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Mini Grammar Boot Camp and Creative Writing
Name
1. Proofreading
2. Nouns and Verbs
3. Types of Verbs
Choose a do now that you would like to expand into a longer piece of writing. Extra credit will be offered for
submitting a piece to the literary magazine.
Do Now Prompt:
Expand the prompt into 8 sentences OR into a 8-line poem. Number each sentence.
Proofreading
For each line below, rewrite the words with the correction indicated by the proofreading mark:
sp.
1. five monkies
2. Statue of liberty
3. red Bicycle
4. Climb hill” I said.
the
5. Don’t fire me I beg you!
6. It was you Yes But why
7. I gaveher flowers
8. “Why?” I asked. “Why not?” she said.
9. Give me gun the!
10. I wannt some some cake.
11. Ring the door bell
George
12. Frank Washington
Proofreading Mark Notes:
Marking
Meaning
Spelling errors
Capitalizing or making it lowercase
Insert or replace a word
Insert a period, comma, exclamation point, question mark, apostrophe, quation marks, colon, or semi-colon
Putting a space between two words that are too close
Closing up a gap between two words
Starting a new paragraph
Transposing two words (reversing their places)
Deleting a letter or word
Proofreading Practice
Read the following excerpt from Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Mark the necessary corrections using the
proper editing marks (there is one error in each line):
The flying monkeys the left witch’s
castle, and took to the air find their prey.
They didn’t have to go far dorothy and her
friends were hanging out in a forrust right
next to the castle. “I saw her first! one of the
monkeys yelled. “The extra bananas are
mine”
For each line below, make the correction indicated by the proofreading mark:
1. We like to eat Pickles.
2. My comp uter is broken.
3. Hand methat screwdriver.
4. Did you take my take my wallet?
In your own words…
1. Why would it be important for a professional writer and his or her
editor to be familiar with the same proofreading marks?
Read the following excerpts from Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Mark the necessary corrections using the
proper proofreading marks (there are two errors in each line).
It was the worst the slaughter of the year. Red rock was helpless. By the start of the
fourth corter we were ahead, 78 to 29. The coach put in the subs. We booed. We smel led
a hundred points We wanted blood. The coach put the starters backin. As we howled and
thundered the in stands, Stargirl got up and walked from the Gym. Those of us who noticed
assumed she was going the rest room. I kept glancing toward the exit she never returned.
With five seconds left in the game the electrons scored the hundredth point. We went nuts.
We sat legs crossed. Cinammon scampered Down my arm and onto the ground.
Stargirl shrieked, “stop!” She scooped up the rat and put him in her bag. “Owls
hawks, snakes. Hed be a tasty meal.
“So” I said, “when does the enchantment start”
We were sitting side by side by, facing the moutains.
“it started when the earth was born.” Her eyes were closed. her face was golden in
the setting sun. “It never stops It is, always. Its just here.”
“So what do we do
She smiled. “Thats the secret.” Her eyes were closed. Her face was golden in the set
ting sun. “We do nothing. Or close as to no thing as we can.”
Write your own example sentences (3) that contain one different error each. Then go back and fix the
error using the proper proofreading mark. (It’s tough to come up with random sentences off the top of
your head, so we’ll give you a subject: Giant mutant slugs and the havoc they cause in a small farm town—
or any other random topic you can think up.)
Apply
To complete this lesson, return to your original writing and make all necessary corrections. Make your
corrections in a contrasting coloured pen/pencil.
Mini Grammar Boot Camp and Creative Writing Name
1. Proofreading
2. Nouns and Verbs
3. Types of Verbs
Choose a do now that you would like to expand into a longer piece of writing. Extra credit will be offered
for submitting a piece to the literary magazine.
Do Now Prompt:
Expand the prompt into 8 sentences OR into a 8-line poem. Number each sentence.
Nouns and Verbs
Highlight the NOUN in each of the following sentences (person, place, thing, or idea—and pronouns don’t
count):
1. I caught a wild monkey yesterday.
2. I think he came from Madagascar.
3. He bit my hand when I tried to feed him.
4. Then I tried to feed him some bananas.
5. It turns out he’s allergic to fruit.
Circle the VERB in each of the following sentences (the action of the sentence):
6. I searched my house for something edible other than fruit.
7. Finally, I discovered some cold pizza in the fridge.
8. The monkey absolutely loved pizza—especially the pepperonis.
9. So the monkey and I became best friends.
Noun and Verb Notes:
1. What is a noun?
2. What is a verb?
3. How can changing a word’s tense help you identify if it’s a verb?
4. What questions can you ask yourself to be sure if a word is a noun?
5. Highlight the nouns and circle the verbs in the following sentence:
a. We usually eat turkey and potatoes when my family gathers for
the holidays. The food is always delicious.
Verbs
Read the following sentences from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and change the underlined verbs
into PAST TENSE (it happened in the past):
1. The man outside is (
) hauling a heavy metal garbage can across the
alley to the high brick wall that runs (
) a round that part of the
graveyard.
Change the underlined verb into PRESENT TENSE (it’s happening right now):
2. The man Jack thought (
).
3. The stranger unlocked (
) the side gate.
Change the underlined verb into FUTURE TENSE (it will happen later):
4. They declared (
) this place an official nature reserve.
5. The stranger reached (
) them as silently as the fog itself, and he
watched the proceedings unfold from the shadows.
Identify which of the underlined words in this excerpt from The Graveyard Book are VERBS by circling the
verbs. Remember: only verbs can change tense—use that to check your answers.
6. Scarlett was carrying a large picture book; she sat next to her mother on the
green bench near the gates, and she read her book while her mother inspected
an educational supplement.
