Download QBS Continuum for Progression Grammar

QBS Continuum for Progression Grammar
Please note this is just a guide. It is written in depth to try and ensure that as teacher at QBS
we have a common language and an understanding of grammatical terms. Using these terms
with children may or may not be appropriate dependent on the task and the context. Much of
this work should be taught in context, not through drills and worksheets. Teacher modeled
writing is an ideal way of explicitly teaching grammar.
Love Reading and Love Writing
“What kids need is a headful of songs that are not songs but
blocks of refined and achieved and exemplary language…when that
happens children have the guardian angel installed behind the
tongue.”
Ted Hughes
ONGOING
Phase 1 and 2
End of Year expectations are a guide only, please be aware
that students may well go beyond these.
Consistent ways of recording words
or ideas enable members of a
language community to
understand each other’s writing.
Written language works differently
from spoken language.
Focus on oral language
A sentence is a unit of meaning.
A sentence begins with a capital letter.
Nouns are naming words and are used to represent who or
what.
Verbs are happening words.
Sentences end with a full stop.
There are spaces between words.
There are singular and plural nouns. An S is often added to
form a plural.
(By the end of Year 1 the majority of learners should know
the above but may not be using it consistently.)
Adjectives and adverbs
An adjective is a describing word.
An adverb provides more information about the words that
indicate what is happening.
Adverbs often end in “ly”.
Capital Letters
All sentences begin with a capital letter.
Capital letters are used for emphasis and for names of
special days.
Punctuation.
Statements and commands end in a full stop, questions
with a question mark. Full stops are used in initials.
Connectives and conjuctions
Connectives are words that sequence ideas, e.g. then,
next. with words such as: and, but.
Conjunctions are joining words, e.g. and, but, so. They can
join words, word groups and clauses.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring
words.
( By the end of Year 2 the majority of learners should know
the above.)
Phase 3
When writing, the words we choose and how we
choose to use them enable us to share our
imaginings and ideas.
Joining sentences.
Compound sentences are formed when two or more
clauses of equal importance are joined by words such
as: and, but, so, or, because e.g. The knot in
the string unravelled and the balloon floated away.
Punctuation
Exclamations end with an exclamation mark.
Speech punctuation
Direct speech is what a character says, e.g. “Where are
you going?”asked the wolf.
Paragraphs
Visual cues, e.g. use of line breaks and indentation, can be
used to identify paragraphs in a text.
Time connectives
Time and sequence connectives link ideas and events in
recounts and narratives, e.g. first, next, finally, by
morning.
Connectives
Connectives sequence ideas in
reports and arguments, e.g. in the first place, secondly.
Captial letters
Proper nouns generally begin with a capital letter.
Adjectives.
Adjectives describe nouns in particular ways (size, colour,
shape, number) e.g. blue, round, four.
Adjectives generally are included within the noun group,
though they can also be used after a
being/having verb, e.g. Mother is
happy.
Tenses
Verbs can be inflected to show when something occurred
or will occur (present, past or future), e.g. She
likes (liked, will like) walking her dog.
Tense describes time (present, pastor future), e.g. when an
action takes place, and is used consistently across a text.
Commas
A comma is used in compound noun groups, i.e. a list of
things, containing more than two items, e.g. Henry
bought a lettuce, two bananas, some milk and four apples.
No comma is needed before the “and” that precedes the
final item in the list.
Ellipses
Show incomplete lines of text or words have been omitted
( By the end of Year 3 the majority of learners should know
the above)
Commas
A comma is used in compound noun groups, i.e. a list of
things, containing more than two items, e.g. Henry
bought a lettuce, two bananas, some milk and four apples.
No comma is needed before the “and” that precedes the
final item in the list.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs consist of a group of sentences.
Each paragraph deals with a single unified topic or event.
A paragraph can range from an individual sentence to a
number of sentences.
A paragraph generally contains a topic sentence, which
usually occurs at the beginning of the paragraph.
A topic sentence is used to state the main idea of a
paragraph.
The rest of the paragraph generally elaborates on the topic
sentence.
Phase 4
The way we structure and organise our
writing helps others to understand and
appreciate it.
Pronouns
Pronouns are used to set up links in a text by referring
backwards or forwards to nouns/noun groups. These
include personal pronouns, e.g. he, him, they;
and demonstrative pronouns, e.g. this,that, these, those.
A pronoun can also refer outside the text to something in
the surrounding context, e.g. I, me, her, it (personal);
and mine, yours (possessive). It is used so that the noun
does not need to be repeated in a sentence.
Collective nouns
Collective nouns label groups, e.g. flock; and singular
nouns label individual things, e.g. bird.
Adverbs and adverbial phrases
Adverbs indicate the circumstances surrounding the activity
and answer questions such as how, when,
where, why.
Adverbials can provide more information about an activity,
e.g.
where? when? how?
There are two main types of
adverbials:
− an adverb (often a single word, e.g. softly)
− an adverbial phrase (consisting of a preposition and a
noun group). For example; The Cheshire Cat vanished
quite slowly, beginning with the end of its tail.
• Onomatopoeia
Words that look like they sound.
http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/onomato/poeia.html
Paragraphs
Paragraphs are used to group the major ideas within a text
so readers can recognise the key messages and make
associations between them.
