Grammar Punk Blog

“How come” We Teach Grammar?

We told you about Sam’s recent television appearance, what fun that was. We also received several interesting comments from fellow teachers relating mainly to the sad state of communication. And they weren’t talking just about their students!

As has been harped on before and will be again, teaching grammar is about so much more than just the insertion of dry bits of fact and rules concerning punctuation symbols and the 8 parts of speech. The first definition is: the system of rules by which words are formed and put together to make sentences, so okay, we can see where the boring recitation of facts thing comes from. The second definition: the rules for speaking or writing a particular language, or an analysis of the rules of a particular aspect of language, hits closer to home. The third is right on the head: the spoken or written form of language that somebody uses with regard to accepted standards of correctness.

It would be the last one that gets my—and the several teachers who wrote into us after the show—fur up. And yes, I know I just ended that sentence with a preposition, nyah.

One of the more interesting comments/questions we received was about the ubiquitous idiom, How come? One teacher remembered being taught, quite specifically, that “why” is the correct way to state a question, not “how come.” I too recall that particular idiom being frowned on long ago. Not so much anymore. Not at all, anymore. “How come” is indeed an idiom, the way of using a language that comes naturally to its native speakers, or a colloquialism. In other words, it’s a shortcut, an easier way of saying something (which is really odd because it replaces the simple “why.”)  But I digress. Of the many comments we received there seemed to be a distinctive common thread running through them: What happened to good grammar?! What happened to caring about good grammar? To say I was gratified and not feeling so alone in my ranting is an understatement.

Thank you teachers. Thank you for all your diligent and tireless work as you continue to teach grammar in the face of ever widening and growing apathy. We must all stem the tide by continuing to be good examples to students and fellow humans alike. Keep up the good work!

Teaching Grammar With Diction

Wolf and Woof

Yes it all gets rather complicated and rule-laden and what’s next, but it’s all important. And it’s all good. And it’s all part and parcel. Or should be. Diction, people! How you say it is at least as important as how you spell it and how you use it in a sentence. Right?

Seriously, listen to your local or not so local newscaster sometime. I’m constantly astonished (and horrified) by the badly mangled pronunciations that erupt during a typical newscast. It was just the other night when a particular reporter was doing a report on wolves that had me throwing things at the television. Why? Because the woman kept calling wolves woofs! Seriously! Woof! Now this could conceivably be a sound made by one of the wolves, but I doubt it. Like Jewelry and joolery this is a common and entirely unacceptable pronunciation gaff.

How you pronounce something can be as important as what you say.

Okay, climbing off my soap box. Diction: the clarity with which somebody pronounces words when speaking, should (must) go hand in hand with the teaching of grammar. And you guessed it, diction was one of the sooo important aspects of teaching grammar that we had in mind when creating Grammar Punk. Diction without pain. Because a part of the teaching (and learning) process with Grammar Punk is about reading aloud the sentence just created. This not only gives teachers and students the chance to read the sentence aloud (thus showing off their creativity) it also allows a chance to polish that diction. 

Just remember, there are no Woofs in the Wild!

Teaching Grammar

Now before your move on at breakneck speed to anything besides the subject of, gulp, GRAMMAR, hold on a minute. Grammar is cool—or should be. Grammar is fun—or can be. Grammar is easier than you think—or will be. With Grammar Punk. Grammar is all around us—no kidding.

What I’m really talking about is making the teaching of grammar fun. No, really.

We at Grammar Punk are, admittedly, geeks of the first order, and not just because we happen to love Grammar. What we really love is the language and the words we use to form the language. The letters that make the words that create the sentences that form the paragraphs that build the stories that Jack built. We warned you about the geek part.

