Proper Grammar

Lesson 1
Hey guys, it's me. Le Mowah. I'm here to show you how proper grammar and spelling can be very useful in life! I'll be doing some lessons on proper grammar and spelling over the next few days to help you improve in your English work/Language work! So, this is Lesson 1.

Commas and Apostrophes
Commas are very important in grammar as they help to add extra information, list things (as I am doing here) and elongate a sentence.

Here's an example of correct and incorrect use of a comma:

Let's eat Grandpa!

Let's eat, Grandpa!

As you can see, people will get confused with this, so if you don't want to make out that you want to eat your grandfather, use commas.

And the apostrophe helps too! You see, they can be used to shorten a word and show belongings. They can also be used as quotation marks.

Here's some examples of how to use apostrophes:

Shortening Sentences The dog is running away!

The dog's running away!

Showing Belongings

That's Tom's new car

Quotation Marks

I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the fro- zen air. My muscles are clenched tight against the cold. If a pack of wild dogs were to appear at this moment, the odds of scaling a tree before they attacked are not in my favor. I should get up, move around, and work the stiffness from my limbs. But instead I sit, as motionless as the rock beneath me, while the dawn begins to lighten the woods. I can’t fight the sun. I can only watch helplessly as it drags me into a day that I’ve been dreading for months.' ''' - Extract from Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

That's All For Today
Okay, so tomorrow, you'll learn about new things and hopefully you'll pick up on a few things and start to use them too. So, yeah. We'd also appreciate it if you tried to use proper spelling and grammar around the wiki. Thanks! Bye!

- Le Mowah (an admin who can ban you for not using correct grammar! ^-^)

Lesson 2
Hello, it be Yoyo! ^w^ I'm standing in for Le Mowah today. Let me show you another basic way to correct your bad grammar mistakes.

Capital Letters
Capital letters are important in all types of writing. They are used for story effect, the start of a new sentence, a name for a person or place and effect.

Here's an example of correct and incorrect use of capital letters:

hi mum, i'm back.

Hi Mum, I'm back.

As you can see in this example, there is no capital letters whatsoever in the first phrase. For the start of a sentence, a capital letter is compulsory for all sentences. Mum was used as a proper noun so a capital letter is needed. I, I'm, I've and I'd need capital letters for some sort of reason, but it always is needed to be a capital or you may lose marks in a writing test.

Here's another handy tip of how you can use capital letters:

Oliver made a silly sound effect: "Dun! Dun! Dun!"

Oliver made a silly sound effect: "DUN! Dun! DUN!"

In the first example, the speech has no capital letters for effect, clearly stating that it wasn't that loud. In the second example, there is capital letters for effect, stating that he was lowering and highening his voice.

That's all the education for today
Okey-dokey. Hopefully, tomorrow, you'll be getting a lesson from Le Mowah instead of me. If you don't bother using your grammar properly, I shall edit your comments and pages.

~The Yoyo

Lesson 3
Hello, today it's Miss Emz taking the Lesson. I'm the friendly one, so I will take requests on things to explain. I only can take lessons on Fridays (Sorry!). All examples will be in bold, so as not to confuse it with the explanation text. Todays lesson is number 3, so let's see what it's about!

Homonyms or Homophones
Homonyms are words that are pronounced or spelled in the same way, but differ in meaning.

Example:

I can see the park!

I went and bought a cola can.

The homonyms are in italics, do you understand now? When they are spelt the same it's easier then when they are pronounced the same; spot the error in this.

This had the wanted affect on the teenagers.

Seen it? It was the 'affect' in it. This is the correct way it should have been spelt:

This had the wanted effect on the teenagers.

As affect means a change, while effect means the result or consequence of an action. This I have seen happening quite a lot. Once I saw someone spell the colour 'blue' as 'blew'. Are we really that bad? Then it's the word 'there'. Or 'their'. Or 'They're'. There is so many different spellings and meanings to this word, that it confuses many.

'There' is to be used when you are explaining where a person is (eg. There she is.) That a person or object has stopped in an action or speech (eg. He stopped there, when applause hit him) When a person has gone or did go to a certain place (We went there last year) and also used as a way to call attention to something or someone (There she is!)

Then there is 'their' referring to a person's belonging.

eg. It's their mobile...should I check it?

And They're. This is simply an abbreviation of 'They are'.

