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SPaG Booster
A few important things to remember from our SPaG sessions
Mrs Carey
Easter 2016
This booklet includes some of the important things we practised during our SPaG booster
sessions. I hope you find it useful 
SPELLING STRATEGIES:
How many syllables are in the word? Are there any words hidden inside the word that you
recognise or already know?
Has the word got a prefix, or a suffix? These are quite easy to spell.
Do you know a word already which rhymes with this one?
Listen to the word – occasionally the word will tell you the names of some of the letters!
Sort your word lists into groups. Not everyone learns spelling the same way – you can sort
lists into words that;
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mean the same
are the same length
are the same number of syllables
belong to a word family
sound the same
have the same letter patterns
All your test words will be read out in sentences. This will help you as it will give you the
meaning of the word. Homophones sound the same but are spelt differently: past and
passed. Passed has the –ed suffix on it, so you know this is a verb not a preposition – past is
the preposition – this knowledge will help you to sort out the correct spelling.
You can use DBPrimary to practise all the word lists you should have learned since you
started school! You never know which words you will be asked to spell in your SATs test! Look
carefully at the activities which have homophones, suffixes or prefixes in them. Remember to
do the activities more than once so that you use all the words in the activity.
BBCBitesize also has activities to practise spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Can you remember what kinds of words
these are?
Check the notes you made in your book 
Remember, there are adverbs of time,
pace, manner, quantity and possibility!
Relative Pronouns
that
which
who
whom
whose
where
when
A relative clause is always introduced by a relative pronoun and refers to the preceding noun
– this is useful to know when you are identifying relative clauses.
‘That’ can also be a determiner or a conjunction: where and when can also be adverbs – check
your sentence carefully to see what function the word has before you decide which word class
it belongs to!
The other important pronoun is a possessive pronoun.
My, your, her, his, its, our and their – these words can also act as determiners.
Determiners
the
a/ an
this
that
these
those
my
you
his / her / its
our
their
some
any
no
many
much
few
little
both
all
either
neither
each
every
enough
three
fifty - nine
thousand
any number
which
what
whose
Determiners are always in front of a noun or in front of the adjective modifying a noun.
Conjunctions
For And Nor But Or Yet So - these are the co-ordinating conjunctions and are used to
link to clauses of equal weight or value.
The other type of conjunction is a subordinating conjunction.
Some prepositions and adverbs can also function as conjunctions. If there is a conjunction in a
sentence, then it must link two clauses. If the sentence is a single clause sentence, the word
cannot be a conjunction!
I went to bed before nine o’clock. – before is a preposition
Before he went to the shop, Arvin locked the front door. In this sentence before is a
conjunction!
Verbs have to agree with the subject in a sentence – singular or plural – make sure you have
the right inflection (ending) on a verb or that you have chosen the correct form of an irregular
verb.
Verbs also have to be in the correct tense for the purpose of your writing: a recount is always
written in the past as it is reporting things which have already happened. You also have to be
aware of the tense you are using and whether it is the most appropriate tense to use.
The infinitive form of the verb is the root - play, run, cook, try etc. The infinitive often has the
word to in front of it: to play, to run, to cook etc.
We have looked at several different tenses – now see if you can remember them. . . .
I eat my
breakfast
.
I am eating my
breakfast.
I will eat my
breakfast.
I have eaten my breakfast and now I am going to school.
I had eaten my breakfast when the phone rang.
I finished eating my breakfast and then the phone rang.
I was eating my breakfast when the phone rang. - The phone rang while I was still eating my
breakfast.
The subjunctive is rarely used these days – If I were the best footballer in the world, I would. . .
It is used when speaking about something which is highly unlikely to happen!
The past subjunctive may be used:
- after if or I wish to express regret or longing.
If I were rich I would buy a Ferrari.
I wish I were as fast as Usain Bolt.
- after as if or as though to express doubt or improbability.
You talk to him as if he were useless.
Some people behave as though dogs were human.