Grammar: Rules for language; the system of rules by which words are formed and put together to make sentences. That definition pretty much says it all. Grammar is a system of rules, probably why it’s become such a deadly dull topic. The dry recitation of a bunch of rules is the great idea of very few. And it’s why it’s become a subject that can be neglected, or even, gasp, left out altogether. But it’s that important, that vital to a well-rounded education. To be even more blunt, it’s that vital to a barely functional human being. Writing, unlike, say algebra, is essential. We all have to write. Whether it’s with a keyboard, a phone pad, an i-pad, or what-have-you, writing is a must-have.

So what, you might ask, does this have to do with the teaching of grammar? Frankly not all that much with the way that grammar has been traditionally taught. Admit it, as you’re tapping away on whatever apparatus you choose the fish diagram thing you did ad nauseum in elementary school (also known as grammar school, by the way) is not front and foremost in your mind. You know how to write, we all know how to write, why? Wait for it, because we had to learn. How well we learned it is a whole different matter. Enjoying it, another subject still.

So, let’s talk about teaching grammar in a different way. Let’s talk about the purpose of the teaching grammar, which is at the end of the day, to make better writers. Good writers. Coherent writers. Even great writers. And step number one should be:

Writing is fun.

Writing is communication. Writing is how facts, thoughts, emotions, and opinions are expressed. Writing is how books that enlighten, frighten, amuse, sadden, and thrill get made. Writing is how all those television series, movies, and comic books go from someone’s imagination to the screen. 

The first tip for making the teaching and learning of grammar fun is to get realistic. Realistically, why should we care about the rote-memorization of the (many) rules pertaining to punctuation and the parts of speech if students struggle to write the simplest of sentences?

Okay, long introduction over. I, on behalf of Grammar Punk the home of “writing is fun-ville”, will be adding a weekly teaching grammar is fun sort of exercise. It will contain the rules which will be immediately followed by something fun to ease the sting of the rule thing. Play along, participate, just read, that’s cool. Whatever, if you pay the slightest bit of attention you’ll find that writing really is fun. Promise.

Lesson No. 1

We’ll start slow but sure. Periods. Kind of a duh sort of punctuation symbol, but not really. Periods after all dictate the length of sentences, whether they be simple, run-on, fragmented, complex, etc. Periods also do things like abbreviate words, create acronyms, and denote fractions and monetary incremental factors. See? And you thought periods were simple.

Okay, here we go.

Periods end declarative and most imperative sentences. Periods are also used in abbreviations, to show decimals, and denote dollars and cents in writing. Think of periods as causing a “full stop” at the end of a sentence.

We begin with periods in our Grammar Punk™ 4-9 Intermediate Program. Students will not only learn each and every rule by not only by reading about them, hearing from their teachers, but by using the rule in a sentence. By writing that sentence. Again and again. And because they will be doing things like rolling brightly colored dice and doing what the dice dictate, and because the words they use will be their own and also inspired by the dice, the sentence writing will be fun. The classroom (of whatever size or type it may be) will be noisy and raucous and involved. And it will be fun.

Periods end declarative and most imperative sentences. Periods are also used in abbreviations, to show decimals, and denote dollars and cents in writing. Think of periods as causing a “full stop” at the end of a sentence.

1.    Use a period at the end of a complete sentence that is a statement.

1.    Use a period at the end of a complete sentence that is a statement.

Grammar Punk™ 4-9 Example: S I 4 | Sylvia was quite astonished to find that she had slept through the entire dentist visit.

Learn more about us at www.grammarpunk.com

Commonly confusing just got more confusing

It’s funny how this particular edition of commonly confused kind of got away from me. I began with wont and won’t which is neither definitively a homonym or a commonly confused since it is pronounced differently as well as spelled different, but it got me thinking about commonly confused words that bump into contractions and that there must be relatively few of them, in the grand scheme of things, but as I started to list them I was surprised at just how many I could think of off the top of my head.

