Name: ____________________________________
Period: _______
Grammar Packet:
February
Some of this material has already been covered in class;
some of it will be covered later on. You should be able to do the
packet independently, and it will help you prepare for class.
Submit your Holiday Grammar and Style Packet to the Packet
Box no later than Friday, February 27.
Even if you are able to finish your packet during school
hours, always take it home and ask a relative or homework helper to
review it with you before you turn it in.
If you ever have any trouble, remember you can always come
to my classroom at lunch on the first and last days of the week for
individual help. 
I have no extras. If you lose your packet, you will have to
print another from my teacher website (www.lusd.org/Page/3380).
Special Note This Month: We took out this month’s Write It!
because the material this month is VERY important. We want to
encourage to take your time and use your resources to get an A on
these exercises. We will be building quickly on what you learn in this
month’s Grammar Packet. Strive to know it very well.
This Month’s Learning Objectives:
 Correctly use commas in dates, addresses, and personal
letters.
 Distinguish between phrases, clauses, and sentences.
 Identify the number of clauses in a sentence.
 Distinguish between dependent and independent clauses.
 Confidently identify 7 parts of speech (all except pronouns).
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Comma Conventions
1
1. Use commas to separate the year as part of a date in a
sentence.
,
She was born on January 26 2001.
,
,
On July 4 1776 the vote was unanimous.
2. Use commas to separate items in an address:
She was born in the old apartment complex at 130 Holly Avenue
,
,
,
Carpinteria California at 3:30 a.m.
It is NOT correct to put a comma between a state and a zip code:
,
Lompoc CA 93436
3. Use a comma after the salutation of a personal letter and after
the closing of any letter.
Dear Heberto
,
Sincerely
,
Proofread the following letter. You will have to write directly on
the draft to fix it. Here is a partial, basic checklist:
 Tell the writer to INDENT. Draw the pilcrow symbol ¶ to the left
of any line that you believe should be indented.
 Capitalize the beginning of each sentence, proper
nouns/adjectives, and the pronoun “I”.
 Fix all misspelled words, including contractions.
 Insert missing commas. Remove unnecessary commas.
1
Source: Holt Handbook, First Course, 306.
2
Ann Teak
100 Antediluvian, Road
Dogtown Florida, 32324
November 23 2014
Dear Grandma
Greetings frem snowey New York. We have all ready gotten three
inches of snow. I no youre glad to not be hear on weeks like this.
You are probabley also glad to not be on our street any more
when youre trying to sleep. Little Estefania Teak came into this wurld
on November, 2, 2014 and she hasnt stopped wailing since. Mom says
shell grow on me.
We r good. Lania likes playing outside. Even when it gets cold. She
never gets sick. Ron is learneing how to drive. he is haveing alot of
fun. Uncle Roger, who is teaching him in his new blue pickup is not
having as much fun. Aunt Zoe flies to London England, soon for work.
She will be back by Christmas.
Mom wanted me too tell you about my report card. I got one less
F than last yeer. My p.e. teacher rote “satisfactory Conduct.” That was
cool of him to say, wasnt it?
Mom also says that, with the noo baby, Santa mite not be able to
come this year. She says dat I should tell u what i want for Christmas
because you and him go way back and even went to school together. Is
this true?
Anyway, if Santa could just give me a gift card to the mall, that wuld be
awssome. Thanx.
With love
Joey
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Clauses
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and its
predicate.
You, as an intelligent student, may be wondering, How is that
different from a sentence? or How is that different from a phrase?
These are great questions. First of all, a correct sentence does, in
fact, always have at least one clause. The following example is both
a sentence and a clause:
My brother and I fight.
But a sentence can contain more than one clause. Here is a sentence
with two clauses:
My brother and I fight, and my mom punishes us both.
However, a clause does not have to be a sentence. Here is an
example of a clause that is NOT a sentence:
When the snow melts.
