7th Grade Midterm Study Guide – Language Arts
Spelling principles to review:
Compound Words: Closed compounds: briefcase, granddaughter, Hyphenated
compounds: far-fetched, three-fourths, brother-in-law
Double Consonants: embarrass, exaggerate, unnecessary
Words with Silent Letters: guarantee, wrestle, knoll, spaghetti
The Rule -- I before e except after c, or when in sounds like a long a as in
neighbor and weigh: believe, piece, receive, vein, weight
Grammar Lessons to Review:
Identifying Subjects and Predicates in a sentence
 Subjects are the people, places and things in a sentence
 Predicates can be action verbs or verb of being – is, was, am, has been
Identifying complete sentences versus fragments
Direct and Indirect Objects and Subject Complements
 Direct Objects receive the action of the verb. They also follow an action
verb.
The quarterback threw the ball.
 Indirect objects receive the action of the direct object. It is almost
always a person.
The quarterback threw the receiver the ball.
 Subject complements are either adjectives or nouns. They always follow
a being verb. Subject complements used as adjectives are called
Predicate Adjectives.
My Mom was selfless.
Subject complements used as nouns are called Predicate Nominatives.
Correct use of commas
 Commas in a series of three or more things
 Commas are used to separate the date and year from the rest of the
sentence
 Commas used to set off an introductory phrase or words such as yes, no
and well in the beginning of a sentence
 Commas used to set off a noun of direct address or the name of a
person spoken to
 Commas used to separate “interrupters” like of course and in fact from
the rest of the sentence
 Commas used before conjunctions, words like and, or, but in a
compound sentence
 Commas used to separate a direct quotation from the rest of a sentence
Semicolons and colons
 Use a semicolon to join independent clauses in a compound sentence
when you do not use coordinating conjunctions.
The bake sale will be in the cafeteria; parents should bring donations
tomorrow.
 Use a colon to introduce a list of items.
The bake sale will include: muffins, cupcakes and cookies.
Quotation Marks versus Italics
 Use italics for the titles of books, movies, newspapers, works of art and
the names of airplanes and spacecraft
 Use quotation marks to enclose the titles of short works like poems,
songs, short stories, parts of books, and articles
Capitalization Rules
 All proper nouns
 The first letter of a direct quotation
 The first and last words in titles of works such as books, songs, stories,
poems, paintings or newspapers
 Historical events and documents
 Monuments and buildings
 Organizations, teams, businesses and brands
 Awards
 Government agencies
 First word in the greeting and closing of a letter
Terminology for the Writing Process:
Prewriting – the act of coming up with a topic
Drafting – the act of writing or typing your essay for the first time
Editing – the act of making corrections to your essay
Revising – the act of rewriting the final draft
Publishing – the act of printing a neat final copy of your essay
Terminology for the 6+1 Writing Traits:
Ideas – the piece’s central message and details that support it
Organization – the internal structure of the piece
Voice – the tone and tenor of the piece; the stamp of the writer
Word Choice – the specific vocabulary the writer uses
Sentence Fluency – the way words and phrases flow through a piece
Conventions – the mechanical (spelling/grammar) correctness of the piece
Presentation – the physical appearance of the piece