Unit 2A Skills

Capitalization

Always use capital letters at the beginning of a new sentence.
Capitalize Titles - The first word is always capitalized along with any nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Articles (a, an, the..), and conjunctions (and, so, or...) do not become capitalized in a title. (Example: The Year of Miss Agnes; The Case of the Gasping Garbage)
Proper Nouns-Remember nouns are people, places, animals, or things. A proper nouns are specific or certain people, places, animals or things. (Example: teacher is not a proper noun, so it does not get capitalized. However, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Garcia are specific people. A pool is not a proper noun, so it does not get capitalized, but Alligator Alley or The Renaud Center are specific places. All proper nouns are capitalized.

Capitalization Games

Adverbs

Adverb are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs tell location or time. Adverbs answer questions like how, in what way, when and where.

Superlative Adverbs compare three or more nouns. (big, bigger, biggest)

Adverb Games

More Dialogue

Dialogue at the Beginning

Periods - "Let's go to the store," said Joe. (Notice the comma before the end quotation mark and the period at the end.)

Question Marks- "Can we go to the store?" said Joe. (Notice the question mark before the end quotation mark and a period at the end.

Exclamation Marks- "I want to go to the store now!" said Joe. (It works the same as the question marks.)

Dialogue at the End

Periods - Joe said, "Let's go to the store." (Notice the comma after said, the capital letter after the first quotation mark, and the period before the end quotation mark.)

Question marks - Joe said, "Can we go to the store?" (It works the same as with the period.)

Exclamation marks - Joe said, "I want to go to the store now!" (It works the same as the period and the question mark.)

Dialogue Games

Review of Subject Verb Agreement

Every sentence has a subject and a verb. Remember the subject is the noun -the who or what the sentence is about. The subject and the verb (action or state of being) must agree. The rule for the agreement is if the subject is singular (one), the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural (more than one), the verb must be plural.

Past Tense Subject Verb Agreements - Past tense forms of state of being are different for singular (one) and plural (more than one).
Present Tense Subject Verb Agreements - The verb to be is different in the singular (one) form, but it is the same in the plural (more than one) form.
Future Tense Subject Verb Agreements - These are much easier than the past and present. Future tense uses the helping verb WILL before the verb.

Simple Sentences Versus Compound Sentences

Simple sentences have one subject and one predicate.

A compound sentences has two subjects and two predicates.

A compound sentences is two related simple sentences connected together with , and, but, so, or.