Category Archives: grammar

Is it important to know if a clause is a noun clause, an adjective clause or an adverb clause? My sixth grade son is railing against learning this “stupid” information.

Posted on March 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

If the point is to be able to identify the type of dependent clause (sometimes called subordinate clause) for a grammar test, and not to use that information for any further work, then I agree with your son. Knowing the names of some constructions seems a waste of time.

Perplexed student writing

However, as he becomes a more mature writer and analyzes his writing in order to improve it, knowing how to identify certain constructions can be useful.

For example, suppose he writes a paragraph and has the impression that there is a sameness to the sentences, but he can’t figure out why. If he analyzes the paragraph for sentence construction, he might see immediately what the problem is. Take the following paragraph, for example.

1 My friend, Bob, invited me over for pizza after we finished soccer practice. 2 Of course, I said yes, since I was famished. 3 We ordered a mushroom pizza because Bob is a vegetarian. 4 The delivery man came late since he encountered a car accident down the road. 5 We tipped him extra even though neither Bob nor I have much money. 6 Man, that pizza tasted good!

Now let’s analyze it.

Sentence 1—independent clause, adverbial dependent clause
Sentence 2—independent clause, adverbial dependent clause
Sentence 3—independent clause, adverbial dependent clause
Sentence 4—independent clause, adverbial dependent clause
Sentence 5—independent clause, adverbial dependent clause
Sentence 6—independent clause

Five of the six sentences above follow the same construction: an independent clause followed by a dependent adverbial clause. The dependent clauses begin with four different words (after, since, because, since, even though), but they all come at the same place in the complex sentence.

Knowing this, the writer could easily add variety and reader interest to his sentences. He could put one of the dependent clauses at the beginning of the sentence. He could turn one of the complex sentences into a complicated simple sentence. He could turn one of the complex sentences into a phrase. He could combine two of the sentences into an extended sentence. He could add a direct quote.

In every field of study, we need specific vocabulary words to identify what we are thinking about. Grammar is no different. But knowing the words is useless unless we use the words for some purpose that makes sense to the user.

Perhaps you could talk to your son’s English teacher and tell her/him about the problem your son is encountering. Perhaps the teacher could connect the skill of identifying types of dependent clauses to further study—even if that study will not happen in sixth grade. Connecting what we learn to the real world (in this case, the world of writing) is important to motivate students to learn. I remember being in trigonometry class in high school, and asking the teacher why I needed to know sine, cosine and tangent. She couldn’t give me an answer. My desire to learn that math was low.

Good luck!

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Posted in complex sentence, grammar

How can writing improve reading?

Posted on February 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

When educators combed research on the writing / reading connection in 2010, they found three writing activities which improve reading comprehension.

EPSON MFP image

  • Having students write about the stories and texts they read by writing personal responses, analyses, or interpretations; by writing summaries; by writing notes; and by answering or asking questions in writing about what they have read.
  • Having students learn about the process of writing; about how texts are structured; about how paragraphs and sentences are put together; and about how to spell.
  • Having students write  frequently.

All of these writing activities improve students’ reading. In future blogs, we will look at why these activities improve reading, and how these activities can be incorporated into a student’s schoolwork or work at home. We’ll start in the next blog with the last idea, that students should write more to improve their reading.

Meanwhile, for more information, see Writing to Read.  At this site you can read the full report, Writing to Read; evidence for how writing can improve reading by Steve Graham and Michael Hebert for the Carnegie Corp. of NY, 2010.

You might also enjoy reading Shanahan on Literacy, a blog about reading by an expert in the field. In his current blog, Dr. Shanahan comments on ideas in this report.

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Posted in complex sentence, grammar, practice reading skills, practice writing skills, research on writing, write to read better

What can we learn from the grammar part of the SAT to help with writing?

Posted on February 17, 2016 | Leave a comment

The SAT is a test used to determine whether a student is well prepared for college-level work. Part of the SAT tests students on grammar by asking students to replace poorly worded sentences with error-free ones or to pick out the erroneously used word/s from several choices.

boy writing on a window bench

The SAT uses the same kinds of errors over and over. If high school students have trouble with these kinds of errors, younger children are likely to also.   Students need direct instruction on these kinds of errors.Children are not likely to recognize these errors or know how to fix them without instruction.
Some of the errors I see on almost every SAT include:

  • Run-on sentences and sentence fragments. Often, one clause is started, but it is interrupted by a second clause and the the first clause is not finished. Or a fragment is so long it seems to be a sentence. Students need to recognize that every clause needs a subject and a verb.
  • Subject-verb agreement. This means that a singular subject should be paired with a singular verb, or a plural subject should be paired with a plural verb. For example, “Her homework is done” (both subject and verb are singular) or “Each of the children does well” (Each is the subject, so it is paired with a singular verb, does).
  • Third person singular present tense and present perfect tense verbs. Such present tense verbs usually have an “s” at the end. Some irregular present tense verbs have an “es” such as “goes” and “does.” Present perfect third person verbs use “has” as the helping verb, not “have.”
  • Pronoun-antecedent agreement. This means that when a pronoun is used, it must agree in number and in gender with the noun it replaces. For example, “I saw the girl. She [the girl] was walking toward me [I].” Problems arise when the pronoun is not near its antecedent noun or when there are intervening words (or clauses). Children who struggle with pronoun-antecedents might have inference problems. I have also encountered many ESL students who mix up “he” and “she” and “him” and “her.”
  • Verb tense problems. In general, paragraphs are written in the same verb tense, but there are good reasons to use more than one verb tense. However, the writer can’t change tenses willy-nilly.
  • Dangling participles. Sentences which start with “Hearing the door open” should be followed immediately with the person who is doing the hearing.
  • Parallel structure. This means two or more ideas in the same sentence should be worded using similar grammar. In the sentence, “I like skipping rope and to play soccer,” the sentence should be rewritten to say either “skipping rope and playing soccer” or “to skip rope and to play soccer.” These are simple examples, but the SAT usually uses examples which are more difficult to discern.
  • Each, every, any, nothing, none, everything, and anything are singular pronouns and take singular verbs. I tell students to mentally insert the word “one” after these words to remind them that these words take a singular verb.
  • Verb/prepositions pairs. Some verbs are always followed by certain prepositions. This can be hard because some verbs when used one way take one preposition, but when used another way take a different preposition. Hearing these pairings used correctly for years is enough for most students to figure them out, but for other students, these pairings must be memorized.
  • Words which sound similar. Since their meanings differ, they cannot be substituted one for the other. And some words which sound the same can be spelled differently depending on the meaning. They cannot be substituted either.
  • Apostrophes. Possessive nouns use apostrophes but possessive pronouns do not. Once children learn about apostrophes, they confuse simple plurals which don’t need apostrophes with possessive plurals. Lots of practice is needed for correct use of apostrophes to sink in.
  • Their, there, they’re; it’s, its; and too, to, two befuddle students. Like apostrophes, learning when to use these words takes lots of practice.

