Grammar Notes and Mini-Lessons
Mr. Beckett

 Complete Exercise A, #1-5 on page
264. Just write down words that need to be capitalized.

Common Nouns vs. PROPER
NOUNS
 Common Nouns: any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas.
 Proper Nouns: a particular person, place, thing, or idea.

Capitalization: Common vs. Proper
Nouns
Common Nouns: DO NOT
Capitalize Proper Nouns: CAPITALIZE river president street school college/university state dog
Allegheny River
President Obama
Division Street
Woodland Hills High
School
University of Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
Snoopy

You DO NOT need to capitalize the following:
 Short prepositions of less than five letters
 in, on, with, to
 Coordinating conjunctions
 and, but, so, for, or, nor, yet
 Articles
 a, an, the

Capitalization: Initials and
Abbreviations
 Capitalize initials in names and abbreviations that come before OR after names.
 Examples:
J.D. Rockefeller
Dr. Suzi Cohen
Louis J. Halle
Sr. Garcia

Practice
 Complete #1-10 on Exercise 1, pages
268-269. Write down words that need to be capitalized or need to be made lower case. Three sentences are correct.

Day Two Practice
 Warm up: Complete Ex. A, #6-10, pgs. 264-265.
 Practice: Complete Ex. 1, #6-10, pg. 269. (Two sentences are correct)

North, South, East, West?
DO NOT capitalize direction
CAPITALIZE Specific
Regions
 I am going to head south at the river.
 It ’ s just north of
Pittsburgh.
 As soon as you see the gas station, go east on
Route 10.
 I ’ m from the South
 People from the North scare me.


The East Coast beaches are better than the West Coast beaches.
We get a lot of oil from the
Middle East.

Special Events, Holidays, and Calendar Items
 Capitalize the following:
 Special Events:
 the Boston Marathon
 the All-Star Game
 the Iowa State Fair
 Holidays:
 Valentine ’ s Day
 Earth Day
 Calendar Items:
 Friday
 March
 Do not capitalize seasons.



Apostrophes
 The possessive case of a noun shows ownership, or possession.
 To form the possessive case of most singular nouns, add an apostrophe and an s.
 Examples:
 the mayor ’ s desk
 the evening ’ s paper
 the bus ’ s wheel
 Steve ’ s problem

Apostrophes (cont.)
 For a singular common noun ending in s, add both an apostrophe and an s if the added s is
pronounced as a separate syllable.
 Examples:
 The actress ’ s costumes
 The class ’ s teacher
 The dress ’ s sleeves
 The platypus ’ s tail

Apostrophes (cont.)
 To form the possessive case of a plural noun ending in s, add only an apostrophe:
 Examples:
 Two birds ’ feathers
 The Garzas ’ patio
 All three cousins ’ vacation
 The Girl Scouts ’ uniforms

Apostrophes (cont.)
 For a name or noun ending in s, add only an apostrophe if the name has two or more syllables and does not sound awkward.
 Examples:
 Mrs. Rawlings ’ car
 Texas ’ governor
 the species ’ characteristics

Practice: Day One
 Complete Review A, pgs. 359-360.
#1-10.
Write down the words that need apostrophes with the apostrophe in the right place.

Warm up Practice
 Review B, pg. 360-61, do # ’ s 1, 2, 3,
4, and 10. Also, one sentence is correct

Possessive Pronouns
 You DO NOT need an apostrophe with the following possessive pronouns:
Singular my, mine your, yours his, her, hers, its
Plural our, ours your, yours their, theirs

Practice
 Complete Exercise 3, pgs. 362-363,
#1-10.


Contractions
The apostrophes in contractions show letters, words, or numerals have been left out:
Common Contractions
Who is…………..
who ’ s
There is………… there ’ s
Could have……..
could ’ ve
1999……………..
’ 99
Of the clock……… o ’ clock
Let us……………..
let ’ s
I would…………… I ’ d
Cannot…………… can ’ t she will……….
she ’ ll
I am…………… I ’ m you are………..
you ’ re we had………..
we ’ d she has……….
she ’ s
Lisa is………… Lisa ’ s
Is not………….
isn ’ t will not………..
won ’ t

Practice
 Review C, pg. 363, #1-10.
 Review C, pg. 363 #11-20

 Use an apostrophe and an s to form the plurals of numerals, symbols, all lowercase letters, some uppercase letters, and some words referred to as words.
 Examples:
 Most cursive u’s and U’s look similar.
 I used too many so’s in my paper.
 These 2’s look like 7’s.
 The author has confused @’s with &’s.

