Possessives

Yesterday my kids were fighting. (Does it seem like lots of my stories start that way?) Anyway, Rex was upset because Sam has taken his sword. Swords are very precious in our home; we're raising ninjas. Anyway, the sword was Rex's, not Sam's, so I was forced to intervene. Plus, Rex was really starting to freak out. He has his angry eyes on. I returned the sword to its rightful owner and found Sam's (lesser) sword. Crisis averted, back to grading papers. Then, I decided to wax philosophical, which means I started thinking. What if there were no possessives in our language? Would there be no fighting in my home? Then, Sam hit Rex with his sword, and I realized maybe there would be less fighting if I didn't equip my sons with weapons. I guess the point is we DO have possessives in our language, and you need to learn to use them correctly. I LOVE correctly used apostrophes and soon, you will too. Here is some practice so that you aren't one of those people that uses apostrophes for plurals--seriously WHAT IS WITH THOSE PEOPLE??? Enjoy, I have some ninjas to train.

A quick tutorial and practice
A collection of games/practice. I shot aliens while reviewing possessives
A little quiz for some traditional practice

Contractions

Let me just say up front, that if you type "contractions" into Google, you do not immediately get a lot about grammar. I got a good refresher of what labor will be like should I find myself with child again. Anyway! I like contractions, but NOT IN FORMAL WRITING! Please avoid them in essays. In less formal writing, bring 'em on-correctly of course. Use the resources below to make sure you're doing them right. Remember, the apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters. It's like the apostrophe is the friend of the missing letters, and the missing letters have to run to the bathroom, but the missing letters don't want to lose their place in line just because they drank too much Wild Cherry Pepsi, (What? you didn't know letters like WCP, well they do--big time!)so the apostrophe just holds the place of the letters, and when the letters get back from the restroom, they can jump right back in where they left off. Aren't apostrophes super nice? Hey, how 'bout this: the first five people to say to me, "apostrophes make really great friends," will get a prize. Sound good? Now onto the practice.

English Study Quiz
List o' Contractions
Grammar Girl: Contractions
Contractions Quiz

Adjectives and Adverbs

Isn't today just a glorious, fantastic, pleasurable day? Aren't you happy that you can work hard, breathe deeply and completely be successful? Aren't adjectives and adverbs simply the best, better than all the rest? See, without adjectives and adverbs, you would not be able to describe how truly dreamy Ryan Gosling is, or how absolutely devastated you were when you tripped in front of everyone at first lunch and split your favorite blue pants open. Adjectives and adverbs make our language interesting. Without adjectives and adverbs life would be lackluster. Adjectives and adverbs rock my world. Here are some resources to make you understand them better and grow to love them. Hate comes from ignorance, so you will no longer hate adjectives and adverbs because you are now free from your formerly ignorant selves.





In case you missed 'em last week: Grammar Rocks Adverbs and Adjectives
Rags to Riches Game
Adjective/Adverb
Grammar Mishaps:Good vs. Well
English Page

The Eight Parts of Speech

I learned the parts of speech at some point in my k-8 career, as did you. But, I forgot them, as have some of you. This week is a review, but you may want to spend some time watching the videos and reading the info linked here. The parts of speech are the foundation for understanding how to construct more complex and interesting sentences. It can be tricky, so spend some time reviewing and remembering. The info below may seem a bit elementary, but remember, this is an elementary skill. Plus, it's videos and pandas; should you really be complaining?

Grammar Rock
Parts of Speech Game
Panda Mayhem
Parts of Speech