Download Document

Barningham CEVC
Primary School
Spelling, punctuation &
grammar
Welcome!
Before we start the main presentation, please take a few minutes to
work through the example test questions in your booklet.
What is SPAG?
Our session aims…
-Explain and outline what the
SPAG test is.
-Highlight some key areas of
knowledge
with strategies for helping your
child.
“Grammar to a writer is to
a mountaineer a good pair
of hiking boots or, more
precisely, to a deep-sea
diver an oxygen tank.”
You have just had a go at completing some of the
questions on the SPAG test. What did you think?
What have you found out?
• 45 mins
• Some multiple choice
• Some short words,
phrases or sentences
• Explain why….answers
• A separate spelling test
Key principles to remember…
CONTEXT is vital for both grammar
and punctuation.
1.
For children to pass the test, learning and understanding
needs to be secure.
2.
If children understand the context and purpose of
grammar and punctuation, they will be more likely to use it
well
3.
Grammar teaching needs to be part of the reading and
writing curriculum.
4.
Understanding grammatical terminology is a means to and
end: it should facilitate informed discussion and effective
writing
What do we expect the
children to know/learn?
The children will need to know 8 main word
types.
•
•
•
•
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Determiners
Prepositions
Pronouns
Conjunctions
Nouns
Nouns are the biggest word class (everyone and everything needs
a name!)
A noun is the name of a person, place, animal, thing or idea.
• Nouns can be singular or plural
• They can be proper (Alsatian), common (dog),
collective (team), or abstract (justice). Abstract nouns (Lv6)
are those that you cannot see/touch and can be emotions.
• Noun phrases- a ‘phrase’ takes its name from the overall job
that this group of words is doing…
So – ‘the big, blue, shiny bicycle’ – is a noun phrase
Pronouns
Pronouns stand in for a noun,
I, you, he, she, it, we, they,
My, your, his, her, our, their.
Pronouns are important for ‘cohesion’.
If children overuse them, the reader is not sure who
is being discussed. If they underuse them, the
writing can sound very repetitive and boring.
Determiners
• Determiners … ‘home’ you in on the
noun.
The most common determiners are
‘the’ (definate) and ‘a’ (indefinate)
Some more determiners:
•
•
•
•
this dog, that dog,
all dogs, every dog, some dogs, no dogs, each dog
one dog, two dogs
his dog, her dog, my dog
Verbs
Action words?
Find the action word in the following sentences
•
We are all enthusiastic teachers
•
Many animals are endangered
•
The boys played football
A verb is a ‘doing’ or a ‘being’ word. It tells us what is happening in the
sentence.
•
The most common verb in the english language is the verb ‘to be’
•
A verb can be a single word or a group of words which together form the
‘verb phrase’
The choir will be singing at the village hall.
The choir has been singing at the village hall.
The choir might be singing at the village hall.
The choir would have been singing at the village hall.
Adverbs
The lion was staring.
How?
The lion was staring menacingly.
Adverbs modify the verb.
They tell us how (adverb of manner), when (adverb of
time), or where (adverb of place).
Last Thursday, the lion was staring menacingly.
Last Thursday, at the Safari Park, the lion was staring menacingly out
towards the keepers.
Adverbs can move about the sentence, affecting the emphasis,
but not the meaning.
Prepositions
Prepositions express a relationship of meaning
between 2 parts of a sentence, usually to do with
space or time.
Simple prepositions may include:
about, across, after, at, before, behind, by, down,
during, for, from, to, inside, into, of, off, on, onto,
out, over, round, since, through, to, towards, under,
up, with.
See how many of these words you can use, in
sentences relating to your photgraph.
Adjectives
Describing words? How many adjectives can you find
in this highly descriptive passage?
The storm had ripped violently through the village, uprooting houses
and leaving possessions strewn across the valley. Pots, pans, tables,
chairs, household items of all kinds had been abandoned in the mud.
No children played in the playground, but a teddy –bear lay against
the roundabout, staring blankly at the scene.
An adjective describes ( or modifies) the noun.
• It might nestle close to the noun- or be elsewhere in the
sentence..
The silver car stood in the driveway.
The car in the driveway was silver.