 Review D, pg. 364, #1-10.

CHOMP CHOMP Grammar Practice
 In Google, type in Chomp Chomp
Grammar
 Click on the link to the site
 Scroll down to and click on “ Exercises ”
 Scroll down to “ Apostrophes, ” and click on “ Interactive Exercise One ”
 Complete the exercise.

Titles: Quotations or Underline?

 Place quotations around shorter works ( “ … ” ):
Examples:
 Articles
 Essays




Short Stories
Poems
Songs
Episodes of TV Series
 Chapters and Other Parts of Books or Periodicals

Titles (cont.)
 Underline or italicize longer works
 Examples:
 Books/Novels
 Periodicals (Magazines, Newspapers, etc.)
 Long Poems
 Plays


Films/Movies
Television Series
 Long Musical Works and Recordings
 Works of Art
 Ships/Boats


Trains
Aircraft and Spacecraft

Practice with Titles: Write down the titles and either underline them or place quotes around them.
1.
2.
3.
Have you ever read Money Hungry, the novel by
Sharon Flake?
The fifth episode in the TV series The African
Americans is titled The Harlem Renaissance.
The Idea of Ancestry is a great poem from
Etheridge Knight’s poetry collection Poems from
Prison.

Practice with Titles: Write down the titles and either underline them or place quotes around them.
1.
2.
3.
Have you ever read Money Hungry, the novel by
Sharon Flake?
The fifth episode in the TV series The African
Americans is titled “The Harlem Renaissance.”
“The Idea of Ancestry” is a great poem from
Etheridge Knight’s poetry collection Poems from
Prison.

4.
5.
6.
Practice with Titles: Write down the titles and either underline them or place quotes around them.
My father always swore by Newsweek, but my mother always preferred U.S. News & World
Report.
The space shuttle The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after its launch, and it was replaced by the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
I read an article about the movies The Incredible
Hulk and Spiderman 3 in the magazine
Entertainment Weekly.

4.
5.
6.
Practice with Titles: Write down the titles and either underline them or place quotes around them.
My father always swore by the magazine
Newsweek, but my mother always preferred U.S.
News & World Report.
The space shuttle The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after its launch, and it was replaced by the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
I read an article about the movies The Incredible
Hulk and Spiderman 3 in the magazine
Entertainment Weekly.

Practice with Titles: Write down the titles and either underline them or place quotes around them.
7.
My all-time favorite poems by Robert Frost are The
Road Not Taken and Nothing Gold Can Stay, the last of which is featured in the movie based on S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders.
8.
One of my favorite TV shows, Disaster Chronicles, ran an episode called Volcanoes in Italy
9.
10.
We went to see Andy Warhol’s famous work of art,
Skulls, then we went to see the play Our Town.
In ninth grade, we read the story The Most Dangerous
Game out of our anthology, Glencoe Literature: The
Reader’s Choice.

Practice with Titles: Write down the titles and either underline them or place quotes around them.
7.
My all-time favorite poems by Robert Frost are “The
Road Not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” the last of which is featured in the movie based on S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders.
8.
One of my favorite TV shows, Disaster Chronicles, ran an episode called “Volcanoes in Italy.”
9.
10.
We went to see Andy Warhol’s famous work of art,
Skulls, then we went to see the play Our Town.
In ninth grade, we read the story “The Most Dangerous
Game” out of our anthology, Glencoe Literature: The
Reader’s Choice.

Titles review
 In this month’s Entertainment magazine, I read the article Summer Box Office: 10 Winners and 10 Losers, which discusses the summer films Iron Man 3, Fast & Furious 6, Smurfs 2, and White House Down.
 Entertainment, “Summer Box Office: 10
Winners and 10 Losers,” Iron Man 3, Fast &
Furious 6, Smurfs 2, and White House Down.

More Titles Practice
1.
2.
3.
4.
This year, we’ll probably read To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
The article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette was entitled One Dies in Wilkinsburg House
Fire.
The Ballad of the Landlord and Cross are two very good poems by Langston Hughes.
Homer the Father is a great episode of the series
The Simpsons.

More Titles Practice
1.
2.
3.
4.
This year, we’ll probably read To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
The article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette was entitled “One Dies in Wilkinsburg House
Fire.”
The “Ballad of the Landlord” and “Cross” are two very good poems by Langston Hughes.
“Homer the Father” is a great episode of the series The Simpsons.

