Grammar Essentials for age 10

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Nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositional words, connectives, pronouns , proverbs, idioms, slangs   Nouns-  special names begin with capital letters Describing words (make sentences more interesting) Comparative nouns Collective nouns More (-er) most (-est) Singular and plural nouns Verbs regular  past tense (-ed) Use past tense consistently Use verb tenses with increasing accuracy in speaking and writing Did/ done (has), catch /caught , give/ gave Verbs is/are, was/ were Verb tense: present, past, future Auxillary verbs – have, was, shall, will Verb forms – active, interrogative, imperative Adverb (-ly) (how words) Find good adverbs to describe the verb Plurals (s, es) more than one Articles a and an Use of article an with words beginning with silent h in an hour Owning words (pronouns) my, his, her, its, yours Pronouns – whom, who, which, it Person – 1st, 2nd, 3rd Opposite words Person verb agreement (I run, you run, he runs, they run) Noun / pronoun/ verb agreement ( I ma, they are, we are, he is) Verb / noun agreement Comparative adjectives e.g. long, longer, longest Connectives ‘and’ and ‘but’  to join two simple sentences Collective nouns –e.g.  a team of players Abstract nouns e.g.  feelings, thoughts Gender of nouns Main clause & dependent clause Figures of speech – similes, metaphors, personification Ongoing work on: Phrases, sentences & paragraphs. Other connectives: When, because, until, before, Use these to form complex sentences (dependent clause) Teach sentence with two verbs of equal weight is a compound sentence More connectives Until, before, after, unless, if Use alternative (powerful) adverbs and adjectives to make writing more interesting Direct and indirect speech Investigate word classes e.g. Noun (pleasure) Adjective (pleasant) Verb(please)  Adverb (pleasurably)  Adverbial phrases – adverbs of Manner (how it was done) Time (when it was done) Place ( where it was done) Use of standard English: Concord agreement of singular with singular and plural with plural. Agreement between nouns & verbs Consistency of tense and subject Avoidance of double negatives Avoidance of non-standard dialect words Teach: Revise composition of simple, compound and complex sentences and the essential points of Grammar at this stage. Teach:  independent use of dictionaries, thesauri, reference books,  internet research skills  etc. Know all parts of speech

Capital letter for names Capital letter for start of  a sentence Capital letter for personal pronoun I Capital letter for personal titles (Mr, Mrs) Use full stop for ending sentences Use of full stop for abbreviation Use of full stop for when a word has been made shorter Use question marks for questions words – who, when, how, what, where, which Use comma when we take a breath Use comma in a list use comma to separate group of words use comma to separate connectives that come in pairs in sentences e.g. neither nor, use comma to separate a subordinate clause from the main clause in a sentence Use of exclamation mark to Mark surprise, humour, joy Show fear, anger, pain, danger, giving an order or shouting identify speech marks in reading understand basic conventions of speech punctuation only put speech marks round actual words spoken when a quotation is interrupted in mid-sentence, you don’t need a capital letter when you restart the speech. Before closing or reopening quotation marks there must always be a point of punctuation, usually a comma otherwise a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark A new line should be used for each new speaker. If a speaker quotes someone else, use single quotation marks for the words the speaker is quoting e.g. “ I heard the man shout ‘Run!’, “Amy cried. Shortening words using full stops or the high comma Use of apostrophe for ownership /possession Basic rules for apostrophising Boy’s hat, boys’ hats Other uses of capitalisation: Personal pronoun I Each line of a poem Begin exact words spoken in inverted commas Words in titles Colon: to signal a list or explanation To introduce a list or example Separate two statements where the second explains the first To introduce a lengthy quotation To punctuate speech in plays Punctuation to master: Respond to punctuations ‘ . ? ! ,  “  “ ; : - ( ) -- ...  in reading ‘ . ? ! ,  “  “ ; : - ( )  in writing