And yes, I’m aware of the weird bents my mind can take.

won’t: contraction of will not and wont: accustomed or likely to do something

aisle: a passageway between areas of seating, especially in a church, theater, or passenger vehicle | isle: an island, often a small one  and I’ll: a contraction of I and will

can’t: a contraction of can and not and cant: boring talk filled with clichés and platitudes

heel: the back part of a person’s foot, heal: to restore a person, body part, or injury to health and he’ll: a contraction of he and will

your: refers to something that belongs or relates to an unspecified person or people in genera and you’re: a contraction of you and are

wheel:  a ring or disk that revolves or is turned by a central shaft or pin, or weal: a general state of well-being, prosperity, and happiness or we’ll: a contraction of we and will

heed; to give serious attention to a warning or advice and take it into account when acting or he’d: a contraction of he and did or would

we’d: a contraction of we did or would or weed: a plant, especially a wild plant, growing where it is not wanted

they’re: a contraction of they are, or their: belonging to or relating to a specific group of people or things, or there: to indicate position in or motion toward a place relatively distant from the speaker

ya’ll a contraction of you and all,  or yawl: a sailing vessel rigged fore-and-aft with a large mainmast and a smaller mizzenmast toward the stern

you’ll: a contraction of you and will, and Yule: Christmas day or the Christmas season

Now I’m being picky and using only the ones that are truly pronounced the same—when they are pronounced correctly. No she’ll and shill, he’ll and hill, we’ll and will, we’re and whir… You get the idea. In any case, look at this list and watch your writing to keep these pesky list of commonly confuseds unconfused.

Tell me if I’ve missed some, which I’m sure I have. Try ‘em in a sentence or twelve.

Spelling 101

Like writing itself, the art of spelling has also taken serious hits in the past few decades. It’s easy enough to blame PC spell-checkers and they certainly deserve much of the blame, but not all of it.

Good spelling takes effort. Work. Discipline. Finesse. It is also a necessary skill that should not be short-changed.

Not that I’m dissing spell-checkers; I’m not. Entirely. They absolutely have their place, especially for us writers whose fingers can move faster than our brains, more concerned with the flow than the individual words. However, spell-checkers have their limitations. Big time. Homonyms spring to mind. A word might very well be spelled correctly and be entirely the wrong word. Another common oops with spell-checkers is commonly confused words such as affect or effect, accept, except, you’re, your, and on and on.

Strong, effective, in-charge writers are good spellers.

At least we work at it.

Spelling and writing should go hand in hand. Well, duh, you say? Not so much. Let’s face it, spelling, like that other bugaboo of the writing world, grammar, has obtained a bad reputation. Spelling, schmelling. Getting students interested in spelling, not matter what age group, has never been more challenging; creativity is key.

Reason number 97 why the Grammar Punk™ dice were created. By breaking words into their most basic elements—letters into words—and by requiring students to use specific letters to form words, students therefore pay more attention to the words they create.

We’ll be looking at some ways to make this important skill approachable, achievable, and even, gulp, fun. We’d love to hear from the great teachers out there who might have their own cool ideas about spelling.

What kinds of grammar games work best in the classroom?

If you’ve visited our site, www.grammarpunk.com you know that we specialize in programs and products that will take grammar from the subject students dread to one of their favorites. We do that by putting the learning process back where it belongs: into student’s hands. Literally. They learn by doing, not reiterating, diagramming, or flogging the same old material from 20 year old textbooks. We made the teaching and learning of grammar feel more like a game.

When choosing grammar games for your classroom beware of games that are intended only as “time-fillers” and do not also affect or improve student writing. Simple, entertaining games may be entertaining and enjoyable to students, but game-play in classrooms should also teach. 

Because each and every grammar lesson in the Grammar Punk™ programs revolve around the interplay of dice and cards which introduce and constantly reinforce the grammatical elements, Grammar Punk™ feels like a game, but teaches every step of the way. 

I’ll give you more insights into the concepts and how we got from A to B to C as we go along. Wanna play too?

Scientists tell us that the act of crawling actually creates hard wiring in the brain of small children. It actually helps their brains develop. Quite a concept. To skip this crucial stage from helplessness to walking can be decidedly detrimental to the future learning of said child. Think of that, something as simple as learning to crawl before taking first steps can make a huge difference.

