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Full Stops, Questions & Exclamations

• Full stop (.): End statements. The dog barked loudly.
• Question mark (?): End questions. Where did you go?
• Exclamation mark (!): Show strong emotion. Help! Fire!

Commas - Uses and Rules

Use commas for:

• Items in a list (before 'and' or 'or'): apples, oranges, and bananas
• Introductory words/phrases: However, Therefore, After the game
• Joining two sentences with a conjunction: I was tired, but I kept going.
• Dates and addresses: 15 March 2024, Sydney, NSW
• Direct speech: "Hello," said Mum, "how was your day?"

Apostrophes - Possession & Contractions

Possession:

Rule	Example
Singular + 's	the boy's room, Mum's car
Plural ending in s + '	the girls' room, the teachers' desk
Plural NOT ending in s + 's	the children's playground

Contractions:

Contraction	Full Form
don't	do not
can't	cannot
won't	will not
it's	it is / it has
they're	they are

Quotation Marks & Punctuation

IMPORTANT: Periods and commas ALWAYS go INSIDE quotation marks!

Question marks and exclamation marks: Go inside if they belong to the quote, outside if they belong to the whole sentence.

Colons and Semicolons

Colon (:): Introduces a list or explanation

Semicolon (;): Joins two closely related independent clauses

Dashes and Hyphens

Hyphen (-): Joins words together (compound words) or prefixes

Dash (— or --): Creates a break or emphasis in a sentence

Nouns - Classification

Type	Description	Examples
Common Nouns	General names, not capitalised	dog, city, school
Proper Nouns	Specific names, ALWAYS capitalised	Max, Sydney, Monday
Concrete Nouns	Can be touched/seen	table, book, water
Abstract Nouns	Ideas, feelings, qualities	freedom, happiness, courage
Collective Nouns	Groups of things/people	team, flock, class

Verbs - Action, Linking & Auxiliary

Action Verbs: Show physical or mental actions

Linking Verbs: Connect subject to predicate (is, are, was, were, seem, become)

Auxiliary (Helping) Verbs: Help main verb (is, are, was, were, have, has, had, will, can, should, could)

Adjectives - Types and Placement

Descriptive: What kind? big, red, beautiful

Quantity: How many? some, many, few, several

Demonstrative: Which one? this, that, these, those

Possessive: Whose? my, your, his, her, our, their

Adverbs - Types and Placement

Type	Meaning	Examples
Manner	How?	quickly, slowly, carefully
Place	Where?	here, there, everywhere
Time	When?	yesterday, soon, finally
Frequency	How often?	always, never, sometimes
Degree	How much?	very, quite, extremely

Pronouns - Complete Reference

Personal	Object	Possessive Adj.	Possessive Pron.	Reflexive
I	me	my	mine	myself
you	you	your	yours	yourself
he	him	his	his	himself
she	her	her	hers	herself
it	it	its	-	itself
we	us	our	ours	ourselves
they	them	their	theirs	themselves

Subject-Verb Agreement

Basic Rule: Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural subjects take plural verbs.

Subject	Verb Form	Example
He/She/It	+ s/es	She walks. The dog barks.
I/You/We/They	base form	They walk. We go.
Everyone/Everyone	singular	Everyone is here.
Some of the...	depends on noun	Some of the boys are...

Tenses - Past, Present & Future

Tense	Signal Words	Examples
Past Simple	yesterday, last week, ago	I went to school. She saw a bird.
Past Continuous	was/were + ing, while	I was walking when it rained.
Present Simple	every day, usually, always	I walk to school daily.
Present Continuous	now, right now, currently	I am walking right now.
Future Simple	tomorrow, next week, will	I will walk tomorrow.

Simple, Compound & Complex Sentences

Simple: One independent clause

Compound: Two independent clauses joined by conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, for)

Complex: One independent + one dependent clause (subordinating conjunctions)

Conjunctions - Coordinating & Subordinating

Coordinating (FANBOYS): Join equal parts

• For - I was tired, for I had worked all night.
• And - Tom and Jerry
• Nor - Neither rain nor snow
• But - Tired but happy
• Or - Tea or coffee?
• Yet - It rained, yet we went.
• So - It was raining, so we stayed inside.

