63 Understanding Our Language

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Noun

English Language Arts:

Page 473 from Writers Express

Nouns (Continued)

Use this page to point out special types of nouns and the gender of nouns.

Ask a Spanish speaker in your class to explain how gender is treated differently in that language. For example, inanimate objects such as windows and computers have gender.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Noun

English Language Arts:

Page 474 from Writers Express

Uses of Nouns

Lead your students through the six uses of nouns on this page.

Interestingly, "Possessive Nouns" and "Objects of a Preposition" show ways that noun forms become modifiers. When a noun shows possession, it modifies the word that it possesses. And when a noun functions as the object of a preposition, the whole prepositional phrase functions as a modifier (adjective or adverb) describing another part of the sentence.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Noun

English Language Arts:

Page 475 from Writers Express

Pronouns

Use this page to help your students understand pronouns. Since they take the place of nouns, these little words have to carry a great deal of information. Tell students that pronouns are like ID cards. They have to correctly identify the person, number, and gender of their antecedent. Pronouns also change form depending on their use in a sentence: as subjects, objects, or possessives.

The next page gives you more information about the person of a pronoun.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 476 from Writers Express

Person of Pronouns

Help your students understand that the person of pronouns refers to whether the person is speaking (first person), being spoken to (second person), or being spoken about (third person).

First-person pronouns create an intimate voice that is appropriate for narrative and reflective writing.
Second-person pronouns create a voice that connects with readers and works well for how-to, instructions, emails, and letters.
Third-person pronouns create an objective voice that works well for most explanatory and persuasive writing.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 477 from Writers Express

Uses of Pronouns

This page shows how pronouns change form depending on whether they are used as subjects, objects, or possessives.

Point out to students that possessive pronouns do not use an apostrophe. If students learn that rule, they can avoid confusion between its and it's, your and you're, whose and who's, and their and they're. Use the minilessons to reinforce this rule.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 478 from Writers Express

Other Types of Pronouns

This page covers less well-known types of pronouns. The first type on the page—relative pronouns—is specifically mentioned in the Common Core State Standards for 4th grade language: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.1.A "Use relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why)."

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 479 from Writers Express

Verbs

If nouns are analogous to matter, verbs are analogous to energy. They give motion to nouns. They power the whole sentence. Verbs show what nouns are doing, what is happening to them, and what they are.

Use this page to help your students understand action verbs, which tell what the subjects of sentences are doing. A verb that transfers the action from the subject to an object is a transitive verb.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 480 from Writers Express

Linking and Helping Verbs

While action verbs tell what subjects are doing, linking and helping verbs have other roles:

Linking verbs are like equal signs. They link the subject to a noun, pronoun, or adjective in the predicate, creating a kind of equation: Karl is a man. (Karl = man.) Lynne is happy. (Lynne = happy.)
Helping verbs join with regular verbs to form special tenses or meanings. We will attend. We should attend. We could attend. We must attend. We are attending. We have been attending.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 481 from Writers Express

Tenses of Verbs

Use this page to show students how present, past, and future tenses are formed as well as the perfect versions of each of these tenses (showing completed action in the present, past, or future).

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 482 from Writers Express

Forms of Verbs

Use this page to lead students through singular and plural forms of verbs. Let students know that only present-tense verbs and some helping verbs show singular and plural. (I play; he plays. I played; he played. I will play; he will play.)

Also, help students understand that an active verb tells what the subject is doing, while a passive verb tells what is happening to the subject.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 483 from Writers Express

Common Irregular Verbs

Unfortunately, many of the verbs we use most often are irregular. They do not form the past tense by just adding -ed. Instead, they change form.

Lead students through this list, pointing out that these are some of the oldest words in the English language. The reason they don't follow the rules is that they came into use before there were rules about forming the past tense. Basically, if you can imagine an Anglo-Saxon peasant doing an action a thousand years ago, there's an irregular verb for that action.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

English Language Arts:

Page 484 from Writers Express

Adjectives

Use these two pages to discuss the different types of adjectives. Help students understand that adjectives formed from proper nouns need to be capitalized: America becomes American.

Also review the formation of comparative (-er, more, or less) and superlative (-est, most, or least). Point out that the -er and -est endings are commonly used with one-syllable adjectives.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Adjective

English Language Arts:

Page 485 from Writers Express

Adjectives (Continued)

This page covers some of the finer points of adjective use. The second-to-last entry (predicate adjective) is probably the most important for your students to understand. A predicate adjective follows a linking verb and describes the subject: Mom is happy.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Adjective

English Language Arts:

Page 486 from Writers Express

Adverbs

Tell students that adverbs tell how, when, where, how often, and how much. These questions will give you the adverbs of time, place, manner, and degree.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Adverb

English Language Arts:

Page 487 from Writers Express

Adverbs (Continued)

Help your students understand the rules for forming comparative and superlative one-syllable adverbs (using -er or -est) and longer adverbs (using more or less or most or least).

Also, review interjections, which express strong emotion.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Adverb

English Language Arts:

Page 488 from Writers Express

Prepositions

Help your students understand that the job of a preposition is to create a special relationship between a noun (the object of the preposition) and another part of the sentence, in a sense turning the noun into a modifier (an adjective or adverb).

Also, point out that the word pre-position refers to where this word appears in relation to the noun. It comes before the object in a prepositional phrase. Other languages have words that perform the same function but come after the noun—postpositions. English actually has a few postpositions, such as ago and notwithstanding, as in the phrase a day ago or objections notwithstanding.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode:

Qualities of Writing Conventions Grammar Preposition

English Language Arts:

Page 489 from Writers Express

Conjunctions

Help your students see that conjunctions create different kinds of connections between words, phrases, and clauses.

Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) connect ideas in an equal way—coordinating them. Students can remember these conjunctions using the mnemonic FANBOYS.
Correlative conjunctions (either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, if/then) work in pairs and make two ideas interconnected—correlating them.
Subordinating conjunctions (after, although, as, as if, as long as, as though) make one idea less important than other—subordinating the idea.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Mode: