Fifth Grade English
The material presented in this comprehensive review in English Grammar is
designed as a tutorial for fifth grade students. In addition, it can
serve as a review for sixth grade students. Mastery of the material will
enable students to function successfully in the study of English Grammar
and in the practical application of grammar in communication arts.
Students have had the opportunity to learn grammar skills sequentially
since the first grade. Each year the skills were re-taught and additional
skills were introduced. Fifth grade is basically a review of previously
taught skills.
Nina P. Ross, Ed.D., Curriculum Development
Kinds of Sentences
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. The
first word of a sentence begins with a capital letter. All sentences end
with a punctuation mark.
There are four types of sentences:
Declarative sentences make statements and end with periods.
Interrogative sentences ask questions and end with question marks.
Imperative sentences make requests or give commands and end with periods.
Exclamatory sentences show excitement or strong feeling and end with
exclamation points.
- Subjects and Predicates: Simple, Compound, Complex
There are two parts to a sentence, the subject and the predicate. The
subject tells what or whom the sentence is about. The predicate tells
what the subject does.
The complete subject includes all the words in the subject. The main word
in the complete subject is called the simple subject.
The complete predicate includes all the words in the predicate. The main
word in the complete predicate is called the simple predicate. The simple
predicate is a verb. It includes the verb helper if there is one.
- Nouns: Common, Proper, Concrete, Abstract, Possessive
A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. A concrete
noun names a person, place, or thing. It can be common or proper. An abstract noun names an idea or feeling. It can be common or proper.
A collective noun is a word that implies a group or collection of persons,
places, things, or ideas. It can be common or proper.
A possessive noun designates ownership by adding 's to the noun. A plural
noun adds s without the apostrophe. Spelling rules vary.
An appositive is a group of words that explains the noun it follows.
- Pronouns: Subject, Object, Possessive, and Indefinite
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. The noun it takes the
place of is called its antecedent. The pronoun can take the place of one
or more nouns.
Subject pronouns are used as the subject of a sentence to replace the subject noun.
Object pronouns are used in the predicate to replace the noun
that receives the action of the verb.
Interrogative pronouns begin interrogative sentences.
Demonstrative pronouns stand alone in a sentence.
Possessive pronouns show ownership.
Indefinite pronouns name a collective group.
- Adjectives: Proper, Predicate, Comparative, Demonstrative
An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. It tells what
kind, which one, or how many. More than one adjective can be used before
a given noun as its modifiers. Adjectives add meaning and interest tsentences and can be used to combine short, choppy sentences.
Just as there are common and proper nouns, there are common and proper adjectives. There are predicate adjectives that appear after linking verbs
to describe or rename the subject and demonstrative adjectives that tell
which one.
Comparative adjectives are formed by adding a suffix to the adjective.
- Adverbs: Irregular, Negative, Comparative
An adverb is a word that describes a verb, another adverb, or an adjective. Adverbs answer the how, where, when, and to what extent questions.
Adverbs add interest to sentences and can be used to combine short, choppy sentences.
The comparative form of an adverb ends in -er or is preceded by more, depending on the adverb. Many adverbs change spelling when -er is added.
The comparative form is used when comparing two persons, places, things,
or ideas.
A negative is a word that means no and reverses the meaning of a sentence.
- Prepositional Phrases: Adjectives and Adverbs
A preposition is a word used to show the relationship between a noun, pronoun, or other word in a sentence. Prepositions usually begin a phrase of
words consisting of the preposition, modifiers of the object, and the object to the preposition.
A prepositional phrase includes the preposition, object modifiers, and an
object. When using pronouns as objects in a prepositional phrase, only
object pronouns are used.
A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun acts as an adjective. If it modifies a verb, adverb, or adjective, it is an adverb phrase.
- Conjunctions: Coordinating and Correlative
A conjunction is a connecting word. It can be used to connect words,
phrases, or sentences. And, or, and but are the most widely used conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor, and for. They are used
to join words in a sentence.
Correlative conjunctions are either/or, neither/nor, both, and not only/
but also. They are used to join sets of words in a sentence.
Compound sentences are joined by using conjunctions.
- Capitalization: When to Use Capital Letters
Uppercase letters are used to help distinguish between usages of words.
Uppercase, as opposed to lowercase, is another term used to denote capital
letters. The rules for capitalizing words refer to the first letter of a
word.
Capitalize the following: first word of a sentence or quotation; the pronoun I; proper nouns; proper adjectives; abbreviations used with proper
nouns; months, days, and holidays; and the first, last, and all important
words of a title.
In letter writing, capitalize the first word in the greeting and closing.
- Periods, Commas, Exclamation Points, Colons, Question Marks
Punctuation marks aid in sentence clarity.