Identify which of the underlined words in this excerpt from The Graveyard Book are NOUNS by circling the
nouns (use the questions above to check your answers.)
1. There were bones on the ground, very old bones indeed, although below
where the steps entered the room Bod could see a crumpled corpse, dressed in
the remains of a long brown coat.
Read the excerpt from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and then answer the following questions:
(a) Up ahead of them, Bod saw a statue swing up, and another two creatures came
catapulting out into this crimson-skied world, just like the ones that carried Bod. (b)
One wore a raggedy silken gown that looked like it had once been white, the other
wore a stained grey suit too large for it, the sleeves of which were shredded into
shadowy tatters.
1. In sentence (a), is the word “world” a noun?
2. In sentence (a), which of the following words is a verb: creatures came
catapulting out? (Use the tense-change test.)
3. In sentence (b), is the word “stained” a verb?
4. Identify all the nouns in sentence (b)—there are six.
Apply
To complete this lesson, return to your original writing and highlight nouns and circle your verbs. Make
your markings in a contrasting coloured pen/pencil.
Mini Grammar Boot Camp and Creative Writing Name
1. Proofreading
2. Nouns and Verbs
3. Types of Verbs
Choose a do now that you would like to expand into a longer piece of writing. Extra credit will be offered
for submitting a piece to the literary magazine.
Do Now Prompt:
Expand the prompt into 15 sentences OR into a 15-line poem. Number each sentence.
Types of Verbs
Identify each of the underlined verbs as either an ACTION verb (AV) or a LINKING verb (LV):
The hospital hovercar finally came, settling onto the school
grounds so lightly that it hardly disturbed the fresh-mown grass.
The driver was a middle pretty, radiating confidence and
authority. He looked so much like Sol that Tally almost called her
father’s name.
“Tally Youngblood?” he said.
Identify the verb in the following sentences from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld:
1. Even without the nighttime lights and fireworks, the city’s surfaces
shone with glass and metal.
2. It was so much more vibrant than the Rusty Ruins.
3. The hovercar descended onto one of the red Xs on the hospital roof.
4. Instead of wise and confident, the man seemed cold, commanding,
intimidating, like some regal animal of prey.
Types of Verbs Notes:
1. Are the following verbs action verbs, linking verbs, or helping verbs?
a. Did, could, can, will, shall, have
b. Is, are, were, seemed, become
c. Danced, practiced, choose, forget, eat
2. How do you identify the verb in a sentence?
3. What is a verb phrase?
4. Replace the underlined verb with a verb phrase:
a. My neighbor’s mom ran for president.
5. Replace the underlined verb phrase with a one-word verb:
a. Nobody could have survived that plane crash.
Sometimes a verb in simple past, present, or future tense isn’t specific enough. In those situations, helping
verbs are used to create verb phrases that convey a more precise meaning.
Replace the underlined VERB PHRASE in each sentence from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld with a single
verb:
1. The survival kit did have soap, it turned out.
2. Somehow, she couldn’t recall his ugly face.
Circle the VERB PHRASE in each of the following sentences from Uglies:
3. “Well.” Tally sat up. “We should fix that right now.”
4. “Later, Shay. I can’t believe you.”
5. Tally snorted. “So you have done this before.”
Identify each underlined word in the following selection from Uglies as either an ACTION verb (AV), a
LINKING verb (LV), or a HELPING verb (HV):
Apparently, the Rusties did have some fun. It is (6) like a track. They
would (7) stick ground cars to it and go (8) as fast as they could.
In your own words…
1. What is the difference between an action verb and a linking verb?
2. What is a verb phrase?
3. Write a sentence with an action verb.
4. Write a sentence with a linking verb.
5. Write a sentence that uses one of the following helping verbs in a
verb phrase: should, might, can, did, have, must, will.
The most common linking verbs are forms of “be,” like “am,” “are,” “is,” “was,” “were,”
“being,” “been.” One easy way to recognize other linking verbs is to replace the verb with a
form of “be”—if it still makes sense, the verb is a linking verb.
Replace the underlined linking verbs in the following sentences with a form of “be”:
1. One computer screen appeared brighter than the others.
2. Unfortunately, the flowers I bought for her smelled terrible.
3. My friend seemed confused, so I explained it all to him.
4. This pizza tastes like cardboard. I love it!
Circle the linking verbs in the following excerpts from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (there are TWO in each
selection):
5. As the sky grew light, Tally heard the sound of the sea in the distance,
a faint roar coming from across the horizon. The air smelled like salt,
which brought back memories of going to the ocean with Ellie and
Sol as a littlie.
6. Those camping trips with Sol and Ellie felt as if they’d happened a
hundred years ago. She wonder if there was some operation that
could make her back into a littlie again, forever.
Read the following excerpt from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and then answer the following questions:
(a)
Tally pulled on a jacket, clipped her sensor to her belly ring,
and opened the window. (b) The air was still, the river so flat that
she could make out every detail in the city skyline mirrored in it.
(c) It looked like the pretties were having some sort of event. (d)
She could hear the roar of a huge crowd across the water, a
thousand cheers rising and falling together.
1. What are the three action verbs in sentence (a)?
2. There are five nouns in sentence (a); what are they?
3. What is the linking verb in sentence (b)?
4. In sentence (b), is the word “could” an action verb, linking verb, or
helping verb?
5. In sentence (c), is the word “looked” an action verb or a linking verb?
6. Identify the verb phrase in sentence (c).
7. Identify the helping verb in sentence (d).
Apply
To complete this lesson, return to your original writing and label the types of verbs: ACTION verb (AV),
LINKING verb (LV), or HELPING verb (HV). Make your markings in a contrasting coloured pen/pencil.