Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
One
Capitalization
Identify the capitalization errors in the following sentences and re-write the words that need to be
changed (there is at least one in each sentence):
1. We went to new york city last year. New York City
2. I brought a book called sights to see in the city. Sights to See in the City
3. There were a ton of people there, and many of them spoke languages
other than english. English
4. At the World Trade Center Memorial, we met an awesome cop named
officer Fernandez. Officer
5. When it was time to leave, I asked my parents, “can we come back next
year?” Can
Correct any words with capitalization errors in the following paragraph (there are 11 incorrect words
in all):
6. One of my favorite parts of the trip was seeing the statue of liberty. I
learned that it was a gift to the united states from the french. On
another day, we met the Mayor; his name was mayor Bloomberg.
Mom and dad thought it was outrageous how expensive everything
was. Dad said, “next year we’re going to las vegas.”
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 EIGHT LETTERS: Create as many words as you can using three or more of the
letters below (at least one eight-letter word is possible):
RUDOTASW
Outwards
Ten-Minute
DAY
Two
Grammar
Capitalization
In your own words, write a capitalization rule that explains the following correction (Your rule could
start with “You should capitalize…”):
1. nile river = Nile River
That River there = that river there
You should capitalize proper nouns—names of specific people, places or things—but not
common nouns.
2. I said, “hello.” = I said, “Hello.”
You should capitalize the first word of a quotation.
3. president Washington = President Washington
was the first President
was the first president
You should capitalize titles only when they are used as part of a person’s name.
4. french, spanish, american = French, Spanish, American
You should capitalize languages. You should capitalize any word that is derived from a proper
noun.
The goal here is to get the students to deduce the rules on their own. During the correction
session, correct any misconceptions and lead them to the best way of stating each rule.
Based on the rules you deduced above, find the capitalization error in each sentence below:
5. I want to go to disneyland in california.
6. She asked, “why is your hair purple?”
7. Our class wrote letters to senator Kennedy last year.
8. This pancake house down the road has great german pancakes; and one
of the cashiers is bilingual, so you can order in spanish if you want.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 VOWEL COMBINATOR: The vowel combination “ou” can sound like the
“ow” in “wow” or like the soft “u” in “much.” List as many words as you can that
contain this vowel combo.
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Three
Capitalization
Yesterday, you deduced the following the capitalization rules. Create your own example sentence for
each rule:
Answers will vary.
1. Proper nouns should be capitalized, and common nouns should not.
2. The first word in a quotation should be capitalized.
3. A person’s title should be capitalized only when it’s used as a name or
as part of a name.
4. Words that come from proper nouns (like languages) should be
capitalized.
General Grammar Review – Read the following excerpt from Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean
Meyers and then answer the questions:
The sadness in Halima’s voice bothered me, but then I thought
about the village men who had been killed, and remembered her
saying that they were going to Baghdad to get ready to fight
Americans.
5. List at least four nouns from this sentence. Sadness, Halima, voice, men,
Baghdad, Americans
6. Who is the antecedent of the pronoun “her” in the second line? Halima
7. List at least three verbs from this sentence. Bothered, thought, had been
killed, remembered, were going (“saying,” “to get ready,” and “to fight” are
verbals NOT acting as verbs here—this will be covered in a future unit.)
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 DESCRAMBLER: Try to sort out the five scrambled words below:
WOSC EPJES DWNIOW RAMECRE YRAMDEDA
Cows Jeeps Window Creamer Daydream
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Four
Capitalization
In titles of things like books, movies, and articles, the first and last
word are always capitalized, and all other words are capitalized
except articles (a, an, the), short conjunctions (and, but, or, as, if),
and prepositions (of, over, beyond, through).
Rewrite the following titles with correct capitalization:
1. Harry potter And The half-blood Prince Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. lizzie bright and the buckminster boy
3. second Star To The Right
4.
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Second Star to the Right
the Curious case of Benjamin button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Using the proper proofreading marks, correct the six errors in this excerpt from Sunrise over Fallujah
by Walter Dean Meyers:
You’re
“Your not allowed to treat iraqis,” captain Coles said.
“I’ve got a few rolls of clean bandages and and some antibiotics,” Miller
said. “I don’t think its going to make a major difference in the War.”
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 CATALOGUE CREATOR: The root word “-aster- / -astr-” means “star.” How
many words can you list that contain this root?