Liz Zelencich Program Manager
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Nouns
alligator, cricket, bird, elephant. Things: table, Things: table, truck, book, pencil, iPad, Common nouns computer, coat, shoes, chair, spoon, bowl. While there are many different types of city, state, country, continent, Places: city, Places: nouns, common nouns are the easiest. They coffee shop, restaurant, park, zoo. are simple words that name people, places, Proper nouns things, or ideas. But they are not the actual These name specific people, places, things, names of people, places or things. In other or ideas such as Britney, Melbourne, words, the word “girl” is a common noun, Holden, Nike. but the word “Ashley” is a proper noun Since these nouns are naming specific because it’s the specific name of that girl. things, they begin with a capital letter. Finding examples of common nouns is Sometimes, they contain two or more as simple as opening your eyes! Try it! What important words. Britney Spears, Melbourne is the first thing you see when you wake up Cricket Ground, Holden Commodore, Nike each morning? Your alarm clock? The word Air Pegasus. clock is a common noun because it names, or identifies, a thing. What do you see when you walk out your front door each morning? A car, a tree, A verb is a doing word. It shows the the sky, a bus, a house, a shop? All are action in a sentence. Think of some common nouns because they name a thing, things you like to do such as run, draw, place, or person: fish, play, jump. These are all verbs People: mother, People: mother, father, baby, child, because they show the action. Search toddler, teenager, grandmother, student, through the newspaper to find lots of teacher, brother, sister business person, verbs. Make a verb collage. woman, man. Can you find the verbs in these Animals: lion, Animals: lion, tiger, mouse, dog, cat, sentences? • Grandma drinks tea in the morning instead of coffee. • The cows and pigs were resting in the barn. • My friends and I worked on the project together. The simplest definition of an adjective is that it is a word that describes or clarifies a noun noun.. Adjectives describe nouns by giving some information about he simples t o f ly t he bl y t baa b an object's size, shape, age, colour, toop is pro b fuull s t hee f T h Yoou use o to use. Y k s t origin or material. For example, a red tiion mar k tuua t he too t he he punc t t he teences t t n e s e he h t t t t car, a huge tree, an old painting, a cute u huge tree, old painting, c o to t e if ik e a k n fe it l k t ou can yo y , y, y l l a r e n e G . dog. h. h t y leng fuull necessar y he f teences using t he • Start an adjective alphabet. Search he sen t tee k uup t he mple t brrea k b o c d n a l a i c g o l the newspaper to find adjectives he end o f a t he t t o to t t t toop a t s t h i g r s d n u o s beginning with each letter of the ha t loo k s and t ha t t houg h t t ho he end o f t he k t too mar k toop t alphabet in turn to create an 'adjective fuull s t he f Usse t he yoou. U y tiion or an ues t q a t o n s i alphabet' to help when writing stories, h c i hi h teence w a sen t descriptions etc. tiion. xcclama t e x y. ta l y f I t o f I t al l o • Give an adjective beginning with e c ap i it h e c s t h e i s t me i o m R o b . am b l t t l s a each letter of your name or nickname to o o r t r t a e o o e t e e t v o v I I l l o 3. 0 3 0 0 n 2 0 r al i ia i n 2 t r st describe who you are or what you want Au s n Au n i n rn i o r b o s b w as I I w ec t re o r r c d nd n a to be. s e c nc e n te e n t se e s se he s . s. s ead t he p Re R o to t s l s l l u u f d nd te r s a n e t te le l l ta l he ca p i ta t he n e d r a g e he h t n i yiing 1 ) i am pla y he beenc h in t he he b he he man sa t on t t he 2 ) ) t k par k fillm too see a fi he cinema t too t he t t ween t wee w 3 ) ) w
Verbs
Capital Letters Sentences The first word of every sentence begins with a capital letter. Millions of years ago, long before there were any people, there were dinosaurs. Names of people The names of people (and pets) begin with a capital letter. The lost dog belonged to David. The word "I" Always make the word "I" a capital letter. Alison and I walk to schools together every day. Place names Place names begin with a ca pital letter. Examples include the names of cities, states, countries, planets, streets and buildings. Essendon plays Collingwood every year on Anzac Day at the Melbourne bourne Cricket Ground. Titles The first, last and all important words in a title begin with a capital letter. Examples include the titles of books, magazines, stories, poems and movies. The Little Mermaid, Captain Underpants, The Australian Women’s Women’s Weekly, Mulga Bill’s Bill’s Bicycle. Days, months and holidays Days of the week, months of the year and holidays all begin with a capital letter. Easter, Christmas, July, Monday.
Adjectives
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Possessive Common Possessive Common Nouns Singular nouns Possessive nouns show ownership or relation to something else. To make a singular common noun possessive, simply add an apostrophe and the letter “s”. • The baby’s cries woke the exhausted new parents. • The toddler’s face was covered in birthday cake. • The dog’s bark was worse than his bite.
Plural nouns nouns In order to make a plural noun possessive that doesn’t end in the letter “s” all you have to do is add an apostrophe and an “s”. • Women = women’s • Mice = mice’s If the plural noun ends in an “s” it becomes possessive by adding an apostrophe at the end. • Cars = cars’ • Rivers = rivers’
Adverbs An adverb is a word that changes or simplifies the meaning of a verb. Adverbs usually answer questions such as how?, in what way? and to what extent? Often, adverbs end in ‘ly’. He ran quickly They walked briskly around the lake She spoke loudly The bird landed lightly on the water lightly on • Gather a variety of pictures from the newspaper and give either a noun or verb to them depending on what the picture shows. Clearly a picture of a car would be labelled “car”. However, the picture of a woman sitting behind the wheel of a car could be labelled “driving”. Next, break students up into groups to challenge each other. The purpose of the challenge is to describe the noun pictures using adjectives and the verb pictures using adverbs. The opposing teams have to figure out what is in the picture given these clues.
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