Download Sats Spag Revision

 Name_______________________
Preposition
A preposition is a word that tells you where or when something is in
relation to something else for example:
*after
*before
*on
*under
*inside
*outside
After walking for miles she rested on a small hill.
After tells you when she rested and on tells you where she rested.
Articles
An article is a word that tells you whether a noun is specific or
general, for example a, an, the.
She took a big suitcase on holiday.
A tells you that the noun suitcase is general. It's not talking about
any particular suitcase, it's any old big suitcase.
She took the big suitcase on holiday.
The tells you it was a particular suitcase. Perhaps she has a big
suitcase and a small one. She took the big suitcase.
Conjunctions
1
A conjunction is a word that joins two sentences or clauses, for
example:
and
but
although
whenever
He went to the cinema and she went swimming.
Amy took her mp3 player with her but she forgot to put any
batteries in it.
Nouns and pronouns
Nouns
Common nouns are the names of things, for example, people, places
or objects. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or
thing, and always begins with a capital letter.
Amy went to France on Saturday and took her camera with her.
Amy, France and Saturday are proper nouns and camera is a
common noun.
Pronouns
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of nouns, for example:
he
she
them
there
it
2
Amy took her camera to France.
She took it there.
She is a pronoun that takes the place of Amy, it takes the place of
camera, and there takes the place of France.
Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun (the name of a thing or
a place).
It was a terrible book.
The word terrible is an adjective. It tells us what the book (the
noun) was like.
Where can I put an adjective?
Adjectives can come before or after a noun.
The book he read on holiday was terrible.
He read a terrible book on holiday.
Try putting adjectives in different places in your sentences to make
your writing more interesting.
Using more than one adjective
If you want to describe a noun in detail, you can use more than one
adjective.
He had a mouldy, smelly, overpriced sandwich for lunch.
When you have a list of adjectives like this, separate them with
commas.
3
Verbs
A verb is a doing or action word.
Jack always runs to school.
He went to the shops.
She made a mess of her homework.
That glass may fall off that wobbly table.
Runs, went, made and fall are all verbs. They tell us what someone
or something did. When you are writing, make sure every sentence
has a verb in it.
Adverbs
An adverb is a word that describes a verb (an action or a doing
word).
He ate his breakfast quickly.
The word quickly is an adverb. It tells us how he ate (the verb) his
breakfast.
Adverbial phrases
Sometimes more than one word can do the adverb's job. This is
called an adverbial phrase.
He ate his lunch really quickly.
4
The words really quickly are an adverbial phrase. Words like very,
more, really and extremely are often used to make an adverb even
stronger.
Where can I put an adverb?
Adverbs and adverbial phrases can come before or after a verb.
He quickly ate his lunch.
He ate his lunch quickly.
Try putting adverbs and adverbial phrases in different places in
your sentences to make your writing more interesting.
Punctuation
Punctuation is used to separate sentences and words and is
used to make writing clear and easy to read. When you're
checking your writing, read it through looking only at the
punctuation. It's hard to check style, meaning, spelling and
punctuation at the same time.
Full stops
A full stop shows that you have finished a sentence. Every sentence
must end with a full stop, question or exclamation mark.
This sentence ends with a full stop.
Question marks
A question mark is used to show when someone has asked a
question.
5
Are we going on holiday next week?
Exclamation marks
An exclamation mark is used to show when something is surprising
or forceful.
Ouch! That really hurt!
Commas
Separating items in lists
Use a comma between each item in a list, except for the last item
where you use and.
He packed a camera, his sunglasses, his swimming trunks and a
towel.
In the place of brackets
In a long sentence, you can use commas to separate out extra
information and make the sentence easier to read. These commas do
the same job as brackets but look a lot neater in your writing.
She packed her bag (which was a Christmas present from her mum)
and set off for school.
When you add a comma, the sentence becomes easier to read:
She packed her bag, which was a Christmas present from her mum,
and set off for school.
6
Between clauses
A clause is a short sentence that could stand alone. You can use
commas between clauses to break up compound sentences and
make them easier to read.
She went to all the trouble of packing her bag, but she forgot to take
it to school.
Inverted commas (speech marks)
Use inverted commas around something someone has said.
'Will you stop playing games and come and eat your dinner'.
Apostrophes
Possession
Use an apostrophe to show possession (one thing belongs to
another).
It was the dog's bone.
Add 's to dog to show the bone belonged to it.
Amy's dad was late picking her up from the cinema.
Add 's to Amy to show that it was her dad who was late.
Omission
You can also use apostrophes to show that you have omitted (left
out) some letters in a word, or when joining words together.
