Tim the Librarian

This post is part of a series relating to the Minimum Standards for Grammar and Punctuation in the NAPLAN tests. For the first post in this series, click here.

At Year 7 level, the students are expected to be able to:

• locate a comma to separate items in a list

This one is relatively simple as it only asks the student to use commas correctly in a list. The rule here is pretty straight forward: commas are used to separate items in a list. Such as:

You need to bring your sleeping bag, torch, compass and some snacks to camp.

or

Things to bring to camp: sleeping bag, torch, compass and some snacks.

The Example Test

To complicate matters, the example test has one question about a list – but not comma placement – and two about comma placement – but not in lists. As a result, it might be beneficial to you and your students to familiarise yourself with all of the rules about comma placement – and colon use as well for that matter.

Once you’ve got the hang of the rules, you can test yourself with the Eats, Shoots and Leaves book tie-in game, Save the Comma.

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This post is part of a series relating to the Minimum Standards for Grammar and Punctuation in the NAPLAN tests. For the first post in this series, click here.

At Year 7 level, the students are expected to be able to:

• identify the phrase required to complete a sentence

Where to start? The example test of course.

Answering the above questions correctly requires the student to apply a range of skills including: choosing the correct preposition, identifying the correct verb form; and, making sure the subject and verb agree. These last two (identifying the correct form of the verb and subject-verb agreement) have been covered in previous posts. Prepositions are covered below.

Prepositions

Prepositions are tough. They account for a large number of the common grammatical errors used by both native and non-native English speakers because there are no real rules that govern their use.

Academic English Online suggests the following strategies:

• read a lot to internalise the correct associations,
• use a dictionary with example sentences to find common associations; and,
• memorise lists of words.

Note that: all of these strategies need to predate sitting down to the test (no, students are not allowed a dictionary in the test) so if you hear students misusing prepositions or read a mistake in their work, make sure you pass on this advice and then follow up with them to see if they need any further help.

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This post is part of a series relating to the Minimum Standards for Grammar and Punctuation in the NAPLAN tests. For the first post in this series, click here.

At Year 7 level, the students are expected to be able to:

• identify correct subject-verb agreement in a sentence

Getting your subject to agree with your verb is easier than convincing a cat to lick itself.

© Dimitri Torterat, CC-by, http://www.adelieland.eu

This basically boils down to:

If the subject is singular (e.g. a bike), use a singular verb (e.g. is). If the subject is plural (e.g. some bikes), use a plural verb (e.g. are).

• My bike is stored on my porch.
• My bikes are stored on my porch.

There is a long list of qualifications and clarifications on this site here, which, with mastery, will put that internal monologue in your head about whether you should have said, ‘This tin of sardines is/are too much for my cat’ to sleep.

In their example test, the NAP go all out with this one:

The confusing part is that they have added tense into the equation. When we separate one from the other and only look at subject-verb agreement we just need to work out whether it is ‘was’ or ‘were’.

To do so you have to break it down. What is the subject? The first of Tim Winton’s novels. How many novels are they talking about? Just one. So, singular, ‘was’.

More help in regards to tense can be found in this post about identifying the correct form of the verb.

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This post is part of a series relating to the Minimum Standards for Grammar and Punctuation in the NAPLAN tests. For the first post in this series, click here.

At Year 7 level, the students are expected to be able to:

• identify the correct personal pronoun required to complete a sentence

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtqs6q_best-quality-beatles-i-am-the-walrus-stereo-original-video_music

It came as some surprise to me when I learned (while at uni) that the use of ‘a’ instead of ‘an’ was governed by a fairly obvious and neat little rule.

So I offer no judgement if you are realising for the first time that personal pronouns are dictated by: number, person, gender and case. At this level, it seems that NAPLAN are only interested in personal pronouns, not possessive pronouns – or any of the millions of other types of pronouns – so don’t worry about ‘our’, ‘his’, ‘her’ or ‘their’.

Personal pronouns are expressed in a neat little table that looks like the one below (from this website).