There is also the word 'buy'. Or 'by'. Or 'bye'

The word buy means to purchase something. By means an animal, person or object is near another object or place. It can also mean a person made that (eg. Harry Potter By J.K Rowling) And bye is the word Goodbye shortened.

Class is over
Well, that was a long session, wasn't it? But I guess you've gotten the jist of it. I hope you remember this, because I will change any of your comments if you get a Homophone wrong. Tomorrow I will hand you over to either Morar or Yoyo. I hope they give you a good class.

-Miss Emz

Lesson 4
Hello everyone, I will be taking your class today and we will be learning about using better adjectives to make stories more exciting or to describe something in a better way.

Adjectives
Using more exciting adjectives can make a story more interesting and makes the reader want to read more!

The lake was a nice, blue colour.

The lake was a beautiful, turquoise colour.

The football match was fun!

The football match was really exciting!

Can you see the difference between the two? Because the first sentence just tells you that it was fun, with is basically equivalent to 'good', but the second sentence tells you it was really exciting, which is the equivalent to 'excellent!'

The spotty dog was running after it's frisbee.

The brown spotty Labrador was sprinting after it's yellow frisbee.

There's a lot of difference between the two sentences. If the first sentence was in a story, the reader would probably thing that it was a boring book and stop reading it, but if the second sentence was in a story then the reader would want to read on! Here are some examples of some exciting adjectives in sentences along with there original sentence:

The book was very old but was good to read.

The big, green, book was extremely old but was fantastic to read!

The clouds were slowly passing by.

The fluffy white clouds were sleepily, drifting by.

Class Over
I hope you've all had a brilliant lesson and have learn't lots about exciting adjectives!

-Bunnzzi

Lesson 5
Hello I'm Berz and I'm gonna talk about Exclamation Marks and Verbs!

Exclamation Marks and Verbs
Exclamation Marks are important. They're used for stuff like Shouting or to indicate strong feeling.

For example:

"I want some sweets, Daddy, or chicken nuggets!"

Verbs are helpful too! Verbs mean you do an action.

Here's two examples:

The tough boy made the ball go into the goal.

The tough boy kicked the ball into the goal.

Notice anything? The first sentence says made and the second kicked. Kicked is a verb but made isn't. If you wrote made write kicked if the character is kicking the ball, you can also write something else:

Tough Toby punched the ball!

So remember use verbs if your doing an action.

Class is over
Hope you enjoyed class today from Berz.

Lesson 6
'Ello everyone, it be Yoyo again. Ah'm gonna show yer spelling differences in this grammar lesson, okay, now it's time to start.

Commonwealth Spelling and American Spelling
In this class, I'm going to talk about the differences between the spellings used in the Commonwealth (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc) and in the United States.

I shall now show you some examples.

My favourite colour is grey.

My favorite color is gray.

In the first example is Commonwealth and Irish English which usually adds a U after an O and before the R, but sometimes you don't have to use the U for some words, example: ambassador, emperor, governor, perturbator, inferior, superior, error, horror, mirror, tenor, terror and tremor. However, the spelling of 'labour' is only used in the UK, Ireland and sometimes Canada while the more US-like version of it is 'labor' which is used in the rest of the English speaking countries. The spelling of 'gray' in the Commonwealth and Irish English has been abandoned in the early 1900s so it has to be spelt: 'grey'.

In the second example is American English which always misses out the U in words with 'or' in them. The 'gray' spelling is always used in the United States.

Here's another two examples:

The man wearing pyjamas had a moustache.

The man wearing pajamas had a mustache.

In the first example is Commonwealth and Irish English. Pyjamas and moustache are a unique Commonwealth and Irish spelling, so just use them if you live in the Commonwealth countries or Ireland.

The American example has it's own unique spelling, so just use them if you come from the USA.

More examples:

The shopping mall was centred in the town. (Commonwealth and Ireland)

The shopping mall was centered in the town. (United States of America)

OK, just one paragraph now. Centre and center just need an -ed at the end. Surprisingly, the US version is longer just because it uses -er instead of -re.

Last examples:

The people had travelled miles. (Commonwealth and Ireland)

The people had traveled miles. (United States of America)

The people in the United States just like shortening words, so they just use one L, not two.

Class is over
Thank yer if yer listened to mah long lesson. See yer later.

~El Yoyo