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Even Monkeys Fall From Trees “Pride … Precision … Progress” Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Reminders for students (and teachers!) ... A Summary Spelling Students should be reminded of correct spelling. Below are some common types of spelling errors to focus on: 1. Consonant + y = ies For example, “country”goes to “countries” 2. Double the consonant after a short vowel e.g. “stop” goes to “stopped” 3. Check homophones Students should also be reminded of the different strategies they can use to write and check words. It would be good to share some of your own. Punctuation – Full Stops and Capital Letters Definition of a sentence: A sentence is a unit of thought that makes sense on its own. Encourage students to recognise where their sentences don’t make sense. Remind them of the need for full stops and other end-of-sentence punctuation. Remind them of the need for proper nouns (names) to have capital letters. Commas Remind students of the need to for commas in the following situations: 1. Between clauses when the subordinate clause precedes the independent clause. 2. As serving a similar function to brackets 3. After discourse markers Apostrophes Remind students of the need to use apostrophes in the following situations: 1. To signal possession 2. To signal a missing letter or letters in contractions (In formal writing, contractions should be avoided) Paragraphs Students should organise their writing into paragraphs. The basic rule is: New Topic = New Paragraph. A Common Language to Discuss Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Spelling Below are some common spelling errors with the rules and techniques that students need to apply in order to correct them: Doubling the Consonant after a Short Vowel Put simply, there are two kinds of vowels in the English language – short and long. Below is a table: Short Vowel Long Vowel a as in mad a as in gave e as in red e as in seed i as in sit i as in spite o as in hop o as in hope u as in bud u as in lute A word like red ends with a short vowel + a consonant. When you want to add a suffix to these kinds of words, the final consonant needs to double e.g. Mad – maddest Red – redder Sit – Sitting Hop – hopped Bud – budded With the words ending in a long vowel + consonant or long vowel + consonant + e, the prefix is just added and nothing changes with the original word. Consonant + Y goes to – ies This is another common error and students are often unaware that there is a simple rule for this. - If the word ends in a vowel + y, then you just add an s e.g. monkeys, bays, buoys - If the word ends in a consonant + s, the y changes to an i and you add es e.g. try – tries; fly – flies; country – countries Homophones These are words that sound the same, but are spelt differently e.g. their and their; practice and practise. Draw attention to these errors and help correct. Spelling Strategies Below are some ways we can remember spellings. We should be aware of some of them, but it’s good to remind ourselves of them and apply them in different subject areas. Break into sounds (d-i-a-r-y) Break into syllables (re-mem-ber) Break into affixes (dis+appear) Use a mnemomic (necessary – one collar, two sleeves) Word families (sign – signature; muscle - muscular) Say it as it sounds (Wed-nes-day) Words within words (Iron – I + ron) Refer to etymology (photo+graph = light+writing) Use analogy (light/night/bright) Also you can create a story: A light at night is bright. I measured the height and weight of eight people. Use a key word (solution – soluble) Apply spelling rules (Consonant +Y at the end of word changes to “i + es” e.g. “Try” goes to “tried” Learn by sight and memory (Look – cover – write – check) Punctuation and Grammar Students often make the following errors when constructing sentences: 1. Constructing sentences without a finite verb. For our purposes, this is a verb that signals a specific tense or time. If a sentence lacks this, you don’t know whether the event being described is happening in the past, present or future. For example: Seeing the ships come in. If this has a finite verb, it will read any of the following ways: He He He He saw the ships come in. sees the ships coming in. is seeing the ships come in. will see the ships come in. 2. Writing sentences that are too long with the word and linking section after section. 3. Sentences that simply don’t make sense. When helping students with their sentence structure, it’s worth keeping in mind the following definition: A sentence is a unit of thought that makes sense on its own. Tips: Encourage students to read back through their sentences. Ask them: Does this make sense? Is this a complete unit of thought or does it need some more words to complete it? - With students who write long sentences, encourage them to break down their points. A clear sentence in non-fiction writing does not need more than two clauses usually. This will force the students to break down their ideas and think carefully about how to structure their thinking. Another suggestion is to state that they should avoid more than one “and” in a single sentence. - If students construct a sentence without a finite verb, ask them when the action they are describing is supposed to be happening. The Comma Essentially, the comma works in three ways: 1. To separate off “chunks of meaning” in a sentence (clauses) 2. As brackets 3. To separate off discourse markers 1.Commas to separate off chunks of meaning 1. A complex sentence made of two (or more) chunks of meaning or clauses. For example: When he won the race, he ran up to his mother. 2. The first clause (underlined) doesn’t make sense on its own. This is called a subordinate clause. 3. The second clause does make sense on its own. This is called the main or independent clause. 4. If a sentence begins with a subordinate clause, a comma should separate the two clauses. 5. If the comma begins with an independent clause, there is no need for a comma. Examples (subordinate clauses are underlined) a/ If a pregnant lady smokes, her baby may be damaged. b/ When the earthquake strikes, you should crouch under a table. c/ It will only catch fire after oxygen is added. 6. A comma is often used before “but” and “ because” 2. Commas as “brackets” 1. The following sentences have additional information inserted into them. a/ Highcliffe, a town on the south-coast of England, has two schools. b/ The atomic bomb, which was first dropped in 1945, destroyed Hiroshima. 2. This information is separated off by commas. Students will often put in the first comma and forget the second. 3. Commas being used like brackets can also feature in the following sentences: a/ The man, 43, was arrested. b/ The prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, urged Britain to fight. 4.Watch out for sentences like these: a/ The students who had finished the exam went home. b/ The students, who had finished the exam, went home. What is the difference in meaning? a/ means only those students who had finished the exam went home. This is known as defining relative clause, because it defines a specific group. b/ means all the students went home. This is known as non-defining relative clause, because it doesn’t specify a group. 3.Commas to mark off discourse markers and sentence adverbials I use the term discourse markers loosely to cover those words which help lead a reader through a piece of writing. Sentence adverbials are adverbs used to demonstrate an attitude to the content of the sentence. The most famous example is: Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. “Frankly” is the sentence adverbial. Below are some examples: a/ However, there are some problems. b/ There are, however, some problems. c/ On the one hand, ..... On the other hand, .... d/ According to research, ... e/ Firstly, there is the issue of cost. f/ Furthermore, insufficient money is available for the project. g/ Unfortunately, the project will not be able to go ahead. The Apostrophe Students should understand that this has two functions: 1. To signal possession 2. To signal that a word is missing The Apostrophe of Possession 1. Students should be reminded that the apostrophe follows the object or person doing the owning e.g. - The experiment’s results were valid. - The soldiers’ equipment was sub-standard. 2. If the student is unclear ask them: What object or person is doing the owning? Once you’ve got an answer, then ask them where the apostrophe goes or point out that the apostrophe immediately follows it. The Apostrophe of Omission 1. Students should be reminded that words with missing letters need an apostrophe to signal this e.g. You’re; won’t. These are called contractions. In formal writing students shouldn’t be using contractions anyway. They should be using the full forms. 2. They should be reminded that It’s = It is and Its = possession. The Colon This is useful for introducing a list e.g. 1. There are three problems with this: 1. The cost 2. The timing 3. The place 2. For a successful experiment we will need the following: a test tube, a bunsen burner and magnesium. Paragraphing Students should organise their writing into paragraphs. The general rule is: New topic = New Paragraph. “Pride …. Precision … Progress”