Why is it important to master grammar? Spell check can find some of these errors, but not all. Or it can suggest what words are probably in error without suggesting a way to fix them. You need to be able to find your errors.

But more importantly, when we write, we are trying to impress someone with our ideas. The grammar should be invisible. If grammar draws attention to itself because of errors, you have lost some of your power to impress others. For children, that could mean a lower grade on an essay, but for an adult, that could mean being rejected by a university or by a potential client.

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Posted in grammar, present perfect verbs, SAT

How do you paraphrase?

Posted on July 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

In the 21st century, middle school students are writing research papers, so they need to know how to paraphrase. Quoting word-for-word is no longer the preferred way to present information in a research paper; paraphrasing is.

So what is paraphrasing? Paraphrasing is saying what someone else said (or wrote) using your own vocabulary and grammar. Paraphrasing turns antiquated writing into easy-to-understand modern writing; paraphrasing captures the essence of a writer’s ideas while ignoring his boring language; paraphrasing avoids plagiarism.

Paraphrasing is not the same as summarizing. In a paraphrase, the writer tries to capture all the important details of the original; in a summary, the writer leaves out most of those details.

How does a student paraphrase?

  • First, read the selection to be paraphrased. If you don’t understand every word and idea, read it again, look up words and ask for help. You can’t paraphrase what you don’t understand.
  • Carefully study the first sentence. Put it in your own words, being careful to use different vocabulary.   In particular, change the verbs if you can, using specific synonyms.
  • Now change the grammar. Try changing the order of the parts of the sentence so the ideas are the same, but they are not stated within a sentence in the same order.
  • Of course, you will need to use some of the same words in the original for which there are no synonyms, or for which alternatives would be cumbersome. If you are paraphrasing rules about how to play soccer, for example, you would need to use “soccer,” “ball,” “goal, “field” “play” and many other soccer-specific words.
  • Move through the selection one sentence at a time. As you get more experience, you can paraphrase ideas rather than sentences, combining ideas in several sentences in the original into one sentence in the paraphrase.  Or you can cut long, verbose sentences in the original into two or more shorter sentences in the paraphrase.
  • Paraphrases don’t need to be exactly the same length as the original, but all the important ideas in the original need to be stated in the paraphrase.
  • Read over your paraphrase to be sure it is clear to the reader.

Notice the difference between the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence and a paraphrased version:

The original words:   “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

A paraphrase: Sometimes, one group of people who have been politically connected to another group of people decide it’s necessary to go their separate ways and to become a new country. Out of respect for everyone involved, it’s a good idea for the country which is separating to explain the reasons why the break is necessary.

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Posted in clarity, English Writing Instruction, grammar, paraphrasing, summarizing

Dictating to children can expose reading and writing problems

Posted on July 8, 2015 | Leave a comment

Dictating—speaking words aloud for another person to write down—is a great way to vary reading and writing instruction and to gain insight into a child’s spelling, punctuation and writing abilities. It can show many kinds of errors which the parent might not be aware of.

3rd grader writing an essay.

  • Spelling errors might indicate that rules such as using a silent e at the end of many long vowel words, or doubling the consonants in CVC words when adding suffixes, have not been learned yet.
  • Handwriting problems might show that the child still mixes up b and d or p and q. Or the writing might show that the child does not make ascending lines go high enough, or descending lines go low enough.
  • Capitalization and punctuation errors could mean that a child doesn’t remember to start sentences with capitals or that he is unaware of the rules for proper nouns.
  • Lack of knowledge of sentence punctuation might show that a child needs more practice using commas, quotation marks, periods, question marks and exclamation points.
  • Certain letters written incorrectly might indicate a hearing problem or confusion over which sound is associated with which letter.
  • If some letters in the same word are written with large spaces between them, and others are not, or if there are no spaces between words, the child could be confused about what a word is and how a word is demonstrated in print.
  • Homophones spelled incorrectly could mean work on the various ways to spell its and it’s, they’re, their and there, and other sound-alike pairs is needed.

The dictating parent should use only words that the child is familiar with. Sentences should be short and clear. The dictating parent should tell the child how many times the sentence will be repeated, if at all, to be sure the child pays attention.

If there are several kinds of errors in the child’s writing, I would not tell the child that. Mention one thing to work on in the future. In the back of your mind, make a mental note of other ideas to work on.

Dictating from time to time is an informal way to assess learning.

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Posted in grammar, writing assessment

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