This is a good clause because it has a subject (the snow) and a
predicate (melts). However, it is not a good sentence. In fact, it is an
incomplete sentence, which you may remember is called a fragment.
Finally, how is a clause different from a phrase? A phrase is also a
group of words that works together in a sentence. A phrase can be
replaced with another word without changing the meaning of a
sentence. However, a phrase does NOT have a subject and a
predicate.
Study these examples. In the clauses, the subject is underlined once
and the predicate is underlined twice. Notice how the phrases do
not have a subject and a predicate (at most, they have just one of
the two):
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PHRASE: her red hair
CLAUSE: her red hair waved in the breeze
PHRASE: jumping up and down with excitement
CLAUSE: When the children finished jumping around
PRACTICE 1
Write whether each example is:
 a PHRase
 a CLAUSE
 a complete correct SENTence
If it’s a CLAUSE or a SENTence, underline the subject and doubleunderline the predicate.
EXAMPLE: chestnuts roasting on an open fire PHR
1. Jack Frost nipping at your nose
__________________________
2. sung by a choir
__________________________
3. Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the
season bright.
__________________________
4. If reindeer really know how to fly
__________________________
5. Although it’s been said many times, many ways,
__________________________
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PRACTICE 2
Identify the number of clauses that are in each sentence.
EXAMPLE:
Grandma had an unfortunate encounter with a reindeer.  1
1. She’d been drinking too much eggnog, and we begged her not to
go. _______________
2. When they found her in the morning, there were hoof prints on
her forehead. _______________
3. Grandpa is watching football and playing cards with Belle.
_______________
4. It’s just not Christmas without Grandma; all the family’s dressed
in black, and we ponder the propriety of opening her gifts.
_______________
5. Some don’t believe in Santa, but Grandpa and I definitely do.
_______________
2 Types of Clauses
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The first type of clause is independent. These are the clauses that
could form a complete sentence on their own:
We will hem it.
The new food is good for our hamster.
The second type of clause is dependent (a.k.a. subordinate). These
clauses cannot form a complete sentence on their own:
If the dress is too long
that the veterinarian recommended
2
This section and accompanying exercises are adapted from Holt Handbook First Course p. 114-116.
6
Notice that the dependent clauses are still clauses: they have
subjects (the dress, the veterinarian) and predicates (is…). But we
call these clauses dependent because they cannot exist alone but
depend upon an independent clause in order to be part of a
sentence.
Here, you can see the dependent clauses added to an independent
clause to form complete sentences:
If the dress is too long, we will hem it.
The new food that the veterinarian recommended is good for
our hamster.
Here’s a hint for identifying dependent clauses: They almost always
begin with a conjunction (a conjunction that is NOT a FANBOY):
if
when
after
before
that
which
who
because
as
for which
for whom
since
PRACTICE 3
Identify whether the underlined clause in each of the sentences is
independent or dependent.
EXAMPLE: If you know any modern music history, then you are
probably familiar with the Motown sound.  dependent
1. Do you recognize the entertainers who are shown in the
photographs?
____________________________
2. These performers had hit records in the 1950s and 1960s when
the music business in Detroit (the Motor City, or “Motown”) was
booming.
____________________________
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3. Berry Gordon, who founded the Motown record label, began his
business in a small office in Detroit.
____________________________
4. He was a songwriter and producer, and he was able to spot
talent.
____________________________
5. The Miracles, which was the first group discovered by Gordy, had
a lead singer named Smokey Robinson.
____________________________
6. Gordy carefully managed all aspects of the Motown sound, which
is a special combination of rhythm and blues and soul.
____________________________
7. Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the
Four Tops, the Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and
Michael Jackson are just some of the performers that Gordy
discovered.
____________________________
PRACTICE 4
Combine the independent clause and the dependent clause to form a
complete and correct sentence. (Capitalization and punctuation are,
of course, graded.)
EXAMPLE: who lives next door to us + have you or Peggy met the
woman 
Have you or Peggy met the woman who lives next door to us?