The act of brain to hand to paper feels much like the act of rolling over, getting up on all fours and scurrying across the floor to explore new venues, as is the act of those first laborious marks made on paper, small hand wrapped around the long slim contours of a number two pencil, or even the stubbier lines of a Crayola. From brain to hand to paper. It feels…necessary somehow. To first print out your very own name and recognize it as such. Heady stuff.

Remember the Palmer method? According to Wikipedia, The Palmer Method of penmanship instruction was developed and promoted by Austin Palmer in the early 1900s. It soon became the most popular handwriting system in the United States.

Then, bit by bit, the Palmer Method was weaseled out as students were first taught “manuscript” or printing first so they could have a method of written expression as soon as possible. It’s just that next step that seems to have been lost, many students not moving on to this next step. WHY!? It seems to this blogger that once again kids are being underestimated.

So, what happened to taking those first chicken-scratches to graduating to the near elegance of cursive writing? Yes, it takes time and effort and perseverance, so what’s wrong with that? All good things do. We are already in danger of losing the beauty and symmetry of language with keyboards and phone pads and slicing and dicing words with counterfeit communication. Don’t get me started.

What do you think?

Grammar is fun. No, really.

As with most things, it’s all in the application. I myself loathe and detest math, pretty much all of math, but I happen to be good at the multiplication tables and I blame that on a long ago teacher who used games and rhymes to teach it. I liked it then and I remember it still. Games in classrooms work.

Which is precisely where the concept of Grammar Punk™ comes from.

Making grammar lessons fun allows students to practice as well as internalize rules and procedures as a natural extension of their writing process. Because the grammar lesson is disguised as a “word game” students are much more motivated to “play.” In addition, because students are more focused on their own performance and classroom competition the grammar lessons are absorbed and become part of student repertoire.

In other words, if kids think something is fun they’re more apt to do it for longer periods of time, will remember what they did, and will more easily incorporate it. Just ask them about their favorite video game characters.

The introduction of grammar play in the classroom will also foster teacher-student as well as peer-to-peer bonding and cooperation. A healthy sense of competition will also be input in your classrooms. And because game play adds fun and laughter to a classroom, students will want to play more, which only reinforces the grammar lessons through sheer repetition.

Visit www.grammarpunk.com to see more about Grammar Punk™ and making your classroom fun.

Start the new year by making this tough subject fun to teach. And learn!

Even with something as simple as making nouns possessive and plural, grammarians can disagree. I wish it was as simple as just add “s” or “es.” And it almost is. We’ll handle the exceptions next week.

As usual, we use Michael Strumpf’s “The Grammar Bible” as our guide, and we don’t lose sleep over it.

To make numbers plural, just add an s:

1. That sounds like music from the 1980s.
2. Gary bought a few 747s for posterity.

To make most nouns plural, just add “s” or “es”:

1. I like my dog. Dogs are cool. I have two.
2. I have a box. I have boxes.
3. How many picnics have you been to this year?

Because we believe in little bits of grammar at a time, and I don’t want our heads to explode, I’ll save the exceptions of plural and possessive nouns for later. Trust me, you’ll want to bring a friend.

Most of us know what a noun is. In fact, we figured that nouns (and verbs) are so easy to identify and so well known, we didn’t even include it on the Grammar Punk dice, making room for more advanced parts of speech. But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t use a little review, right? And we may even learn something we didn’t know.

The word noun itself comes from the Latin word nomen, which means name. That makes sense, because that’s pretty much what a noun is. It names something. You may remember hearing this definition of a noun in school: “A noun is a person, place, or thing.” That’s a good definition, and it’s easy to remember.

There are two types of nouns: common and proper. Common nouns are general nouns like cup, clock, book, keyboard, desk, chair, and table. Proper nouns are capitalized, and they name specific persons, places, or things, like Eiffel Tower, New York State Fair, Nancy, Sue, and Greg.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to make nouns plural and possessive.