In a narrative, when there are changes, e.g. such as shifts
in time or place, or the introduction of a new
character or the beginning of the complication, a new
paragraph maybe formed.
Connectives
Cause/effect and compare/contrast connectives are
signposts indicating how ideas are related and
structured, e.g. so, therefore, as a result, in that case, on
the other hand, in comparison, however.
Antonyms
( Words that mean the oppositie of other words)
Antonyms, e.g. The wolf was happy, which gave the pig
every reason to be sad.
Conjunctions
Clauses in complex sentences are joined by conjunctions
such as: because, since, when, after, although.
( By the end of Year 4 the majority of learners should know
the above)
Apostrophes
We use an apostrophe [ ’ ] to create possessive forms,
contractions, and some plurals). The apostrophe shows
where a letter or letters have been left out of a contracted
verb. Don’t can’t
Brackets
Always appear in pairs
Used to enclose non-essential information You are required
to attend QBS (avoid playtime if at all possible)
Colons
Used to introduce a long list, after the heading in a journal/
memo, introduce a long direct quotation.
Commas
Phase 5
Through the process of planning, drafting,
editing and revising, our writing improves
overtime.
A comma is used in a list of adjectives containing more
than two items, e.g. The painting was blue, pink, yellow and
red. No comma is needed before the “and” that
precedes the final item in the list.
A comma is used in a list of adverbs containing more than
two items, e.g. Swiftly, silently and sneakily, the cat
followed the bird. No comma is needed before the “and”
that precedes the final item in the list.
A comma is used in a sentence to further explain. Dean,
the tallest boy in the class, helped put up the poster.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs are used to group the major ideas within a text
so readers can recognise the key messages and make
associations between them.
In a narrative, when there are changes, e.g. such as shifts
in time or place, or the introduction of a new
character or the beginning of the complication, a new
paragraph maybe formed.
Prepositions
Prepositions can be placed in front of a noun group to show
where or when in adverbial phrases, e.g. over the fence, on
the table.
Prepositions can be placed in front of a noun group to show
“which” in adjectival phrases, e.g. the fence
near the tree.
Indirect speech
Indirect speech is another person’s report of what was said,
e.g. Red Riding Hood told how the wolf said
that he was going for a walk.
Verbs and tenses
The verb group must “agree” with the subject of the clause,
i.e. a plural subject must have a plural verb, e.g. “the boys
were going to school”, not
“the boys was going to school”.
Generally the tense should remain relatively consistent
throughout the text.
The selection of specific verbs adds detail and interest to a
text, e.g. “moan” compared with “said”.
Verbs can be inflected to show first, second or third person,
e.g. I jump, you jump, she jumps.
Synonyms
Related and repeated words across a text, such as
synonyms, are used to set up cohesive links, e.g. using
synonyms: the king … the ruler …
the current monarch …His Majesty.
Similes
A comma is often used to separate two clauses joined
together with “and”, “or”, “but”, “while” and “yet”,
e.g. I thought the balloon floated away, but I was wrong.
A comma can be used after an adverbial (including
adverbial clauses) that is placed at the beginning of a
sentence, e.g. after a while, the seal swam away; when we
had finished eating, we watched television.
( By the end of Year 5 the majority of learners should know
the above)
Connectives
Clarifying connectives set up links in the text, e.g. in other
words, however, in particular.
Semi Colons
To join sentences with two or main clauses.
In a series of 3 or more items when commas are used
within the items.
To separate the main ideas in a dictionary or glossary.
Hyphens
To show that two words should be read as a single word.
To join a group of words to form an expression ie Have-aGo-Card
Adverbials
Adverbials can move around in the clause:
− Happily I went on my way.
− I happily went on my way.
− I went happily on my way.
− I went on my way happily.
Verbs choices
Thinking feeling or action verbs can be used to express
opinions, evaluate ideas and information, portray people,
places, events and things in ways that may appeal to
certain groups, and present an issue in a way to persuade
a particular audience, e.g. “The boy paced outside the
office”, compared with
“The boy skulked outside the office”.
Adverbs
Adverbs may be placed in different positions in a sentence,
e.g. “Slowly, the dog ate its dinner” or “The dog ate its
dinner slowly”.
• Viewpoint and comment adverbs express the
writer/speaker’s attitude towards the topic, e.g. Personally, I
think he was rude.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made
between two unlike things that actually have something in
common.
Personification
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or
abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
Irony
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal
meaning.
Evaluative language
Evaluative language can be used to comment on the
significance of an event, e.g. it was like a bad dream.
Evaluations are intensified or softened by making direct
evaluative statements, e.g. It was a devastating
flood or by making subtle references
through choice of adjectives, verbs and adverbs, e.g. The
water gushed over everything.
Punctuation conventions
The conventional punctuation of dialogue in narrative and
quotations in news reports and recounts uses
quotation marks and commas.
There is a specific convention for punctuation of dialogue
when the attribution occurs in the middle of the dialogue,
e.g. “Yesterday,” she said, “I went to the beach”.
( By the end of Year 6 the majority of learners should know
the above)
References
Scope and Sequence grammar Years 1-9 Queensland Studies
Authority.http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/early_middle/qcar_ss_english_grammar.pdf
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/apostrophe.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/metaphorterm.htm
Writing Resource Book First Steps 2nd Ed.