D.L.P. – Week Four
G R A DE SE VE N
Day One – Skills
• Punctuation – Titles
When referring to a title when writing, it must be punctuated properly. Shorter works are placed in
quotations. Shorter works include poems, short stories, songs, a chapter in a longer book, or a
newspaper or magazine article. Longer works include books, names of magazines or newspapers,
and movies.
• Capitalization – Proper Nouns - Places
Names of specific places must be capitalized since they are proper nouns. These could include the
names of buildings and monuments. They could also include towns, cities, states, and countries.
• Confused Words – their, there, they’re
The word there is a possessive pronoun and shows ownership. The word there can be used to
show a place. It can also be called an expletive when it is followed by a linking verb. They’re is a
contraction made up of the words they and are.
D AY O NE – SE NT E NCE O NE
The story Rip Van Winkle takes
place in the catskill mountains
in new york.
The story “Rip Van Winkle”
takes place in the Catskill
Mountains in New York.
D AY O NE – SE NT E NCE T WO
These mountains are high, and
there steep cliffs are beautiful.
These mountains are high, and
their steep cliffs are beautiful.
Day Two – Skills
• Punctuation – Dash
A dash is used to set off a part of sentence that may not be directly related to the sentence or
may add information. Commas can also be used where dashes are used.
• Articles
The three articles are a, an, and the. A and an are called indefinite articles. A is used before
singular words that begin with consonants. An is used before singular words that begin with
vowel sounds. The can be used before any noun.
• Sentence Combining –Using Immersion
Two sentences can be combined simply by including the information from one sentence into the
other. This helps to prevent short, choppy sentence. (Mary is tall. Mary is my friend. These can
be combined by immersing one into the other and saying, “My friend Mary is tall.”)
D AY T WO – SE NT E NCE O NE
The magical feeling of this story
comes from its source a old folk
tale handed down through the
ages.
The magical feeling of this story
comes from its source – an old folk
tale handed down through the
ages.
D AY T WO – SE NT E NCE T WO
Washington Irving became
famous in Europe. He also
became famous in America.
Washington Irving became
famous in Europe and America.
Day Three– Skills
• Capitalization – Proper Nouns – People
Names of people are always capitalized. If the person has a title such as Mr. or Dr., the title is
also capitalized. Animal’s names are also capitalized.
• Punctuation – Comma – Compound Sentence
When two independent clauses are combined with a conjunction to form a compound
sentence, a comma must be placed before the conjunction.
• Contractions with Have
Contractions formed by combing a word with the helping verb have should end in ‘ve.
(could’ve) This contraction sounds like the word “of.” Remember, the word “of” would never
be between two other verbs. (should have gone)
D AY T HR E E – SE NT E NCE O NE
Rip van winkle hated work. His
wife wanted him to earn a
living.
Rip Van Winkle hated work, but
his wife wanted him to earn a
living.
D AY T HR E E – SE NT E NCE T WO
Rip should of listened to his wife
because the money would of
helped his family.
Rip should’ve listened to his
wife because the money
would’ve helped his family.
Day Four– Skills
• Punctuation – Apostrophes in Possession
An apostrophe is used to show possession or ownership. If the word showing ownership is singular, then the
apostrophe is placed before the s. (boy’s) If the word is plural and ends in an s, then the apostrophe is
placed after the s. (groups’) However, if the plural word does not end in an s, then the apostrophe is placed
before the s. (children’s)
Joint possession means more than one person owns something. If one thing is owned by more than one
person, the apostrophe and s appear only on the final person in the group. (Bob and Mark’s car)
• Run-on Sentences
Run-on sentences occur when two complete thoughts run together without proper connection or
punctuation. Run-ons can be corrected in one of three ways. First, simply separate the two sentences with
proper end punctuation. However, if the two sentences can be connected by meaning, connect them with a
comma and the proper conjunction. Finally, the two sentences can have a semicolon placed between them
in the clauses relate closely in meaning. Note that the sentence following the semicolon would not begin
with a capital unless that word is a proper noun or the pronoun I.
• Punctuation – Comma – Appositives
If an appositive is a single word, it is the writer’s choice to place comas around it or not, but a multiple word
appositive must be set off from the sentence with commas.
D AY FO UR – SE NT E NCE O NE
Rips only friend was his dog he
was as henpecked as his master.
Rip’s only friend was his dog.
He was as henpecked as his
master.
D AY FO UR – SE NT E NCE T WO
Rip Van Winkle an unsuccessful
farmer became famous for his
adventures.
Rip Van Winkle, an unsuccessful
farmer, became famous for his
adventures.
Day Five– Skills
• Sentence Fragment
A fragment occurs because a sentence is missing a vital part, a subject or a verb. Correct it by
adding the missing part. A second way that a fragment occurs is that it is not a complete thought.
Perhaps, it is only a dependent clause. Correct this type of fragment by adding an independent
clause.
• Verb Usage – To know
The verb know is an action verb that is irregular. In the past, the verb changes to knew, and in the
past participle it becomes known.
• Punctuation – Comma – Compound Sentence
When two independent clauses are combined with a conjunction to form a compound sentence, a
comma must be placed before the conjunction.
• Punctuation – Exclamation Points
An exclamation point is used to show strong emotion. It can be used to end a sentence or after an
interjection.
D AY FIVE – SE NT E NCE O NE
Rip went into the mountains. To
get away from his wife.
Rip went into the mountains to
get away from his wife.
D AY FIVE – SE NT E NCE T WO
We all knowed Rip would get a
big surprise but what a surprise
he got.
We all knew Rip would get a big
surprise, but what a surprise he
got!