Subordinating: Introduce dependent clauses

• Time: when, while, after, before, until
• Cause: because, since, as
• Condition: if, unless
• Contrast: although, though, while

Vowel Sounds - Short vs Long

Vowel	Short Sound	Long Sound Patterns	Examples
a	cat, hat, ran	a_e, ai, ay	cake, rain, day
e	bed, red, let	ee, ea, e, y	see, read, he, funny
i	pin, sit, big	i_e, igh, y	kite, high, my
o	hot, pot, fox	o_e, oa, ow	home, boat, show
u	run, fun, cup	u_e, ue, ew	tune, blue, new

Plural Forms - All Rules

Rule	Singular	Plural
Add -s	cat, dog, book	cats, dogs, books
Add -es	box, bush, class	boxes, bushes, classes
y → i + es	baby, city, party	babies, cities, parties
f → v + es	leaf, knife, wolf	leaves, knives, wolves
fe → v + es	life, wife	lives, wives
Irregular	child, man, tooth	children, men, teeth
Same form	sheep, deer, series	sheep, deer, series

Adding Suffixes (-ing, -ed, -er, -est, -ly)

Base Word	Rule	+ing	+ed	+er
walk	base form	walking	walked	walker
make	drop final e	making	made	maker
run	double consonant	running	ran	runner
happy	y → i	happying → happier	happied → happier	happier
quick	add -ly	-	-	quickly

Prefixes - Meaning Changes

Prefix	Meaning	Examples
un-	not / opposite	unhappy, undo, unlock, unfair, unkind
re-	again / back	redo, rewrite, refresh, return, rebuild
dis-	not / opposite	dislike, disappear, disagree, dishonest
pre-	before	preview, prepay, predict, preheat
mis-	wrong / bad	mistake, misuse, misplace, misheard
over-	too much / over	overcook, overreact, overuse, overgrown

Homophones - Common Confusions

Words	Meanings	Example Sentence
their/there/they're	possessive/place/they are	They're going there with their friends.
to/too/two	direction/also/number	I went to the park too. We were two.
your/you're	possessive/you are	You're welcome. Is this your book?
hear/here	listen/this place	Come here so you can hear this.
effect/affect	result / influence	The effect was clear. Music affects mood.
principle/principal	rule / main person	It's a principle. The principal spoke.
accept/except	agree / other than	I accept. Everyone except Tom.

Commonly Misspelled Words

Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms: Words with similar meanings

Antonyms: Words with opposite meanings

Context Clues

Use surrounding words to figure out unfamiliar words.

• Definition clues: "A meteorite, a rock from space, fell yesterday."
• Example clues: "Fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas..."
• Contrast clues: "Unlike his quiet brother, Tom was very loud."
• Experience clues: "When I scraped my knee, it started to bleed."

Prefixes, Suffixes & Root Words

Understanding word parts helps decode meanings!

Root	Meaning	Examples
port	carry	transport, portable, export, import
spec	see/look	spectacular, inspect, spectator
tract	pull/draw	tractor, contract, attract, subtract
ject	throw	inject, reject, project, object
struct	build	structure, construction, destruct

Punctuation

1. Add commas: However I was tired I kept studying.

2. Add apostrophes: The boys bags are in the girls room.

3. Add punctuation: Did she say I am coming or I am going

4. Choose: The cat's / cats / cats' toy is lost. (toy belonging to the cat)

Grammar - Multiple Choice

5. The team __________ (work/works) hard every day.

6. This book is __________ (your / you're).

7. The children __________ (has/have) finished their homework.

8. __________ is my favourite subject. (Reading or Reading's)

Sentences

9. Combine using "and": I went to the store. I bought milk.

10. Combine using "because": It was raining. We stayed inside.

Spelling & Vocabulary

11. Write plural: one child → __________ | one tooth → __________

12. Add prefix: happy → __________ (not) | write → __________ (again)

13. Choose: (Their/There/They're) going to the park.

14. Find synonym: tiny → __________ | antonym: fast → __________

Answers

1) However, I was tired, I kept studying.

2) The boy's / girls' bags are in the girls' room.

3) Did she say, "I am coming" or "I am going"?

4) cat's 5) works 6) your 7) have 8) Reading

9) I went to the store, and I bought milk.

10) We stayed inside because it was raining.

11) children, teeth 12) unhappy, rewrite 13) They're

14) small/small, slow

• Read carefully: Read the question twice before answering
• Eliminate wrong answers: Cross out options you know are wrong
• Check spelling: Read your answer backwards to catch errors
• Verb agreement matters: Does the verb match the subject?
• Punctuation marks matter: Commas, apostrophes change meaning
• Homophones: Check meaning in context (their/there/they're)
• Practice daily: 15-20 minutes of language practice each day!
• Time management: Don't spend too long on one question