English Grammar support Year 1

1] PunctuationRichard Cole

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff.

How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. How was he made? Nobody knows.

Taller than a house, the Iron man stood at the top of the cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness.

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

The wind sang through his iron fingers. His great iron head, shaped like a dustbin but as big as a bedroom, slowly turned to the right, slowly turned to the left. His iron ears turned this way, that way. He was hearing the sea. Never before had the Iron Man seen the sea.

Boring sentences

he took a book

Punctuation petals

Basic structureWhich 4 or 5 are Primary?

The FULL STOP

‘Mr Smith is too much concerned with verbs, adverbs, commas and full stops. Many of the local teachers I have heard of don’t know much about them either. If the final results of their teaching means anything.’

(Southampton Advertiser)

The COMMA

Between a list of three or more words: (Up, down, left and right.)

Before a conjunction:When but or for are used: I did my best

to protect the camp, but the bears were too aggressive.

When and or or are used the comma is optional: The flag is red, white, and blue. The sizes are small, medium or large.

The COMMA(to give additional information)

To indicate contrast: The snake was brown, not green, and it was quite small.

Where the phrase could be in brackets The recipe, which we hadn’t tried before, is very easy to follow.

Where the phrase adds relevant information: Mr Hardy, 68, ran his first marathon five years ago.

Where the addition is not necessary to the meaning of the sentence: Mr Hardy, who enjoys bird-watching, ran his first marathon five years ago.

Where the main clause of the sentence is dependant on the preceding clause: If at first you don’t succeed, give up. Though the snake was small, I still feared for my life.

Try to read this story without stopping

Once upon a time there was a boy called Jack who lived with his mother who worked very hard but still she was very poor even though they had a large brown cow.

Add full stops,question marks, exclamation marks and capital letters where necessary

the north will be sunny the south will have some rain

how did tom get on he came firstget out call 999 the fire is too big nowthis is the best book it’s about sport there

are chapters on football cricket and tennis

Colon or semicolon?

To err is human to blame it on the other party is politics.

This is Wednesday we meet on Friday.I feel angry do I look angry?

The COLON

Before a list, summary or quote I could only find three of the ingredients: sugar, flour

and coconut. To summarise: we found the camp, set up our tent and

then the bears attacked. As Jane Austen wrote: it is a truth universally

acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

To complete a statement of fact (used in place of ‘the following’ or ‘thus’

There are only three kinds of people: the good, the bad and the ugly.

The SEMI-COLON

To link two separate sentences that are closely related:

The children came home today; they had been away for a week.

In a list that already contains commas:Star Trek, created by Gene Rodenberry;

Babylon 5, by JMS; Buffy, by Joss Whedon; and Farscape, from the Henson Company.

Forming a sentence

he thrust

struggling to his feet

at the beast

which lunged at him

with his sword

with its fearsome teeth and claws

Struggling to his feet, he thrust with his sword at the beast which lunged at him with its fearsome teeth and claws.

He thrust at the beast with his sword, struggling to his feet. It lunged at him with its fearsome teeth and claws.

As the beast lunged at him, with its fearsome teeth and claws, he struggled to his feet. He thrust with his sword.

Baring its fearsome teeth and brandishing its claws, the beast lunged. He struggled to his feet. He thrust his sword.

The APOSTROPHE(to indicate possession)

With nouns (plural and singular) not ending in s add ’s

The Children’s books, the people’s parliament. A mother’s pride

With plural nouns ending in s, add only the apostrophe

The guards’ duties, the Nuns’ habits, the Joneses’ house

The APOSTROPHE(to indicate possession) With singular nouns ending in an s you can add

either ’s or an apostrophe alone The witness’s lie or the witness’ lie (be consistent) Exception: ancient or religious names. Jesus’

strength, Achilles’ heel For common possession, only add ’s to the last

name. Janet and Jane’s house Where possession is not common, add to each Janet’s and Jane’s homes. Pronouns: with the exception

one’s, pronouns (its, his, hers) do not require an apostrophe.

The APOSTROPHE(to indicate contractions)

Where letters or numbers have been omitted.

The class of ’07, the house wasn’t at its best, that isn’t the right way, it’s not bad

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishB13.htm

Challenge

Rewrite this sign. Make it mean the opposite by changing only the punctuation marks.

DANGER.NO SWIMMING ALLOWED.

Solution

DANGER?NO. SWIMMING ALLOWED!