English Language Arts 9
Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation
We never want out grammar, spelling, or punctuation to distract readers from our
opinion or message.
Some Common CHOICE 9 Errors:
1.
CAPITAL LETTERS
 Use them when you start a new sentence. Use them after a period, question mark,
exclamation point
 Use capitals when you start dialogue (Suddenly, Anna asked, “Do you love me?”.)
 Always capitalize the personal pronoun “I”
 Use them for acronyms and abbreviations (R.C.M.P.)
 Use them for proper nouns
Recognize a proper noun when you see one
 Nouns name people, places, and things.
 Every noun can further be classified as common or proper.
 A proper noun has two distinctive features: 1) it will name a specific [usually a one-ofa-kind] item, and 2) it will begin with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in a
sentence.
Original by Erin Harlos. Adapted by Brenda Baisley.
Common Noun
Proper Noun
writer
teacher
Herman Melville
Mrs. Hacket
beagle
cookie
Snoopy
Oreo
city
Orlando
restaurant
document
Tito's Taco Palace
Declaration of Independence
school
University of Virginia
More on PROPER NOUNS:
 Use a capital letter for days of the week, months of the year, holidays (Monday,
January)
 Use a capital letter for countries, languages & nationalities, religions (China,
Buddhism)
 Use a capital letter for people's names and titles (Ms. Hock, William
Shakespeare)
 Use a capital letter for trade-marks and names of companies and other
organizations (Pepsi, Apple)
 Use a capital letter for places and monuments (the White House, London)
 Use a capital letter for names of vehicles like ships, trains and spacecraft (the
Titanic, the Orient Express)
 Use a capital letter for titles of books, poems, songs, plays, films etc (War And
Peace, The Lion King)
You Try! Highlight the letters in this paragraph that should be capitalized.
a long time ago, i had a dream. i wanted to go on a vacation around the world. i wanted to
travel with my friend, sammy and go to all kinds of exotic places. we would go to london,
france, and italy. can you imagine seeing the eiffel tower and the colessium? oh what a trip it
would be! leaving canada on an air canada plane would be such a treat! especially when we
traveled right over the united states and the atlantic ocean. i am going to call sammy right
now and get this trip planned!
Original by Erin Harlos. Adapted by Brenda Baisley.
2.
COMMAS
A comma indicates a slight pause in a sentence.
Before students finish this class, they will learn how to write well.
A comma is used to separate words or groups of words within a complete thought.
He picked up the pennies, nickels, and dimes.
It took all day to separate the coins, count them up, and put them in their paper rolls.
Use a comma after an introductory word or phrase.
In 2003, there were 300 cars sold.
Use a comma to separate two or more adjectives (describing words) that come before a noun.
Vancouver is a large, beautiful city.
Use a comma before coordinating conjunctions (but, nor, or, for, so, yet, and) when it joins two
separate thoughts.
The sky was dark and cloudy, but the sun was still out.
The kid must get to bed early, or they will be tired in the morning.
You Try! Add commas to the following sentences
1. When I get to the mall I am going to buy shoes a purse some jeans and a shirt
2. On January 1 2012 they celebrated the New Year by going tobogganing skating and
snowshoeing.
3. Sally seemed excited and confident for her first day of school yet she was very scared.
4. Orange is a bright beautiful color.
5. At Regina Beach the sand is far from white and pristine.
Original by Erin Harlos. Adapted by Brenda Baisley.
3. SPELLING or USING THE WRONG WORD
Some other commonly misused words:

It’s/Its: IT’S
is a contraction for IT IS; ITS is the POSSESSIVE of IT.
The dog knows it’s going to be lonely when its owners are packing their suitcases.

Your/You’re:
YOUR is POSSESSIVE; YOU’RE is a contraction for YOU ARE.
You’re not going to your school to get your homework, are you?

Then / Than: THEN is used for TIME, THAN is used for COMPARISON
First I stole a banana, then I ate it. Eating a banana is more fun than stealing one.

There/They’re/Their:
THERE is a PLACE; THEY’RE is a contraction for
THEY ARE; THEIR is a PLURAL POSSESSIVE (it belongs to them).
They’re going over there to get their car.

Whether / Weather: WEATHER is SNOW, RAIN, and SUNSHINE.
WHETHER is a DECISION.
“I will decide later whether or not I invite you to my house”.

Lose / Loose: Lose is to not win. Loose is baggy, not tight.
Careful, if your pants are too loose, you might lose them.

To / Too / Two: Two= number 2 (I want 2 bananas). Too= many, lots, or
also.
There were only 15 people invited to this party; 17 is two too many.
Original by Erin Harlos. Adapted by Brenda Baisley.
You Try! Decide which (not witch
it.
) word to use by highlighting, underlining or circling
1. Man do I ever see alot/a lot of the same writing mistakes when I correct your/you’re
work.
2. Sometimes I just can’t decide whether/weather to laugh or cry at your/you’re
mistakes.
3. I have decided not to lose/loose my cool as it is better than/then ripping your/you’re
paper in to/too/two.
4. Its/It’s so rewarding to see students improve their/there/they’re writing and in
addition to see their/there/they’re marks go up.
4. What about apostrophes?
DO
use an apostrophe for POSSESSIVES (ownership) and CONTRACTIONS.
DO NOT
use an apostrophe for PLURALS (unless it is a PLURAL POSSESSIVE).
You Try! Decide if you should use an apostrophe or not by circling, underlining, highlighting
the correct word.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Anna’s/Annas red sweatshirt had 20 button’s/buttons on the front of it.
I can’t/cant wait for winter to be over.
Harlos’/Harloss/Harlos’s classroom is the best.
Its/it’s going to be a great basketball tournament, Balfour is known around the city for
its/it’s hosting abilities.
Original by Erin Harlos. Adapted by Brenda Baisley.