There are three end punctuations: period, question
mark, exclamation point.
There are five inner
sentence marks: comma, semi-colon, colon, apostrophe, hyphen.
Quotation
marks can occur before, within, and at the end of a sentence. Occasionally, single quotation marks are used to imply a quotation within a quotation.
Correct usage of all punctuation marks is illustrated with examples and
the appropriate explanation for each. Although the colon and single quotation marks are used sparingly in the fifth grade, they are included for
the sake of reference.
- Subject/Verb Agreement
A subject and its verb must agree in number. A singular subject requires
a singular verb. A plural subject requires a plural verb. A compound
subject joined by "and" requires a plural verb. When or, either/or, or
neither/nor are used to join a compound subject, the verb agrees with the
subject part closest to it.
"Here" or "there" cannot be subjects. If a sentence begins with "here" or
"there," the subject must be identified and the verb made to agree with
it.
- Abbreviations: Names, Titles, Initials, States
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word. The abbreviation usually
begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. However, there are
exceptions to the general rule. Some abbreviations, those of the states
of the United States, for example, begin with capital letters but have no
periods at the end. Others have a period at the end but do not begin with
a capital letter; examples are yd., in., and ft. Still others, such as
mph, meaning miles per hour, have neither a capital letter nor a period.
Abbreviations are often used in addresses and writing to save time and
space. Other abbreviations are used instead of whole words, such as
A. M., P. M., and A. D.
- Titles of Books, Poems, Short Stories, Articles
The titles of books, poems, short stories, articles, and songs are treated
in special ways in writing. The first, last, and all important words are
capitalized. The unimportant words are not capitalized unless they come
first or last in the title.
In writing, the titles of books, magazines, newspapers, and movies are underlined. When they appear in print, they are italicized. Other titles,
such as short stories, articles, poems, chapter names, and songs are enclosed with quotation marks. End punctuation is enclosed by the quotation
marks.
- Contractions: Verb Phrases and Not
Contractions are words formed by combining two words and shortening one of
them. An apostrophe is used in place of the dropped letters.
Sometimes the verb in the pair of words is shortened. Examples are we are
which becomes we're and they have which becomes they've.
When a verb and the word not are combined, the word not is shortened. An
apostrophe is used to replace the o in not. Examples are are not which
becomes aren't and does not which becomes doesn't.
The word not and the contracted n't are never part of a verb phrase.
- Synonyms and Antonyms
Synonyms are words that have the same or similar meanings. They are used
to show how things are alike. Synonyms add variety to writing.
Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings. They are used to show how
things contrast or differ from each other. Antonyms, like synonyms, add
variety to writing.
A thesaurus is a source for finding synonyms and antonyms of words.
Synonyms and antonyms are used in analogies to show the relationships between things.
- Analogies, Similes, Metaphors
Analogies show the relationship between things. In a verbal analogy, the
two words in the first pair of words are related in some way. The two
words in the second pair must be related in the same way.
Figures of speech are expressions used to create forceful, dramatic images
or "word pictures."
A simile is figurative language that uses like or as to compare things.
A metaphor is figurative language that makes a comparison without using
like or as. A metaphor says or implies that one thing is something else.
- Homographs and Homophones
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and base words. They may or may not be pronounced the same way.
Homographs each have separate entries in the dictionary.
Homophones are words that are pronounced the same way but have different
meanings and are spelled differently.
Homonyms are homophones.
- Idioms, Personification
An idiom is comprised of a group of words that takes on a special meaning
different from the meaning of its separate words. The idiom must be interpreted as a single expression, not as a combination of the meanings of
each of the words.
Examples are as follows: In one ear and out the other means not paying
attention to what is being said; turn over a new leaf means to change;
in hot water means being in trouble.
Personification means to give human traits to things or animals. An example is, "The wind moaned as it played with the loose shutter."
- Dictionary Skills
Words in a dictionary are arranged alphabetically. Guide words appear at
the top of a dictionary page to indicate the first and last words on each
page.
Each word that is defined in a dictionary is called an entry word. Entry
words are usually listed in their simple forms. The endings for each word
are usually listed within the information for each entry word.
Definitions, multiple meanings, parts of speech, homographs, and word origin as well as pronunciations, phonetic respellings, syllabication, and
accent marks are included for each entry word.
- Card Catalog
The card catalog is located in the library. Whether it is on computer or
in file drawers, it contains an alphabetical listing of cards for all the
books contained in the library.
The author card is filed according to the last name of the author of each
book. The title card is filed according to the first word in the title of
each book discounting A, An, or The, in which case the second word of the
title is used. The subject card is filed for all nonfiction and many fiction books according to the subject of the book. Many books are crossreferenced on the subject card with reference to other subject cards.