The Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar - Some Questions and Answers About Grammar. The Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar Some Questions and Answers About Grammar Why is grammar important?
Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to talk about language. Grammar names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences not only in English but in any language. As human beings, we can put sentences together even as children--we can all do grammar. People associate grammar with errors and correctness. Is grammar included in the NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts? Four of the twelve standards call on the students' understanding of language and sentence structure: • Standard #3 refers to the range of strategies and abilities students should use to comprehend and appreciate texts, and among these is their understanding of sentence structure. I hear that teaching grammar doesn't help students to make fewer errors.
Teaching grammar will not make writing errors go away. Two suggestions: Introduction to Sentence Combining - Sentence Combining Exercises. This exercise will introduce you to sentence combining--that is, organizing sets of short, choppy sentences into longer, more effective ones.
However, the goal of sentence combining is not to produce longer sentences but rather to develop more effective sentences--and to help you become a more versatile writer. Sentence combining calls on you to experiment with different methods of putting words together. Because there are countless ways to build sentences, your goal is not to find the one "correct" combination but to consider different arrangements before you decide which one is the most effective.
An Example of Sentence Combining Let's consider an example. She was our Latin teacher. Have you succeeded in combining the sentences? Our Latin teacher in high school was a tiny woman. If you're curious, here is the sentence that served as the original model for this little combining exercise: Evaluating Sentence Combinations. GrammarCheck.net – Free Online Grammar Checker. The Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar - Tips for Teaching Grammar. Your Road to Better Grammar. Welcome to NoRedInk! Grammaropolis. EasyWriter. Teaching Grammar to Test-Takers Is Unlike Teaching It to Writers. List of Verbs. This list of verbs will help you understand verbs a little better.
For a more in-depth look at verbs, see the verb page. Quick Refresher Verbs are words that show action or state of being. There are three major categories of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs (also called auxiliary verbs). Let's check them out! As their name implies, action verbs show action. Keep in mind that action doesn't always mean movement. Talia thought about bears. In that example, the verb thought does not show movement, but it is still an action verb. There are many, many action verbs. If you've checked out this site much, you know that I think sentence diagramming rules when it comes to teaching and learning grammar. Sentence diagramming is a way to visually show how all of the words in the sentence are related to each other. All verbs are diagrammed on a horizontal line after the subject. 1. Certain action verbs called transitive active verbs transfer action to something called a direct object.
Cybrary Man's list. Image Grammar. HyperGrammar. Welcome to HyperGrammar electronic grammar course at the University of Ottawa's Writing Centre.
This course covers approximately the same ground as our English department's ENG 1320 Grammar course. The content of HyperGrammar is the result of the collaborative work of the four instructors who were teaching the course in Fall 1993: Heather MacFadyen, David Megginson, Frances Peck, and Dorothy Turner. David Megginson was then responsible for editing the grammar and exercises and for converting them to SGML. This package is designed to allow users a great deal of freedom and creativity as they read about grammar. HyperGrammar allows users to create and follow their own lines of thought. This package is currently under construction! Please read the Copyright and Terms of Use before you begin using HyperGrammar, and note that we provide NO WARRANTY of the accuracy or fitness for use of the information in this package. * This site uses the Oxford dictionary spelling.
: Quick and Dirty Tips ™ Mignon Fogarty is the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips network and creator of Grammar Girl, which has been named one of Writer's Digest's 101 best websites for writers multiple times. The Grammar Girl podcast has also won Best Education Podcast multiple times in the Podcast Awards, and Mignon is an inductee in the Podcasting Hall of Fame. Mignon is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" and six other books on writing. She has appeared as a guest on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and the "Today Show" and has been featured in the New York Times, Business Week, the Washington Post, USA Today, CNN.com, and more.
She was previously the chair of media entrepreneurship in the Reynolds School of Journalism in Reno, NV. She hates the phrase "grammar nazi" and loves the word "kerfuffle. " Mignon believes that learning is fun, and the vast rules of grammar are wonderful fodder for lifelong study. Awards Media. The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. The YUNiversity. Grammar Bytes!