Tricky Words
His or He’s?
He's is the short form of 'he is' or 'he has'.
For example: "Don't be scared - he's very friendly."
His is a possessive pronoun, it is used to show something belonging to or connected with a man, boy or male animal that has just been mentioned.
For example: “Where is his mother going?” asked Fred.
Apply It:
______got four onions and one potato.
Who is ______date for the ball?
______attitude to learning is excellent!
Leon said ______loving ______new car at the moment.
______father just told me ______grounded for three weeks!
Its or it’s?
Its is the possessive form of the neuter pronoun ‘it’. That means, the ‘it’ owns something.
"Every dog has its day." Its = dog = owns the day.
"The jury has reached its decision." Its = jury = owns the decision.
"Stop its momentum!" Its = ? = owns the momentum.
"Guess its color." Its = ? = owns the colour.
It’s is a contraction for ‘it is’, or ‘it has’.
"It's my bedtime." It’s = It is my bedtime.
"It's time to go." It’s = It is time to go.
"It's been a long time." It’s = It has been a long time.
"It's got to happen soon." It’s = It has got to happen soon.
Apply it:
______to be at least 3.15! ______only 2.45!
The cat licked ______paws. The group loves ______members.
There, their or they’re?
______Contraction of ‘they are’.
______Showing position, contains the word ‘here’.
- Also indicates existence of something when used with the verb ‘be’ (is / are / was / were)
______Shows ownership
They’re really energetic! = They are really energetic
Their lollies are really sweet. = They own the lollies (ownership)
The boys are over there. = The boys are in a position.
Apply it!
1. Those seagulls just lost ______lunch.
2. ______are seven days in the week.
3. ______going to the beach.
4. The beach is over ______
5. I can’t believe ______going to the pool.
6. ______grades improved this year.
7. I don’t know where ______going.
8. I think ______flowers are lovely.
9. ______cooking up a storm!
10. ______appears to be a disturbance in the corridor.
Your or You’re?
Your = ______
You’re = ______
This is one of the most commonly mis-used words in the English language. The best remedy is to edit your work and whenever you come across the word your/you’re, ask yourself the question, ‘would the words, you are, replace the word your?’ If the answer is yes, then the your/you’re you’re looking for is you’re!
Apply it
Put the correct form of your / you’re in the gaps below
The teacher said to the class, ‘______all going to the library’. We got out of our seats, then the teacher asked, ‘why did you get out of ______seat?’ The teacher continued, ‘______going there once you get our ______research books’. So we all did. All except Tommy, I asked Tommy, ‘where is ______book?’ Tommy shrugged, ‘______all too organised for me’. Everyone laughed except the teacher.
Fun Game à
Go back over the paragraph, and each time say ‘you are’ in the gaps and see if it works, if ‘you are’ works, then you should have used you’re, not your!
Parts of Speech
In the space below, write the definition of each part of speech and give some examples.
Adjectives:
______
The tree is ______. The ______man frowned.
The girl’s laugh was ______. Today was ______.
Noun:
______
The ______was mean to me. ______like peanuts.
I opened the ______. Look, there is the ______.
Proper Noun:
______
My name is ______. ______is an actor.
We live in ______. ______is my favourite brand.
Verb:
______
We ______the cross country. I love to go ______on weekends.
Mum ______at me. Joanna ______off the diving board.
Adverb:
______
We ran ______to the window. I received the present ______.
The girl looked ______at me. I walked ______home after school.
Apply it!
Read the following paragraphs.
Put a circle around five nouns.
Put a square around three adjectives.
Underline three verbs.
Put *asterisks* around one adverb.
Put a strike through one pronoun.
Round One:
My family went on a holiday to the Gold Coast. It was an amazing experience! Mum shopped til she
dropped and dad went fishing. I mostly just played with my phone so everyone back home could
read my status updates. My newest friend, Patricia, annoyingly liked every post.
Round Two:
I am excitedly waiting for the bus to arrive. We are going to Lithgow for the show. Miss said it will be
the greatest show in the world. She is mildly lame, but that’s OK because she is a wonderful
violinist. When the bus rolled slowly to a stop, we all hurried into our seats.
Round Three:
Michael told me a secret. He spoke quietly about the diamond, and an adventure which would be
dangerous. My head swelled quickly with ideas of retirement. Mum always warned me about get
rich quick schemes, but I answered Michael with a look which acknowledged my participation in the
great hunt. Later in the day I went to Coles and found ten bucks!
Articles: An or A???
Place the usage instructions in the space below:
______
1. ______Umbrella
2. ______Dingo
3. ______Giraffe
4. ______Onion
5. ______Hour
6. ______Doctor
Multiple Choice:
Pick the word that fits in the following sentence:
1. The monkey ate an ______as part of the show.
a) Banana b) Apple c) Watermelon d) Sausage sandwich
2. Quick! It’s essential that you get me a ______!!
a) Butler b) Osteopath c) Actor d) Electrician
What are Prepositions?
Put wordily; prepositions are locators in space and time. They connect nouns to other words in the sentence (usually other nouns).
The cat sat under my chair.
è Under shows the relationship between the nouns.
The bird sat on my shoulder.
è On shows the relationship between the nouns.