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1. dependent: whose paintings are now in the museum
independent: I used to teach the mischievous boy
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
2. dependent: since the telephone was invented
independent: many old ghost story plots are no longer believable
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
3. dependent: that you made
independent: the decorations are beautiful
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
PRACTICE 5
You will be given a dependent clause. Add your own independent
clause to make a complete sentence. Underline the dependent
clause. Capitalization and punctuation count.
EXAMPLE: that Alexander bought 
The sleeping bag that Alexander bought was on sale.
1. when I bought the CD
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
2. who won the contest
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
3. if my parents agree
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
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Rock It!
Instead of your usual Write It!, this month you are going to work at
demonstrating mastery of 7 of the 8 parts of speech:
Part of Speech
noun
adjective
Definition
A person, place,
thing, event, idea, or
feeling.
Describes a noun.
verb
Action or being.
adverb
Describes a verb or
an adjective. Often
ends in –ly.
Part of speech that
does not contribute
to the structure of a
sentence. Expresses
emotion and “stands
alone.”
Show the relationship
between a noun and
the rest of the world.
Often begin a
prepositional phrase.
A connector word—it
can connect phrases,
clauses, sentences,
or paragraphs in
different
relationships.
interjection
preposition
conjunction
Examples
The dog felt hunger
and needed love.
A funny, intelligent,
and original joke
won.
The dog felt hunger
and needed love.
You are really cute.
She plays well. He
shouted angrily.
Hey! Stop pushing.
Well, I guess so.
Darn, I wanted to see
the zebras.
It’s the president of
the United States.
The bear is under the
table.
At my school, we do.
I’ll try if you try.
When she arrives, she
brings the party.
I will finish up since
you are sick and need
to rest.
Ron’s rat and
Think of FANBOYS or Hermione’s cat want
consult p. 7 for a list. to play tag.
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This Month’s Challenge:
Read the following passage from History.com’s “History of
Valentine’s Day.” At the end, correctly identify every given word’s
part of speech (noun, adjective, verb, adverb, interjection,
preposition, or conjunction).
American Valentine’s Day Greetings
Americans probably began exchanging hand-made
valentines in the early 1700s. 2. In the 1840s, Esther A.
Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines
in America. 3. Howland, who was known as the “Mother of
the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace,
ribbons, and colorful pictures that were known as “scrap.”
4. Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an
estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each
year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest cardsending holiday of the year. 5. (An estimated 2.6 billion
cards are sent for Christmas.) 6. Women purchase
approximately 85 percent of all valentines.
1.
1. Americans (sentence 1): _______________________________
2. began (sentence 1): _______________________________
3. early (sentence 1): _______________________________
4. Esther A. Howland (sentence 2): _______________________________
5. who (sentence 2): _______________________________
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6. as (sentence 3, either appearance):
_______________________________
7. elaborate: (sentence 3): _______________________________
8. colorful (sentence 3): _______________________________
9. that (sentence 3): _______________________________
10. year (sentence 4): _______________________________
11. estimated (sentence 5): _______________________________
12. for (sentence 5): _______________________________
13. Christmas (sentence 5): _______________________________
14. Women (sentence 6): _______________________________
15. purchase (sentence 6): _______________________________
16. approximately (sentence 6): _______________________________
17. of (sentence 6): _______________________________
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The page numbers cite pages on which you should have written something, so
that you can check to make sure you did not skip an exercise.
You may have to flip back before the exercise in order to read the lesson or the
full instructions for the exercise.
Grading Rubric:
“Sotp!” Proofreading Exercise (p. 3):
_____/20
Practice #1 (p. 5)
_____/5
Practice #2 (p. 6)
_____/5
Practice #3 (p. 7-8)
_____/7
Practice #4 (p. 8-9)
_____/6
Practice #5 (p. 9)
_____/6
Rock It! (p.11-12)
_____/17
Total
_____/66
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