LET S TALK GRAMMAR!
National Curriculum English Spelling Grammar and terminology Reading and writing Spoken language Drama 25 pages 18 pages 20 pages 2 pages 1 paragraph
Why do we teach grammar at Sonning? As a tool for children to be able to talk about their writing. It is a tool that can enhance creative writingnot stifle it.
Y1 Year 1 NC grammar requirements include : suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the root word (helping, helped, helper)
The verb to be I am you are he/she/it is we are you are they are The monster is enormous. The monster is eating lunch.
Y2 Tense Present I jump I think I am Past I jumped I thought I was Progressive form Present I am jumping I am thinking Past I was jumping I was thinking
Y3 Perfect form of verb I have (verb), we have, they have- not time specific could have happened in the past but effected the present. I have eaten. She has eaten. It s another example of a verb chain helping children recognise that the verb will often consist of more than one word.
I am eating (now) I was eating (yesterday) I have been eating (5 minutes ago)
Y4 Standard and non-standard forms I saw her. Standard English I have seen her. Non-standard variations I seen her. I did my homework. I have done my homework. I done my homework. He was ill. He has been ill. He been ill.
Y5 MODAL VERBS Can and could and will and would, Must, may, might and shall and should. Modal verbs can help you see Degrees of possibility.
should of could of might of should ve could ve might ve
Y6 S V O S V A
Y6 Subjunctive Express things that could or should happen It is vital that she attend the meeting. I demand that they be counted again. If all the world were paper, And all the sea were ink, And all the trees were bread and cheese, What would we have to drink?
.. Smith passes beautifully to Gray, who heads it very firmly and deliberately to Pritchard, who pushes it nimbly towards the post. Jones is there, waiting patiently, and now he s got a chance - and he shoots, and yes it s there!!! - Just as the half-time whistle goes. Well Jones has played really brilliantly in this match.... Smith passes to Gray, who heads it to Pritchard, who pushes it towards the post.
Y2 Often made by adding ly to an adjective. Slowly cleverly Adverbs modify verbs or adjectives
And, because it s often impossible to convey all necessary information in a single word, there are also adverbials.
Y4 ADVERBIALS HOW? WHEN? WHERE? (DEGREE?) silently without the slightest sound yesterday at the stroke of midnight here in the playground
Y4 Fronted adverbials...
Y3 Lament for a Lost Preposition Sue Palmer I lost a preposition I looked in every drawer, Underneath the sofa, Behind the kitchen door. I searched for hours and hours, I searched before first light, I searched before and after noon I searched throughout the night. I crawled across the carpet, And scrambled up the stairs, I rifled through my papers, Peered under all my chairs. I peered down every plughole, Scoured every inch of ground... But my missing preposition Was never, ever found.
Two sorts of conjunction Coordinating conjunctions e.g. and but or Subordinating conjunctions e.g. when because if Jack and Jill over the hills and far away A dog barked and a cat yowled. Jill put her head in her hands when they got to subordinating conjunctions because everything was getting a bit complicated.
Clauses I went to town on the bus the other day and on the way I met Fred and Fred had his friend Abdul with him and so I said to him... and he said to me... and I said... and he said... I went to town on the bus the other day on the way I met Fred Fred had his friend Abdul with him These smaller pieces are called clauses. You can have any number of clauses in a sentence.
Coordination A dog barked and a cat yowled A cat yowled and a dog barked And a cat yowled a dog barked Subordination Jill put her head in her hands when they got to subordinating conjunctions because it was all getting a bit complicated The main clause makes complete sense on its own. Subordinate clauses don t.
Noun phrases monster Determiner The monster, a monster, this monster, that monster, some monsters, no monsters, every monster, any monster Adjective The big monster, the enormous monster, the huge monster, the gigantic monster
The Village Without Pronouns Once upon a time there was a village where the villagers had a very particular problem. An ogre ruled over the village and the ogre had snaffled all the villagers pronouns. Now whenever the villagers talked, or wrote letters or stories, or told jokes, the villagers had to use lots of extra words. Speaking and writing can be tricky when speakers and writers do not have pronouns.
Relative pronouns are: That Which Who Whom Whose A relative pronoun is used to start a description for a noun. (This description is called a relative clause.) The description comes after the noun to tell us more information about it.
Danger? No! Swimming allowed. Woman! Without her, man is nothing.
.?! These are the only three punctuation marks that can finish a sentence. However...
elipsis
Commas in lists the enormous furry monster the big friendly giant the little old lady a long, tedious, grammatical explanation Coordination and lists The point of punctuation is to help make meaning clear. bread and cheese and boiled eggs and fruit and a slice of cake bread, cheese, boiled eggs, fruit and a slice of cake
Introducing the colon and semicolon
At last the cannons fell silent. The war was over. At last the cannons fell silent and the war was over. At last the cannons fell silent because the war was over. At last the cannons fell silent the war was over. At last the cannons fell silent; the war was over. At last the cannons fell silent: the war was over.
Three ways of familiarising children with the rhythms and patterns of written language: Reading aloud: Individual, paired, choral Repeating/innovating on grammatical patterns Learning poems and stories by heart