1. Please feel free to access any of today’s visuals: www.amybenjamin.com

2. ? I teaching grammar. I never “really” learned it.
Shouldn’t they already
have had this in the
lower grades?
Do kids really have to learn
all these terms?
I loved it! I thought
diagramming sentences
was fun!
There’s no interesting
way to teach grammar.
It’s just drill and workbook. M 2 2

3. I.
II.
Cesar Chavez helped the farm workers.
He advocated for them. He did not
encourage violence. He led a boycott instead of violence. The boycott was an
effective method of resistance. (30)
Cesar Chavez helped the farm workers, and he advocated for them. He did not
encourage violence. He led a boycott instead of violence, and the boycott was an effective method of resistance. (32)
III.
Grammatical choices elevate style.
Appositive: ,advocate for farm workers,
Parallel structure (encouraging…leading
(not by….but by
Adjective clause: , which was…
Cesar Chavez, advocate for farm
workers, helped them not by
encouraging violence, but by leading
a boycott, which was an effective
method of resistance. (24)

4. GRAMMAR IN THE HEART OF THE WRITING PROCESS:
Sharpen your nouns
Minimize your modifiers
Replace BE verbs and weak verbs with strong
action verbs
Achieve parallel structure
Combine sentences: create complex sentences
use appositives
use absolutes
Expand and shrink noun phrases. Turn clauses
into modifying phrases. Decide where
to place modifiers for desired effect.
Point of
intervention for
substantial language
improvement
Pre-writing
experience:
(non-sentence
form)
Drafting
Revising
Editing
Publication
Point of
intervention
for surface
error correction

5. Parts of Speech: Fast and Furious
Part of Sp.:
Examples:
Quick Definition:
Hint:
monkey, river,
America. prize
Person, place,
thing
Noun
The______
eat, wish, is,
find, cry
He______ or
He is______ing.
Verb
Action or state
The _______truck
dangerous, big,
green, curly
Describes a noun
Adjective
He joined the
team______.
usually, slowly,
clearly, eventually
sometimes, now.
Describes a verb
Adverb
Somewhere _____
the rainbow
Preposition
in, on, at, for, with
Shows position 5

6. My Noun Palette Proper Nouns: Concrete Nouns: Abstract Nouns:
-tion,-sion,-ism,-ence, -ance,
-ness, -ment, -itude

7. Morphology Chart NOUNS: VERBS: ADJECTIVES: ADVERBS:
They will fit into this frame: The_____.
VERBS:
They will fit into this frame: To____ or
Can____or
Is____
ADJECTIVES:
They will fit into this frame:
The ________truck
ADVERBS:
They will fit into this frame:
Do it ___________.
Nouns answer the question: What? or Who?
Verbs answer the question: What is it doing, having, feeling, or being?
Adjectives answer the question: What kind? (They may also answer the questions Which one? and
How many? but those kinds of adjectives do not fit into
the frame of The______truck.
Adverbs answer any of these questions: Where? When? Why? To what extent? How? 7

8. Morphology Kit -ment -ness -ation, sion -ity -ism -hood -itude -ence
This “Morphology Kit”
is a great way to
expand vocabulary
because most
of the words
created by
these suffixes
express abstract
ideas.
Morphology Kit
Noun-Making Suffixes
Verb-Making Suffixes
Adjective-making suffixes
-ment
-ness
-ation, sion
-ity
-ism
-hood
-itude
-ence
-ance
-ide
-ate
-ify
-ize
-acious,icious -y
-ous, ious
-ant
-able, ible
-er; est
Adverb-making suffix:
-ly 5 8

9. Prepositional Phrase Branches: in________________ on________________
The Language Tree
Adjective Branches:
very___________
Noun Branches:
Verb Branches:
very___________
very___________
can___________
the______________
very___________
can___________
can___________
very___________
the______________
the______________
can___________
can___________
the______________
can___________
the______________
the______________
Prepositional Phrase Branches:
in________________
on________________
at_______________
for________________
with________________
Topic: ______________________________ 9

10. Formal
Informal 10

11. Informal and Formal briefcase backpack dress shoes flip-flops
Handout: Page 11
Informal and Formal
briefcase
dress shoes
sit-down restaurant
football on the team
lunch
cooking, baking, roasting
backpack
flip-flops
McDonald’s
frisbee on the
lawn
snack
zapping/nuking 11

12. The Sentence-Making Kit
Fold a 5 x 8 index card in half, width-wise:
They
believed
that…
Guess
What!
Yes/no
question 2. 1. 3.

13. The Sentence-Making Kit
On the inside of the card:
AAAWWUBBIS:
although, as, after
while, when
until
because, before
if, since
If a sentence begins
with any of these words,
it must have two parts.
Place a comma between
the two parts if one of
these words begins
the sentence.
These words, plus the comma, may join
two sentences. Writers sometimes begin
sentences with these words if they are
doing so for emphasis.
,and
,but
,so
Use as many
ACTION VERBS as possible.
Flip the switch into formal English:
a lot = a great many or a great deal
gonna= going to
wanna= want to
hafta= have to
get,got = become, became, receive
received, obtain, obtained
gotta: must
These words will help you
give detail in your sentences:
Try beginning some of your
sentences with these words:
Use words and groups of words that
answer the ADVERB QUESTIONS:
When? Where? Why? How?
To what extent? How often?
IN FOR
ON WITH AT

14. The Sentence-Making Kit
On the back of the card:
Substitutions for homophones and spelling problems:
their = his
there = here
they’re = they are
your = his
you’re = you are
its = his
it’s = it is; it has
woman = man
women = men
I before E except after C
Or when sounded as A
As in neighbor or sleigh

15. Common Hitching Devices
Coordinating
Conjunctiions
Subordinating
Conjunctions
Conjunctive Adverbs
Relative Pronouns
As, although, after
While, when
Until
Because, before If
AAAWWUBBI
However
Moreover
Therefore
Furthermore
That
Which
Who, whom
What
Where
Why
How
Whichever
Whatever, etc.
And
But So
Or/nor
Can join clauses
Warning: Many
sentence fragments
begin with these
words. Usually, you
must hitch these
words and the clauses
that they introduce to
your previous sentence.
Can join two
independent
clauses to make
a compound
sentence.
Warning: You
must use a comma
with these when
they join
independent clauses.
Can hitch up to an
independent clause,
creating a subordinate
(dependent) clause,
forming
complex sentence.
Can appear after
main clause (no comma)
or before main clause
(needs a comma)
Can move within
own clause;
Requires commas
on both sides
Warning: If you
wish to use these
to join clauses, you
must use a semicolon. 15