The active voice is the normal way of writing a sentence – the subject actions the verb – The
cat sat on the mat. Occasionally we want to emphasise what has happened in the sentence
rather than who did it. We can change the sentence round like this – The mat was sat on by
the cat – this is called the passive voice.
Phrases and Clauses
The difference between a phrase and a clause is that phrases don’t usually contain a verb and
a clause does.
Noun phrase = the woman, a cat, tiny seed, big dog
Adjectival phrase = a group of words where the adjective is the key word – very good, really
excited – an adjectival phrase takes the place of one adjective.
Adverbial phrase = as quickly as possible, as fast as lightening, very slowly
Prepositional phrase – into the cupboard, across the floor, down the road.
An expanded noun phrase does contain a verb: this phrase adds extra information to a noun
phrase.
The old lady, who lived next door, was my friend.
The whole underlined section is an expanded noun phrase. It could also be a noun phrase with
a relative clause – if a question asked for an expanded noun phrase – then this answer would
be correct; it would also be correct if the question asked for a relative clause and you
underlined ‘who lived next door.’
There are different types of clause: a main clause.
The main clause could be a sentence by itself – a single clause sentence.
The teacher is my class teacher.
A subordinate clause and a relative clause have to be attached to a main clause.
That teacher, standing over there, is my class teacher. – ‘standing over there’ is a
subordinate clause.
The teacher who stood over there is my class teacher. – ‘who stood over there’ is a relative
clause.
Neither the relative nor the subordinate clayse could be a sentence on its own. They are both
part of a multi- clause sentence.
A reporting clause is used every time we record direct or indirect speech.
Mary said; Stephen whispered; Jasmina shouted could all be examples of a reporting clause.
Remember- speech has to be treated as a sentence inside the speech marks/ inverted
commas. Speech must start with a capital letter and the end punctuation must be inside the
closing speech mark.
If the reporting clause comes after the speech, and the speech would have finished with a full
stop, put a comma inside the speech marks and a full stop after the reporting clause.
“We have finished our grammar for this week,” said Mrs Carey.
Formal or Standard English does not have contractions, uses high level vocabulary, and is
almost posh! Any numbers will be written in words not digits, and there will be no
shortcuts or abbreviations.
REMEMBER – words, phrases and clauses can take on different roles depending on their
function in a sentence.
We know that the word that is a relative pronoun or a determiner; it’s easily identifiable
as a determiner as determiners are always in front of the noun. Relative clauses always
start with a relative pronoun, so that’s quite easy too. But in this sentence - He said that
he couldn’t go home, that functions as a conjunction!
Become a grammar detective! Read the sentence carefully and then read your question
again, before coming to a decision about your answer!
Punctuation
We all know when to use capital letters and full stops; the trick is remembering to use them!
Sentences must make sense and must be about a consistent topic. Conjunctions and
subordinate clauses can extend and expand our sentences, but don’t make them so long that
it’s difficult to remember what the sentence is about! A trick is to make sure that your
sentence has one subject – all clauses should refer back to this subject.
Full stops can be replaced with exclamation and question marks – these also mark the end of
a sentence.
Other punctuation is found inside a sentence.
Commas – these mark pauses, lists, clauses and occasionally parenthesis. Some people also
refer to inverted commas simply as commas but the term inverted commas helps us
remember that these are found at the top of letters and not at the bottom.
In England, we do not use commas before a conjunction, nor after the penultimate item in a
list, unless you need to avoid ambiguity – the comma is used to group the words correctly.
Inverted commas are used to show possession, speech, quotes and contractions.
When you use inverted commas to show direct speech, your speech should be punctuated
within the inverted commas as independent sentences. The only exception to this rule comes
when your speech precedes the reporting clause and would normally finish with a full stop. In
this case we punctuate the direct speech with a comma and put the full stop at the end of the
reporting clause.
Semi – colons are used in between two main clauses and to separate longer items in a list
Colons are used to introduce a list and to introduce explanations or examples
Dashes can be used to punctuate parenthesis – these can be used instead of commas or
brackets for this purpose.
Ellipsis is used when we want to add suspense or build in a pause at the end of a sentence.
Ellipsis is marked with three full stops. . .