Great Adjectives

Language structures

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that adds to the meaning of a noun. It is sometimes called a ‘describing’ word.

Story Starters and Story Endings

Effective Story Starters

In Edoland, the ruler is Edo, as you can well understand, and all his courtiers are also Edo. It happened many years ago – but the story is worth telling again, before it is forgotten.

Primary Grammar Progression - Preface

This programme is a complete practical tool to help teachers and parents teach children under their care to master basic skills in grammar and punctuation; these are the essential tools for mastering the skills of effective reading and writing. Spelling, another essential tool for reading and writing is covered elsewhere in the booklet Primary Spelling and Phonics programme by the same author. The last essential skill for effective reading is language and context comprehension, this can be developed using graded reading books like Ladybird or schools published reading schemes and answering comprehension questions on texts read.

The programme is designed for use from the Reception class year up to Key stage 3 (children aged 5 to 12 years) and is divided into grammatical awareness and punctuation sections. The structure is progressive from year to year with constant revision built in for each year group; this enables opportunity for slower children to revisit work from previous years and for faster children to progress at their own pace. Children learning English as a second language will also find the teaching sequence helpful.

The programme can be used as a day to day reference material for the busy teacher; it cuts down on planning time and if used consistently should enable all children to become fully literate by the time they leave primary school. It can also serve as a useful tool for subject leaders and the school leadership team when monitoring teaching and learning of literacy and cross curricula work in their school.

The programme enables children to:

·       Have a growing repertoire of vocabulary to use in their speaking and writing activities

·       Develop an interest in books and other literary works

·       Use the full range of reading cues to monitor their reading

·       Have an interest in words and their meanings

·       Read  and write  with confidence and  fluency

·       Develop their powers of imaginative word use in creative and inventive writing 

·       Plan, draft, evaluate and edit their writing using appropriate words and punctuation

This programme serves as a companion to the Complete Language Structures kit by Fidelia Nimmons which can be downloaded from:  http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishB15.htm

 These series of programmes have been developed from my work as a reading and writing expert teacher working with hard to teach primary school children in South London.

Grammar Essentials for age 5 - 6

Year	Grammatical awareness	Punctuation
R	Nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositional words Teach: ·        use capital letters for start of their own names ·        Write captions and labels for pictures ·        Write sentences to match pictures or sequences of pictures using thinking-writing skills ·        Use correct sequence of movements to write letters	Punctuation to master: Capital letter for names
1	Nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositional words Nouns-  special names begin with capital letters Describing words (make sentences more interesting) More (-er) most (-est) Verbs regular  past tense (-ed) Did/ done (has) Adverb (-ly) Plurals (s, es) Articles a and an Teach: form simple sentences with one verb	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 question marks for questions (what, where, when, why, how?) Punctuation to master: . ?

Grammar Essentials for age 7

2

Nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositional words, connectives, pronouns Nouns-  special names begin with capital letters Describing words (make sentences more interesting) More adjectives More (-er) most (-est) Verbs regular  past tense (-ed) Use past tense consistently Did/ done (has), catch /caught , give/ gave Adverb (-ly) 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 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) Comparative nouns e.g. long, longer, longest Connectives ‘and’ and ‘but’  to join two simple sentences Collective nouns –e.g.  a team of players Teach form simple and compound sentences. A simple sentence has one verb Compound sentences are two or more simple sentences joined together Compound sentences are joined by a conjunction such as ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘because’ etc e.g. Harry fell down,  broke his wrist and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

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 question marks for questions words – who, when, how, what, where, which Use comma when we take a breath Use comma in a list Use of exclamation mark to: Mark surprise, humour, joy Show fear, anger, pain, danger, giving an order or shouting identify speech marks in reading Shortening words using full stops or the high comma ‘ Punctuation to master: . ? ! ,  “  “

Grammar Essentials for age 8

3

Nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositional words, connectives, pronouns Nouns-  special names begin with capital letters Describing words (make sentences more interesting) 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 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 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) Comparative nouns 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 Main clause & dependent clause Figures of speech – similes, metaphors 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. Complex sentence contains a main clause and a subordinate clause. A phrase is any group of words which taken together in a sentence, function as a part of speech: Noun phrases act together as a noun - Reading a book is good hobby (what: the subject) Adjectival phrase act together as an adjective – The woman in the red shiny dress is the owner of the cafe (which woman) A Verb phrase forms a verb My mum will be leaving for the station in an hour (what does or did the subject do?)

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 help make meaning clearer: Julia says her sister is ill. (sister ill) Julia, says her sister, is ill (Julia ill). 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 Shortening words using full stops or the high comma ‘ Use of apostrophe for ownership /possession Other uses of capitalisation: Personal pronoun I Each line of a poem Begin exact words spoken in inverted commas Words in titles Punctuation to master: ‘ . ? ! ,  “  “

Grammar Essentials for age 9

4

Nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositional words, connectives, pronouns 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 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 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 Main clause & dependent clause Figures of speech – similes, metaphors, personification 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 answer the questions: how, where, when or why e.g. Last night, Danielle drove her car carefully down the road, as it was snowing heavily. How did she drive – carefully (adverb) Where did she drive – down the road (adverb- where the verb is happening) When did she drive? Last night (adverb- when the verb happened) Teach: Complex sentence contains a main clause and a subordinate clause. Complex sentence can be made up of a single clause(a phrase with one verb) and one or more noun, adjectival or adverbial clauses

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 Shortening words using full stops or the high comma Use of apostrophe for ownership /possession To show possession: The girl’s shoe The girls’ shoes Use in abbreviation – to show where letters are missing: don’t (do not) For some unusual plurals: 7’s and 9’s; and p’s and q’s ; and A’s and B’s Basic rules for apostrophising: To show possession A single noun add s, Jane’s hat A plural noun ending in s, add ‘ boys’ bags A plural noun not ending in s, add s – women’s bags 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 Punctuation to master: Respond to punctuations ‘ . ? ! ,  “  “ ; : - ( ) -- ...  in reading