Grammar in Writing is Important. It Guides Childrens' Words and Sentences which gives Meaning to their Writing.

Understanding basic grammar allows children to use the rules of the english language to write with meaning. It allows them to put words together in sentences that make sense.

Grammar can be quite confusing and difficult if you get overloaded with traditional grammar rules, including

knowing about prepositions, conjunctions, compound clauses, single clauses, independent clauses, participles, subjective clauses, split infinitives etc - it all seems too much, doesn't it. You might even ask - "What do they all mean? Don't worry there isn't a test!

For younger children, grammar and structure need only deliver their message, although grammar in writing is a little more specific than in speech, so it requires a little more attention.

The basic grammar in use for early writing includes knowing the order of grammar, parts of a sentence and the use of particular punctuation to make meaning.

The emphasis today on grammar rules is not as strict as it was when you and I was at primary school. I remember our grammar exercise text books and how we would learn a rule then do exercise after exercise on it.

Today it is taught in a more functional way with writing styles. While children do activities and exercises on a grammar rules they aren't followed as strictly and more focus is made on how it fits into their writing to make meaning.

I have made a list on this page of some of the more important grammatical terms that children need to understand so they can include good grammar in their writing. (You are probably familiar with all of these)

• Nouns:- Nouns are naming words. These are words that name people, places, things and animals.

• Adjectives:- Adjectives are describing words. They are used to describe a noun and will mostly come before a noun in a sentence. eg the loud, noisy storm.

   

• Adverbs:- An adverb describes how, when, where or why something happened. Adverbs usually end in 'ly' and add meaning to verbs. eg He ran quickly (describes how he ran)

   

• Verbs:- Verbs are doing words, they describe action. Learning the grammar of verbs also includes learning the tense of verbs. This is usually taught using the format of:

  Yesterday I _______

  Today I _______

  Tomorrow I ________.

  These clauses give a child the chance to think about what they would use for each verb.

   

• Using Capital Letters:- Children learn when it is important to use capital letters: beginning of sentences, proper nouns, for the word I and titles and initials.

   

• Sentences:- At first it is important for a child to know a sentence starts with a capital letter, ends in a full stop and needs to make sense. Later they learn that this differs depending on punctuation marks and also that sentences include a verb and a noun.

   

• Compound Words:- A compound word is made up of 2 smaller words joined together to make one word eg starfish, sunshine

   

• Antonyms:- Words that are opposites eg open and closed, black and white, light and dark etc

   

• Synonyms:- Words that are similar in meaning eg big, enormous; delicious, tasty etc

   

• Contractions:- Are the joining of two smaller words where some of the letters are left out eg is not -> isn't; it is -> it's; cannot -> can't

Punctuation is also taught along with grammar. Some of the important punctuation marks are:

• Full Stop:- Used to end a sentence or statement.

   

• Question Mark:- Children need to understand the intentions of a question and that it ends with a question mark (?)

   

• Exclamation Mark:- An exclamation mark ends sentences that are exclamations - shouting, yelling, exclaiming in surprise. usually from a reaction to something. eg Watch out!

   

• Commas:- Commas are used to make a pause in a sentence and to separate a list of words. More detail of commas comes later in schooling.

   

• Quotation, Talking or Speech Marks:- These are used to enclose words said by a person. There are other uses for these but they aren't used till later schooling.

   

• Apostrophes:- Are used in contractions as well as showing possession of objects. eg a baby's rattle

These are the basics and as your child gets older they can build on these basics and get a better comprehension of grammar and its usage.

A great, comprehensive resource for both you and your children is the KidsLearningisfun Grammar Guide. Fantastic to have on hand during homwork! It contains all the parts of speech with descriptions and numerous examples. Your copy is available just at a click.