The new girl sat between us.
è Between shows the relationship between the nouns.
Read the statement below, discussing the professor’s desk. As you go through it, highlight the prepositions! See if you can find them all!
You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands over the desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans against the desk.
Suffix or Prefix?
______Added to the front of a word, to modify it.
Examples:
Tri- Cycle à Tricycle
Micro- Organism à Microorganism
Pre- View à Preview
Your turn! Think of as many words that you can that start with the prefix re-
______
______
______
______Added to the end of a word, to modify it.
Examples:
-er Paint (Verb) à Painter (Noun)
-less Home à Homeless
-ing Jump à Jumping
Try think of some words that end with the suffix, -ist (ist means ‘one who’).
______
______
What do you think the suffix cycle means?
Tense
Present Tense ______
Past Tense ______
Future Tense ______
When you have a sentence or a paragraph about the same thing, it is important that the entire sentence or paragraph contains the same tense, otherwise it won’t make sense!
Eg. Tomorrow (future tense) I am going to the football game. It was an awesome day! (Past tense)
In the above example, how could you make it correct in the future tense?
Activities:
1. Write a few sentences about going to the movies, include any events or ideas that you like. Write it in the future tense:
______
2. Re-write the sentences in the past tense:
______
3. Re-write the sentence in the present tense:
______
Have or Of?
This is one of those errors typically made by a person more familiar with the spoken than the written form of English. A sentence like “I would have gone if anyone had given me free tickets” is normally spoken in a slurred way so that the two words “would have” are not distinctly separated, but blended together into what is properly rendered “would’ve.” Seeing that “V” tips you off right away that “would’ve” is a contraction of “would have.” But many people hear “would of” and that’s how they write it. Wrong.
Rule: Of cannot follow would / could / should / must / may / can à (Modal auxiliary verbs) à (Modal verbs express something that will happen, or the potential for something to happen).
Re-write this rule five times! (Repetition is a good thing to get it in your head)
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
Circle the errors in the following sentences and re-write the correct use of the modal verb:
1. I must of left my bag in the library.
Correction: ______
2. The boy should of gone to his detention before the canteen!
Correction: ______
3. I cannot believe he said he would of gone to the park if his mum said he couldn’t.
Correction: ______
4. I could have been a famous movie star, but I may of never made it big.
Correction: ______
Correction: ______
5. You might of rang me, but you didn’t! How rude!
Correction: ______
Direct & Indirect Speech
Direct Speech: ______
(Direct speech indicated by the use of “quotation marks”).
Eg. Mum said, “I like to eat cheese”.
Indirect Speech: ______
Eg, Mum says she likes to eat cheese.
Identify whether the following examples are either indirect or direction speech:
______“I’m always here for you”, Steve assured me.
______Mike always says he enjoys playing the flute.
______Nicole loves talking about the time she met Luke.
______“It was love at first sight”, recalled Nicole.
Place quotation marks around the direct speech in the following:
I am looking forward to my holiday to Ireland, said Suzanne.
Rodney sighed, why do we always lose?
To be, or not to be, that is the question, is one of Shakespeare’s famous lines.
Change the following direct speech into indirect speech:
“I can’t wait to see you”, Jane said, as she put down the phone.
______
Bobby squealed, “Look over there, it’s One Direction”.
______
The Principal told me, “learning about direct speech is necessary”.
______
The student asked, “how long until the period is over?”
______
Ownership Apostrophes
Rule: Apostrophes can be used to show ownership.
Lachlan’s shoe = Lachlan owns the shoe.
Rachel’s guitar = Rachel owns the guitar.
Variation: If the word ends in an ‘s’, you don’t need another s, just use the apostrophe
Jess’ bag = Jess own the bag = not Jess’s bag
The boys’ room = The room the boys own = not boys’s room.
Place the ownership apostrophes in the following:
1. Bills bag was big.
2. The ladies room was very neat.
3. The giant wanted his wifes dinner.
4. I jumped over Daniels table.
5. Josephs dream was super cool. He dreamed about the girls flowers at sunset. The sunsets magic was amazing and it stole Lucys breath away as it shone onto the roses petals.
6. The locksmiths job was to fix the door. The doors frame had fallen off in the wind. The winds mighty thump causes lots of damage but Chris door never fell off.
Contraction Apostrophes
Apostrophes can also be used to show that one or more letters have been omitted.
Can’t = Can not = ‘ replaces OT
Wouldn’t = ______= ‘ replaces ______
Didn’t = ______= ‘ replaces ______
Fill the box below with as many contractions as you can, aim for at least 10!
SPECIAL TIP:
APOSTROPHES ARE NEVER USED WHEN PLURALLING!!
THEY ARE USED TO SHOW OWNERSHIP &
THEY ARE USE TO INDICATE A CONTRACTION.
Fun with Commas!
Generally speaking, whenever you are speaking and there is a pause in your sentence, that would indicate you need some form of punctuation. The comma is used to break up thoughts (clauses) in a sentence or to separate items in a list.
Read the following sentence out loud, wherever you take a breath (pause), that’s your cue to insert a comma.
1. John after his date with Laura told his mum that Laura was delightful!
2. The Prime Minister Lucy McGue came to our school last Wednesday.