Download grammar madness taskcard and worksheets

Grammar Madness
You are about to meet Dr. Verbo, a quirky but fun-loving scientist, who is as clumsy as
he is smart. He had another accident today while writing to his favorite pen-pal, the
Wizard, and he needs your help to rewrite parts of the letter that he unwittingly
erased. You'll have to rewrite it several times. But don't be discouraged! Things could
be much worse. Did you know that one of the world's greatest writers, Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, had to write on toilet paper while he was in prison? He had to swallow
the paper, so that the prison guards wouldn't find it. After he was released from prison,
he rewrote his books on regular writing paper and won the Nobel prize for literature!
Words to ponder: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is
the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Mark Twain
BEGINNER:
1. Select Madness from the
main menu screen.
Choose Mostly Mad, and
select Words from the List.
Complete three versions of
Dr. Verbo's writing. Consult
the Glossary at left for help.
2. Find and complete your
Grammar Madness Beginner Worksheet, again using
the glossary as needed.
You Need:
GOOD:
1. Complete Beginner.
2. Do three more versions
of Dr. Verbo's writing,
choosing Very Mad and
Words from the List.
3. Complete the Letter to
the Wiz for Grammar
Madness in your folder.
After you have written your
letter, trade letters with your
partner. Mark any needed
corrections in your partner’s
letter and then return it.
Correct yours and mail to the
EXPERT:
1. Complete Good.
2. Now see if you can
recognize all the correct
choices in the word lists
in Grammar Madness.
Follow the instructions to
complete the Word Wiz’s
Worksheet from your
folder.
Wiz.
Grammar Madness Beginner Worksheet for Beginner level.
Letter to the Wiz for Grammar Madness for Good level.
Word Wiz’s Worksheet for Expert level.
September 29,1997
Grammar Madness
Grammar Madness Beginner Worksheet
Have you learned what words are nouns, verb, adjectives, adverbs
and prepositions? Let’s find out. You can check the Glossary in
your task card folder, or look up words in a dictionary to find out
what part of speech they are.
1. Look up the following words in the dictionary and write down what parts of
speech they are - Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, or preposition (some can be
more than one). The part of speech is listed right after the word: “n” for noun,
“vb”, “vt”, or “vi” for verb, “adj” for adjective, “adv” for adverb, and “prep” for
preposition.
extreme
extremely
out
tumble
tumbler
2. Underline the three nouns in the following sentence. Circle the verb.
Sally sells seashells at the seashore.
3. Underline the three adjectives in the following sentence. Circle the noun
that the adjectives modify (describe).
Leslie bought three big blue balloons.
4. Underline the prepositional phrase in the following sentence. Circle the
preposition (usually the first word in the prepositional phrase).
Please don’t jump off the cliff!
Letter to the Wiz for Grammar Madness
Fold this paper back at the solid line, so that you can’t see the bottom half
of the page. Then think of words that are each of the parts of speech listed
below. Check your Glossary to help you with your choices.
1. Noun
2. Noun
3. Verb
4. Verb
5.
Preposition
6. Noun
7. Adjective
8. Adverb
Now unfold this paper and fill in the words you have written above in the
spaces indicated below. There is also a space for you to ask the Wizard
whatever you would like to know!
Dear Wiz,
My favorite things are
and
. I like
(1. Noun)
to
them and
(3. Verb)
(2. Noun)
them. Best of all, I
(4. Verb)
like to hide them
the
(5. Preposition)
. I would like
(6. Noun)
to know:
?
(Any question you want to ask the Wizard)
Please write me a
letter
(7. Adjective)
.
(8. Adverb)
Sincerely,
(Proper Noun - Your Name)
Grammar Madness
Word Wiz's Worksheet
Play Very Mad in Grammar Madness, selecting words from the lists in the computer.
Notice the first three categories of words you must find, such as adjective, present tense
verb, and noun. Write these three categories in the spaces below.
Categories (Parts of Speech):
__________________
__________________
__________________
Now write the five words from the computer's list that are correct choices in each category.
Correct Choices:
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
Using your lists above, create a sentence containing a word from each of your three lists.
Cross off the three words used. Then create two more sentences, each containing unused
words from each of the three lists.
Sentence 1__________________________________________________________
Sentence 2__________________________________________________________
Sentence 3__________________________________________________________
Glossary
Noun- a word that names a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Examples: Mary,
America, table, computer, joy, explanation.
Proper Noun - a noun that always begins with a capital letter, such as a person’s name.
Pronoun- a word that substitutes for a noun. Examples: he, she, it, we, they.
Verb- a word that describes an action or state of being. Examples: go, read, wait, be. I
see you.
Adjective- a word that modifies or gives a description of another word. Examples:
beautiful, soft, green, tiny. The beautiful girl sat down.
Adverb- a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs often end in
-ly. Examples: very, slowly, finally. She reads slowly. He writes really well.
Preposition- a word that shows the relation between a noun or noun-equivalent (the
object of the preposition) to some other word in a sentence. Examples: Across, after, at,
before, between, by for, from, in, of, on, over, to, under, with, up. He jumped onto the
bicycle.
Prepositional phrase- a group of words that shows the relation between a noun or
noun-equivalent and some other word in a sentence. The first word in a prepositional
phrase is almost always a preposition. Example: I dove into the pool.
Interjection- a part of speech used for simple exclamations. Examples: Oh! Ouch!
Whew!