Grammar and mechanics Lessons

Aspects

I have taught this subject separately and as part of writing and test prep. Unless I am targeting a specific concept from an assignment, I start with the eight parts of speech.

Each part of speech comes with its own topics, such as the following:

Nouns are abstract or concrete, common or proper, countable or mass, singular or plural, and have rules for possession.

Pronouns are broken into types. Some have cases, including subjective, objective, and possessive. Indefinite pronouns can have tricky singulars and plurals. Pronouns must agree with their antecedents.

Verbs are also broken into types, and they have tense, voice, mood, and the ability to act like other parts of speech as verbals (infinitives, gerunds, and participles). Traditionally, infinitives should not be split. Distinguishing gerunds and present participles is necessary to avoid a specific error. Participles should not dangle. Verbs must agree with their subjects.

Adjectives and adverbs modify different parts of speech. Some are gradable, with positive, comparative, and superlative forms. They must be properly placed and cannot dangle.

Conjunctions and prepositions are connecting words but function differently. It is important to understand the types of conjunctions (coordinating, subordinating, and correlative).

Interjections are grammatically disconnected from the rest of the sentence.

After parts of speech, I cover syntax. Students learn to distinguish phrases and clauses. They learn the difference between independent and dependent clauses, which enables them to identify simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. They learn to fix sentence fragments and run-ons. Sentences are declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory.

Then comes mechanics. This includes punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and formatting. Some issues, like spelling, capitalization, and certain punctuation principles, are brought up in early elementary. Other issues are gradually added. Capitalization is partly covered in discussions on nouns and sentences. I cover some formatting issues early. Eventually, students need to learn MLA and sometimes APA style.

With advanced students, I cover any remaining concepts tested on the SAT and ACT.

Approach

As I explain in my teaching philosophy, I teach grammar as a series of stacking skills. Parts of speech are fundamental, and syntax is built on those basics. Mechanics is tied somewhat to parts of speech but more to syntax.

In teaching parts of speech as a system, I divide the traditional eight parts into five categories: things (nouns and pronouns), actions/states (verbs), modifiers (adjectives and adverbs), connectors (conjunctions and prepositions), and disconnected words (interjections). Syntax is divided into phrases and clauses. Students learn to identify types of clauses by how the clauses begin, and this leads to understanding sentences. For each concept, I assess their current understanding, explain concepts, test their understanding, and clarify as needed. I can then continue to evaluate their understanding long-term in their writing.