Without omission
With omission
7
you have
we have
it is
do not
could not
is not
you've
we've
it's
don't
couldn't
isn't
Using contractions (two words shortened to make one) like these
makes your writing easier to read and more friendly.
Sentences and clauses
Print
A sentence has a capital letter at the beginning and ends with a full
stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!). It must
have a verb in it and it must make complete sense all on its own.
A simple sentence is called a clause.
Clauses
Some sentences can be broken up into smaller sentences. These
simple sentences are called clauses.
She ran down the road but he chose to walk.
This sentence is made up of two clauses, both of which could work
on their own as simple sentences.
You can join clauses together using conjunctions to make more
interesting sentences that are much easier to read than lots of short
sentences.
Amy took the dog for a walk. It got very dirty.
8
Amy took the dog for a walk and it got very dirty.
The dog got very dirty when Amy took it for a walk.
Conjunctions you can use to join clauses together include:
and
but
although
when
whenever
because
Sentence types
Different types of sentence do different jobs.
Statements
A statement is a sentence that simply tells the reader something.
The dog is dirty.
You can use an exclamation mark ! to show when your sentence is
saying something surprising or with force.
That dog is absolutely filthy!
Questions
Use a question mark ? at the end of a sentence to show that you are
asking a question.
Why haven't you bathed the dog?
9
Commands
A command is when you are telling someone to do something.
Commands usually start with a verb (a doing word). You should use
commands when you are writing instructions telling someone how
to do something.
Fill the bath with warm water.
Give the dog a bath.
Paragraphs
A paragraph is a collection of sentences about the same thing.
Collecting your sentences into paragraphs makes your writing
easier to read.
Start a new line after each paragraph. You may want to leave a space
before you start the next paragraph. Some people like to start the
first line of a new paragraph a little way in from the edge of the
page. This is called an indent.
Phrases
A phrase is a group of words that could be replaced by a single part
of speech, for example, a noun.
The big, brown dog had a very loud bark.
The phrase big, brown dog could be replaced by the noun dog.
By using phrases rather than simple nouns or verbs, you can make
your writing more descriptive.
10
Singular and plural
Singular is one, eg cat, dog, car, and plural is more than one, eg cats,
dogs, cars. Plurals can be tricky to spell but there are some simple
rules that will help you. It all depends what the word ends with.
As a general rule add an s
Singular
cat
camera
word
boy
Plural
cats
cameras
words
boys
Add es
Singular
boss
stitch
sash
Plural
bosses
stitches
sashes
Change the f to a 'v' and add es
Singular
half
leaf
hoof
Plural
halves
leaves
hooves
11
Change the y to an i and add es
Singular
telly
lorry
baby
Plural
tellies
lorries
babies
Words end in ey - add an s
Monkey becomes monkeys.
Exceptions to these rules
Some words are the same when they are singular and plural.
I've got one sheep. I've got lots of sheep.
And some words change, but don't get an s at all.
child becomes children
mouse becomes mice
Fish is an interesting word. You can add es to make it plural (fishes),
or keep it as it is. It's up to you.
Prefixes
Prefixes are letters you can add to the beginning of words to change
their meanings. For example, the prefix 'dis' means bad or wrong.
grace becomes disgrace
trust becomes distrust
12
Common prefixes
Meaning
Prefix
PreReUnDeSub-
Before
Again
Not, take away
The opposite of, undo
Under
Example
Preview
Reappear, retry
Unfair, uncomfortable
Deactivate, decode
Substandard, subatomic
Suffixes
Suffixes are letters you can add to the end of words to change their
meanings. For example, the suffix 'less' means without.
hope becomes hopeless
sense becomes senseless
Common suffixes
Meaning
Suffix
-ly
-ful
-able
Like, having the properties of
Full of
Can do
-er
Changes a verb into a noun
Homophones
13
Example
Stupidly, strangely
Forceful, hopeful
Sinkable, workable
Fly becomes flyer
run becomes runner
These are words which have the same pronunciation but which are
different in both spelling and meaning. Listen to the following two
examples and identify the homophones.
I was amazed that I knew the answer to every question in the test.
I
bought a new car yesterday. Would you like to see it?
 Choose the correct word from the pair above to complete each
sentence:
1.
vale
veil
The bride wore a
of lace.
2.
stationary
stationary
The fast sports car collided with a
3.
current
These
saloon
currant
buns are delicious.
4.
sow
sew
In Spring farmers plough their field and
5.
muscle
Having pulled a
the field.
6.
check
Father paid by
car.
their seeds.
mussel
in his thigh the centre-half had to leave
cheque
for his new suit.
14