Conjunctions (Connectives)
Sentences can be made longer by joining 2
clauses or parts of clauses together.
Words that link 2 parts of a sentence
together are called conjunctions ( the word
‘connective’ is used in the draft/sample test
material).
For example …because, so, while, for, and,
but, or, yet, even though, provided that….
Let’s have a go…
• Lets refresh our own skills with words…
How many nouns can you think of linked to the photograph?
Now do the same with adjectives, verbs and adverbs
Sentences
• One of the basic units of English is the sentence.
• Sentences are defined as a group of words with a VERB,
CAPITAL LETTER & FULL STOP.
• A sentence expresses a complete thought and makes sense.
• There are 4 types of sentence.
• Statement-assert facts/opinions
• Question-a sentence that could elicit an answer
• Command-an order which often leaves out the subject of
the sentence
• Exclamation-statements of surprise or strong emotion
• Word order is crucial
Sentences- Statement,
question, or exclamation?
A.Did you empty the dishwasher?
B. You did empty the dishwasher.
C.Empty the dishwasher.
D.You did empty the dishwasher!
Sentence types
• Simple sentence-a sentence which has only one
clause.
The dragon guarded the cave.
• Compound sentence-two or more simple sentences
joined by a conjunction.
The dragon guarded the cave and he scratched the
ground near the entrance.
Complex sentence-two or more clauses linked together in
one sentence.
• They contain a main clause and subordinate clause.
• The main clause is a standalone sentence-it also makes the main
point of the sentence.
• A subordinate clause has a subject and verb. It depends on the
main clause to make sense.
• Certain connectives/conjunctions indicate a complex sentence e.g.
although, but, until, when.
The dragon guarded the cave when the orb started glowing.
Everything was quiet until the storm began.
Until the storm began, everything was quiet.
When the orb started glowing, the dragon guarded the cave.
Look at our complex sentence window- can you create a
complex sentence for your photograph?
Punctuation- Expectations…
• To use punctuation marks correctly in
their writing, including full stops,
question and exclamation marks,
commas, inverted commas and
apostrophes to mark possession and
omission.
• At a basic level all children should at
least be able to use capital letters, full
stops, question marks and exclamation
marks correctly. (lv2)
Punctuation- what will help?
Capital letters A B C
• Full stops .
• Commas ,
• Colons :
• Semi-colons ;
• Ellipsis …
• Brackets ( )
Punctuation- Continued ! ,
• Exclamation marks !
Make the emotion of a sentence stronger and should be used in
moderation.
• Commas
1) Commas separate items in a list.
My interests include reading, cooking, dogs and horses
2)Commas can be used like brackets to give extra information.
The man, who was furious by now, ran up to the guard
3) Commas can be used to separate parts of a sentence or in complex
sentences to separate clauses.
Watching the monster, Jack began to tremble
The wind blew, making Leon shiver.
Stella, is that you?
Although he was upset, he managed a smile.
When no-one would let him in, Boris ran round to the back door.
Apostrophes ‘
• Apostrophes indicate missing letters/contractions.
is not > isn’t
we would > we’d
I will > I’ll
• Apostrophes indicate possession.
the dog’s bowl > the bowl that belongs to the dog
the woman’s hat > the hat that belongs to the woman
the princess’ crown > the crown that belongs to the princess
the butchers’ shop > the shop that belongs to the butcher
an extra s is option if the word ends in s or ss already e.g. parents’s
evening or parents’ evening is equally acceptable
it’s > it is or it has
its > possessive e.g. the statue lost its hands.
Dashes and hyphens The difference between dashes and hyphens.
• Dashes can work solo or in pairs. If they are by themselves
they introduce extra information. If there are two in a pair,
they behave like brackets.
He was frightened - more frightened than ever before.
The boy was rich - even richer than his parents.
Everyone - including Martha-thought Sam was crazy.
They found the room - the smallest in the school - big enough for
their needs.
• Hyphens are shorter than dashes and link words or ideas
together.
The hotel was child-friendly.
They saw a man-eating tiger.
Using colons :
Colons are markers or gateways to introduce extra
information such as a list or statement.
There are many different types of bread: ciabatta,
wholemeal, white, granary and baguette.
He could see what was written on the sign: this space is
reserved.
