannot stand alone.
Compound-complex sentences are combinations or hybrid of compounds and complex
sentences. A compound-complex must have at least two independent clauses and a
dependent clause.
 Apostrophes are used in possessives and contractions.
Reading
Students that read often typically improve at reading comprehension and writing versus a nonreader. Proficient writers develop from consistent reading. Students that read items of interest
increase their motivation at reading. Simply stated, the more a student reads the greater
success he or she develops with reading comprehension and writing, in and out of the
classroom.
Selecting the Right Book
The Five Finger Rule is a suggested model to follow when selecting a right book.
How to Select a “Just Right” Book: The 5 Finger Rule
The 5 finger rule applies to readers of all ages.
For independent reading . . .
1. Open the book to the middle. Select a full page of text.
2. Read the page (aloud is best).
3. Put one finger up for every word you cannot pronounce or do not know.
4. If you get five fingers up on one page, the book is too difficult to read
independently.
5. If you do not get any fingers up, but are reading very slowly and decoding almost
every word, you will not enjoy the book.
6. If you get 0-4 fingers up, the book is just right for you.
The best way to become better at any skill is to apply self. The more a person does the better
he or she will become at doing the skill. Practice doesn’t make you perfect but it will make you
better. Think positive.