Category · 414 articles
Grammar & Mechanics
Does Sentence Diagramming Make Sense?
Effective writing instruction melds both analysis and practice. Students need the deductive apply-the-components/rules-of-grammar approach and the inductive practice-the-meaningful-communication of ideas-with-feedback approach to become effective writers. Some…
Grammar Research and Balanced Instruction
A balanced approach to grammatical instruction just makes the best sense of the grammar research. An approach that involves direct grammatical instruction in partnership with plenty…
How to Teach Helping Verbs
English teachers learn early in their careers that strong nouns and “show-me” verbs are the keys to good writing. Of these two keys, verbs give developing…
How and When to Teach Adverbs
Adverbs are tricky. Knowing the definition of this basic part of speech only gets us so far. Yes, we do need to know what we are…
How to Teach Verbs
We know that students have learned these parts of speech ad nauseum, but why can’t they remember them? Have their teachers been negligent or unskilled? Or…
How and When to Teach Adjectives
Why do teachers have to re-teach adjectives every year? Is it the past teacher’s fault? Or is it simply the way we learn grammar? Following is…
How and When to Teach Pronouns
Why can’t students retain what they have learned about pronouns? Is it bad teaching? Is it the nature of grammatical instruction? How can we change the…
How and When to Teach Nouns
But why do teachers have to re-teach nouns every year? Is it the previous teacher’s fault? Is it the cyclical nature of instruction? Is it something…