Using semi-colons ;
Semi-colons separate two clauses/parts of a sentence which are
linked.
They could be separated by a full stop but they shouldn’t be
separated by a comma.
It was Autumn; the leaves were falling.
It was Autumn. The leaves were falling.
It was Autumn, the leaves were falling. (comma splice)
The team played well; the manager was happy.
The team played well. The manager was happy.
The team played well, the manager was happy. (comma splice)
Semi colons are also used in lists e.g. The hotel pool was well
equipped: the 25m pool; a splash pool; a diving board for the adults.
Spelling
• 20 target words
• Word books
• Exercise books (SP x3)
Any Questions?
Useful and reliable websites
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar
http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/punctuation
https://oxforddictionaries.com/words/grammar
https://oxforddictionaries.com/words/spelling
AND FINALLY….
Synonyms-words with the same or
similar meanings.
e.g. synonyms for said are yelled,
screeched, whispered, replied.
Antonyms-a word which has the
opposite meaning to a given word.
e.g. antonyms for cold are hot, warm,
humid, fiery and balmy.
• Nouns name things, ideas or people. They can be concrete,
common, proper, abstract or collective.
e.g. cat, Derek, castle, love, fact
• Adjectives describe nouns. They can be absolute, comparative or
superlative.
e.g. red cat; hirsute Derek; bleak, intimidating castle; undying love;
interesting fact
• Verbs are doing or being words. They can behave in a range of
ways.
e.g. kick, is, feel, seem
• Adverbs describe how, where, and when things happen. They
‘describe’ verbs.
e.g. peacefully, carefully, outside, by the car, tomorrow, today
•
Pronouns are used in place of nouns.
e.g. Jack tried to carry Jack’s bag but Jack’s bag was too heavy for Jack.
Jack tried to carry his bag but it was too heavy for him.
•
Prepositions are words (sometimes a group of words) that show the
relationship between two parts of a sentence e.g. where, when, who.
e.g. The old man waited at the bus stop by the post office.
The match was pretty much all over after 10 minutes.
The lion was killed by the hunter
•
Conjunctions link together phrases, clauses or ideas in a sentence.
e.g. They went to the beach however it was too cold.
The children played while the bread was baking.
• Determiners are words which occur before nouns to show whether they
are plural, singular, definite etc.
e.g. the, a, these, our, both, each, every
•
Verb tenses and verb aspects
•
Present/past/future-different verb tenses indicate when the verb is being
executed.
e.g. Jack eats/Jack ate/Jack will eat
•
Perfect verbs are completed past actions.
e.g. I cooked/you ran/I stuck/she walked
•
Imperfect verbs are continuous past actions.
e.g. I was cooking and you were running/I was sticking pictures in my book/she was
walking to the zoo
•
Present continuous verbs are actions happening now and still happening.
e.g. she is cooking/Mo Farah is running/I am sticking/she is walking
•
Modal verbs are auxiliary/extra verbs which indicate possibility or obligation.
e.g. can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would
•
Changing Sentences
•
Phrases- word or words which perform a particular job in a sentence
e.g. noun, verb, adverb.
The soldier, the slope, an arrow, descended, fired, she
•
Clauses-a combination of phrases which includes a verb.
The soldier descended the slope
fired an arrow
•
Sentences-1 or more clauses which combine to create meaning.
The soldier descended the slope and fired an arrow.
• Pupils are encouraged to expand noun and verb phrases using
adjectives and adverbs.
The brave and determined soldier descended the snowy slope quietly and
fired a deadly, poison-tipped arrow.
•
Active and passive sentences
•
Most sentences are SUBJECT/VERB/OBJECT i.e. the thing carrying
out the action does the action on the thing receiving it. These are
active.
The dragon guarded the cave.
Norah consumed the enormous apple pie.
The Saxons hoarded the gold.
• Passive sentences have the word order changed.
(OBJECT/VERB/VERB/SUBJECT) and the ‘doer’ of the action is at the
end or even hidden. It is considered more formal or more technical.
The cave was guarded by the dragon.
The cave was guarded.
The enormous apple pie was consumed by Norah.
The enormous apple pie was consumed.
The gold was hoarded by the Saxons.
The gold was hoarded.