5.
6.
7.
More Titles Practice
One of the most famous ships in history is the
Titanic, but many don’t realize that the Lusitania is also very famous.
The best songs off of Ice Cube’s famous album The
Predator are Wicked, Check Yo Self, and It Was a
Good Day.
In history class, we watched the documentary movie on Charles Lindbergh called Lucky: The Story of
Charles Lindbergh. The movie included shots of his famous plane Spirit of St. Louis, which he flew from
New York to Paris.

5.
6.
7.
More Titles Practice
One of the most famous ships in history is the
Titanic, but many don’t realize that the Lusitania is also very famous.
The best songs off of Ice Cube’s famous album The
Predator are “Wicked,” “Check Yo Self,” and “It Was a
Good Day.”
In history class, we watched the documentary movie on Charles Lindbergh called Lucky: The Story of
Charles Lindbergh. The movie included shots of his famous plane Spirit of St. Louis, which he flew from
New York to Paris.

More Titles Practice
8.
9.
Some of the most famous paintings ever created were
Mona Lisa, The Starry Night, and the Scream, but unfortunately none of these are displayed in
Pittsburgh at the Andy Warhol Museum or the
Carnegie Museum of Art.
Steve Crafton’s famous essay, Shakespeare’s Finest, discusses William Shakespeare’s three famous plays
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello.
10.
The ESPN article Peyton’s Place discusses how quarterback Peyton Manning has transformed the
Denver Broncos into one the NFL’s finest. It appears in ESPN magazine.

More Titles Practice
8.
9.
Some of the most famous paintings ever created were
Mona Lisa, The Starry Night, and the Scream, but unfortunately none of these are displayed in
Pittsburgh at the Andy Warhol Museum or the
Carnegie Museum of Art.
Steve Crafton’s famous essay, “Shakespeare’s Finest,” discusses William Shakespeare’s three famous plays
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello.
10.
The ESPN article “Peyton’s Place” discusses how quarterback Peyton Manning has transformed the
Denver Broncos into one the NFL’s finest. It appears in ESPN magazine.

1.
2.
3.
Test Review: Capitalization
I wouldn’t mind moving to washington d.c., but I really want to move somewhere very far south of pittsburgh, pa.
Again, georgetown university is tempting, but i might be more happy in the south with a warmer climate.
Ideally, I would like to move to a university that is close to the atlantic ocean, and maybe the university of miami or florida university might be good choices for me.

1.
2.
3.
Test Review: Capitalization
Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, PA
Georgetown University, I, South
Atlantic Ocean, University of Miami,
Florida University

Test Review: Capitalization (cont.)
4.
5.
6.
No matter what I decide for a school for this fall, I better at least get out of allegheny county and head north, south, east, or west.
Regardless of where I go, my parents want me to get a degree that would give me the title of an m.d. like dr. smith, our family friend.
By valentine’s day, I plan on making my final decision. If I wait until easter or memorial day, even, there might not be room for me.

4.
5.
Test Review: Capitalization (cont.)
6.
Allegheny County
M.D., Dr. Smith
Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial
Day

1.
2.
3.
Test Review: Apostrophes
The armys supplies were cut off at dawn. All the soldiers faces showed despair at hearing the news.
The soldiers just completed five days worth of fighting. General Smiths pride in them could not be any stronger.
The leaders pride, though, nor any of the
General Clarks speeches, could prevent the soldiers eventual fate.

Test Review: Apostrophes
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
Test Review: Apostrophes (cont.)
Dont take your time getting to class, for goodness sake! Hurry, because you cant miss any material if you want to get As and not Bs or Cs!
Whose turn is it? I know its not mine and I know youve already taken your turn.
The actresses dressing room was so full that they had to take some of their clothes to the towns thrift store. The thrift stores owner was very excited because they mostly had childrens clothing and needed some adult clothing.

Test Review: Apostrophes (cont.)
4.
5.
6.

1.
Test Review: Titles
Oswald River’s novel Fire and Rain and
Tim O’Brien’s short story Ambush are about the Vietnam War.
2.
3.
Out of their list of 500 greatest songs,
Rolling Stone picks Otis Redding’s song
Respect and Bob Dylan’s song Like a
Rolling Stone in the top five.
The last episode of The Walking Dead was called Infected.

1.
Test Review: Titles
2.
3.

Test Review: Titles (cont.)
4.
5.
We went to the New York Museum of art to see the famous paintings Guernica by
Picasso and Mona Lisa by Leonardo da
Vinci.
They have made a movie about the Apollo
13 space shuttle trip. It starred Tom Hanks, who now stars in the movie Captain Frank.

Test Review: Titles (cont.)
4.
5.