D.L.P. – Week Nine Grade eight - PowerPoint Presentation

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D.L.P. – Week Nine

Grade eight

Day One – Skills

Capitalization – Proper Nouns – People

Names of people are always capitalized. If the person has a title such as Mr. or Dr., the title is also capitalized. Animal’s names are also capitalized

.

Punctuation – End Marks

Sentences must end with proper punctuation to signal that a thought has ended. Declarative sentences or statements end in a period. Interrogative sentences, which are also known as questions, must end in a question mark. Imperative sentences are punctuated based on how they are said. Commands that are forceful would end in an exclamation point, but a calmly stated command would merit a period. Finally, exclamatory sentences end in exclamation points since they are spoken with such enthusiasm

.

Run-on Sentences

Run-on sentences occur when two complete thoughts run together without proper connection or punctuation. Run-ons can be corrected in one of three ways. First, simply separate the two sentences with proper end punctuation. However, if the two sentences can be connected by meaning, connect them with a comma and the proper conjunction. Finally, the two sentences can have a semicolon placed between them if the clauses relate closely in meaning. Note that the sentence following the semicolon would not begin with a capital unless that word is a proper noun or the pronoun I.

Punctuation – Comma – Appositives

If an appositive is a single word, it is the writer’s choice to place comas around it or not, but a multiple word appositive must be set off from the sentence with commas.

Have you read “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Day one – sentence one

Have you read “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by

S

ir

Arthur Conan

Doyle

?

It is about a baffling mystery the main character is the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

Day one – sentence two

It is about a baffling

mystery

. T

he

main character is the famous

detective

,

Sherlock Holmes.

Day Two – Skills

Punctuation – Period in an Abbreviation

When a word is abbreviated, a period must be used to show that the word has been shortened. (Mister – Mr. street –

st.

)

Voice – Active vs. Passive

Active voice means that the subject is in the tradition subject spot as the doer of the action. In a passive voice construction, the subject is either in a prepositional phrase at the end of the sentence or not stated at all. (Active – I like cats. Passive (The cats were liked.) Note that in the passive construction, there is typically a linking verb. Writers should write in active voice.Negatives – Elimination of Doubles

Only one negative word should be used per sentence. Negative words include no, not, never, and none.Compound Personal PronounsTh compound personal pronouns are: myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves. Although you may here people use them, hisself and theriselves are not actually words.

The story is told by

Dr

Watson, who helps Holmes in his work.

Day two – sentence one

Dr

.

Watson, who helps Holmes in his

work

,

tells the story

.

Watson sees the same clues Holmes does, but he can’t never put them together

hisself

.

Day Two – sentence two

Watson sees the same clues Holmes does, but he

can never

put them together

himself

.

Day Three– Skills

Punctuation – Comma – Appositives

If an appositive is a single word, it is the writer’s choice to place comas around it or not, but a multiple word appositive must be set off from the sentence with commas.

Pronoun Usage – Case

Pronouns

are used differently depending on what case they are. Subject pronouns, also known as nominative pronouns can work as subjects or predicate nouns. They are I, we, you, he, she, it, and they. Objective pronouns can work as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of the preposition. They are me, us, you, him, her, it, and them. Possessive pronouns show ownership. They are my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, and theirs. Note that possessive pronouns do not have apostrophes.

Agreement – Subjects that are Compound

Compound subjects connected by and are plural which then makes them need a plural verb. When compound subjects are connected by either/or or neither/nor, the subject of the second part is made to match the verb. (either the book or the papers are…. neither the books or the paper is)

A young woman asks Holmes to look into the death of her sister, Julia who dies mysteriously.

Day three – sentence one

A young woman asks Holmes to look into the death of her sister,

Julia

,

who dies mysteriously.

Her and her sister was twins and very close.

Day Three – sentence two

She

and

her sister

were

twins and very close.

Day Four– Skills

Contractions with Have

Contractions formed by combing a word with the helping verb have should end in ‘ve. (could’ve) This contraction sounds like the word “of.” Remember, the word “of” would never be between two other verbs. (should have gone)

Confused Words – accept/except

The word accept is an action verb means to take something that is offered. The word except is a preposition that means to leave something out.

Punctuation – Comma – Introductory Subordinate Clause

When a sentence begins with a subordinate (dependent) clause, the clause must be followed by a comma. If the subordinate clause ends the sentence, no commas separates it from the independent one.

Punctuation – Indirect QuestionsSince an indirect question is not actually a question, it is punctuated with a period.

There seems to be no way Julia could of been murdered in a locked room, but Holmes excepts the case.

Day four – sentence one

There seems to be no way Julia could

have

been murdered in a locked room, but Holmes

accepts

the case.

Although there will be danger Watson asks if he can help?

Day four – sentence two

Although there will be

danger

,

Watson asks if he can

help

.

Day Five– Skills

Comparison of Adjectives and

Adverbs – Elimination of

Double Comparison

The three degrees of comparison are positive, comparative, and superlative. The positive degree is simply the adjective or adverb. The comparative degree means that two things are being compared. The suffix “

er

” is used or the words more or less. (bigger, more interesting, less exciting) The superlative degree compares more than two things. The suffix “est” or the words most or least are used. (biggest, most interesting, least exciting)A double comparison occurs when both the suffix and the words are used. Use one or the other.

Punctuation – Apostrophes in PossessionAn apostrophe is used to show possession or ownership. If the word showing ownership is singular, then the apostrophe is placed before the s. (boy’s) If the word is plural and ends in an s, then the apostrophe is placed after the s. (groups’) However, if the plural word does not end in an s, then the apostrophe is placed before the s. (children’s) Joint possession means more than one person owns something. If one thing is owned by more than one person, the apostrophe and s appear only on the final person in the group. (Bob and Mark’s car) Capitalization – TitlesThe first word of any title is capitalized. After that, all important words are capitalized. Words that are not capitalized are articles, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Hoping to prevent an even

worser

crime, the two men travel to the country home of the twins stepfather.

Day five – sentence one

Hoping to prevent an even

worse

crime, the two men travel to the country home of the

twin

’

s

stepfather.

Read “the adventures of the speckled band” to find out how Holmes solves the mystery.

Day five – sentence two

Read

“

T

he

A

dventures

of the

S

peckled

B

and

” to find out how Holmes solves the mystery.