This site also has example sentences that are not of the quality of, ‘The cockroach and the bird would get along very well without us, although the cockroach would miss us most’ but do illustrate the different applications of the pronouns nonetheless.

If you come across a student who is struggling with this, you can send them to this astonishingly boring ‘game’ here. If you find a better game, let me know.

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This post is part of a series relating to the Minimum Standards for Grammar and Punctuation in the NAPLAN tests. For the first post in this series, click here.

At Year 7 level, the students are expected to be able to:

• identify the correct form of the verb required to complete a complex sentence

A complex sentence has an independent clause and a dependent clause, such as, ‘Before the exam, Ethan will revise his notes’. For more examples (including the gem, ‘The cockroach and the bird would get along very well without us, although the cockroach would miss us most.’) click here.

In this case, the independent clause is ‘Ethan will revise his notes’ because it is a full sentence on its own. The dependent clause is, ‘Before the exam,’ because before the exam what!?

The verb we are talking about is ‘revise’, and, in this case, the tense is simple future so the verb is used in its infinitive (to revise). The internet is full of lists of verb forms like this one.

If you have grown up listening to English your whole life, the correct verb form will probably come easily. If you haven’t you will need a working understanding of the ways that different tenses influences verb forms.

Basically, if you find a student saying or writing something like, ‘…Ethan will revising his notes’, don’t let them get away with it. Providing them with the right verb will be helpful. Giving them encouragement for using a complex sentence and guiding them to more information on verb forms and tenses will be even more so. The more specific you can be about the nature of the error, the more likely your student will be able to fix it. For practice, you can send them here.

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While our NAPLAN results have been on the up-and-up, there is always room for improvement. One area that we can work on is Grammar and Punctuation. While this can be a bit baffling for those outside of the English KLA, there are some simple conventions that can we can learn to give more targeted feedback to our kids.

What are they looking for?

The National Assessment Program (NAP) publish their minimum standards here. For grammar they outline a context and a task. In punctuation they identify a form of punctuation and specify a task that students should be able to do with it.

These standards are just an indication and don’t include all the concepts covered in the tests. if you haven’t seen one, it is helpful to have a look at the example tests published here.

Below are the standards. I have included some example sentences. Each week, I will look at one dot point. Follow the hyperlinks as they appear to detailed explanations of each standard, common mistakes and associated online tutorials.

Year 7

In grammar students can:

• identify the correct form of the verb required to complete a complex sentence (e.g. Before the test, David will revise his notes.)

• identify the correct personal pronoun required to complete a sentence (e.g. Fred Hollows was an opthalmologist who became know for his work in restoring eyesight. He worked in Australia and Africa.)

• identify correct subject-verb agreement in a sentence (e.g. My cat is a tabby. My dogs are both golden retrievers.)

• identify the phrase required to complete a sentence (e.g. Fred Hollows was awarded the Order of Australia in recognition of his work.)

In punctuation students can:

• locate a comma to separate items in a list (e.g. In your pencil case, you will need: a pencil, a pen, a ruler and an eraser.)

In addition to this, students need to be able to correctly place a colon to indicate a list and correctly place an apostrophe to indicate possession.

Year 9

In grammar students can:

• identify the tense of a short passage (The sample test that I read didn’t ask this but it did ask the students to complete a sentence using the correct tense, e.g. In order to be sustained, a rainforest requires rainfall of at least 1500 millimetres a year.)

• identify the correct form of a comparative adjective in a sentence (e.g. She is more clever/cleverer, he is peculiarer/more peculiar)

• identify the word that functions as a verb in a sentence (e.g. As the host, he had to barbecue the chops.)

In punctuation students can:

• identify the purpose of italics in a sentence (e.g. I wasn’t the only one who was late to the movie.)

• locate commas in a sentence to emphasise a clause (e.g. The student had been at the school for years, and not once had he come late.)

• recognise that colons can be used to introduce lists (e.g. In your pencil case, you will need: a pencil, a pen, a ruler and an eraser.)

In addition to this, students need to be able to identify the correct form of contractions and identify the purpose of a hyphen.