WORDY WEDNESDAY–Lonnnnnggg Homophone Quiz!

. Fill in each blank provided with the correct Wacky Word—their, there, they’re, wander,             
               wonder, scent, sent, farther, further, bear, or bare.

    1.  ________________ meeting us for lunch.
    2. We are going to ________________ the nursing home to sing.
    3.  ________________ rarely on time.
    4.  ________________ lake is just ahead.
    5. When we get  ________________, we will eat.
    6. We do not know what ________________ going to sing.
    7. Ray and Donna parked ________________ car in the parking garage.
    8. We should be ________________ after lunch.
    9. Maelynn thinks she left her keys ________________.
  10. ________________ going to drop off the food at noon.
                11. I ________________ what time it is.
                12. Please don’t ________________ around the woods too far.
                13. We could ________________ all day without a map.
                14. Jonathan ________________ what time it is.
                15. I ________________ if the Reishes are coming.
                16. Donna ________________ the card in the mail.
                17. Jonathan ________________ Maelynn flowers for Valentine’s Day.
                18. The dogs picked up the ________________ of the drugs.
                19. Did she get the email I ________________ her?
                20. The  ________________ of the candle filled the room.
                21. After church, he explained that concept ________________ .
                22. The  ________________ we go, the more lost we are!
                23. We can discuss the matter  ________________ when everyone gets here.
                24. I believe the store is  ________________ down the street.
                25. That restaurant is  ________________ than this one.
                26. I hope we don’t see a  ________________ while walking the trails.
                27. She gave her sister a stuffed  ________________ for Christmas.
                28. You should put sunscreen on your  ________________ skin.
                 29. The   ________________ slept in the warm sun after his hibernation.
                 30. My  ________________ feet are dirty from walking in the strawberry patch.

Answer Key:

    1.  They’re  meeting us for lunch.
    2. We are going to wander to the nursing home to sing.
    3.  They’re  rarely on time.
    4.  Their  lake is just ahead.
    5. When we get  there , we will eat.
    6. We do not know what  they’re  going to sing.
    7. Ray and Donna parked  their  car in the parking garage.
    8. We should be there after lunch.
    9. Maelynn thinks she left her keys there .
                  10. They’re going to drop off the food at noon.
                  11. I wonder what time it is.
                  12. Please don’t wander around the woods too far.
                  13. We could wander all day without a map.
                  14. Jonathan wonder what time it is.
                  15. I wonder if the Reishes are coming.
                  16. Donna sent the card in the mail.
                  17. Jonathan sent Maelynn flowers for Valentine’s Day.
                  18. The dogs picked up the scent of the drugs.
                  19. Did she get the email I sent her?
                  20. The  scent of the candle filled the room.
                  21. After church, he explained that concept further .
                  22. The  farther we go, the more lost we are!
                  23. We can discuss the matter  further when everyone gets here.
                  24. I believe the store is  farther down the street.
                  25. That restaurant is  farther than this one.
                  26. I hope we don’t see a  bear while walking the trails.
                  27. She gave her sister a stuffed  bear for Christmas.
                  28. You should put sunscreen on your  bare skin.
                  29. The  bear slept in the warm sun after his hibernation.
                  30. My  bare feet are dirty from walking in the strawberry patch.

WORDY WEDNESDAY–Homophone Tips

 “Homophone, homophones, homophones…homophones!” (Veggie Tales)

Adults and children alike make homophone errors. They are probably some of the most common grammatical errors. We like to teach our students little tricks to help them remember which word to use in which situation. Below you will find some tricks–followed by a quiz! Smile…

Here are some serious and some funny tips to help you remember some homophones:
           a. their—heir is in it; their shows ownership; heir shows ownership too
           b. there—here is in it; here and there; use for there are and there is
           c. they’re—contraction they are; say contracted words uncontracted to be sure that you are             
              using the correct word for the job
           d. wandering—you wander in an area; you wander around
           e. wonder—you ponder when you wonder
           f. scent—cats have a certain scent when their litter box needs cleaned
           g. sent—envelopes are sent
           h. farther—farther refers to area (has root far)
           i. further—further refers to understanding                                                                       
            j. bear—a bear is a creature                                                                                             
          k. bare—ends in an e; when we bare something, we expose it

Part of being a good learner and a good student is knowing how you learn—and working in those areas. For example, the author of CQLA loves mnemonics and tricks. (Can you tell?) Other people are distracted by that type of learning.

What kind of learner are you? What helps you learn homophones the best? What helps you learn to spell difficult words? Work in those areas to help you learn better, faster, and more thoroughly.

Reader’s Pick or Readers’ Pick?

Is Five Guys only ONE Reader’s Pick? If many readers picked it, it should say Readers’ Pick…..wish I had, had my purple editing pen with me!

P.S. Don’t second guess on possessives all the time:

1. Write the word you want to make possessive first without even thinking about the possessive part {Readers}
2. Then ask yourself, “Does it end in an s?” {Don’t overthink this step and start asking yourself if it’s plural, etc….just focus on the final letter in the word.}.
3.  If it ends in an s, simply put an apostrophe on the outside of the s. If it does NOT end in an s, put an ‘s.

Examples:

1. One reader picked it–the pick belongs to the one reader: reader’s pick
2. Many readers picked it–the pick belongs to many readers: readers’ pick
3. One dog owns the yard–the yard belongs to one dog: dog’s yard
4. Two dogs own the yard–the yard belongs to two dogs: dogs’ yard

 

March Holidays

 



I am adding a new little feature to LL 365–the holidays for that month capitalized and punctated properly (well, relatively so!). Many holidays come and people wonder, “Do you cap Day in Thanksgiving Day?” “Do you show possession to Fool in April Fools Day?” etc. etc.

So…for the next few weeks…a list of holidays punctuated and capitalized as correctly as I found! Note that different style guides (i.e. Associated Press vs. Modern Language Association, etc.) choose to punctuate and capitalize lesser known (National Kool-Aid Day!) or newer things (i.e. email vs. e-mail) differently. In those cases, it is truly a style preference rather than a hard and fast rule. So….Happy April…I mean, happy April! 🙂 And definitely, Happy Easter!

All Fool’s Day/April Fools Day

Daylight Savings Time
Palm Sunday
Passover
Good Friday
Easter
Easter Monday

Comma Clue: Subordinate Clauses (Preview!)

               Comma Clues!!!                  

Tomorrow’s COMMA CLUE is going to be about subordinate clause openers…so I’ll leave you with this little jingle to sing to yourself if you have insomnia tonight (instead of counting sheep!):

When you start a sentence with a subordinate clause,
Put the comma in when you hear the pause!

And then my sweet middle school students, knowing my love for the ballroom, all rise up from their seats and shout “CHA CHA” at the end of it…I have the greatest students! 🙂

Writing Feedback for Students: They are TRIFF!

If you are a writing teacher, use your feedback on students’ papers to point out advanced techniques done correctly. Sometimes students write without realizing that they are doing some cool things in their writing.

For example, here are some comments I have just made on a couple of students’ papers in order to even use grading time as teaching time:

*Superb compound-complex sentence!
*Another great appositive
*Love this CS; CA, CS
*Thanks for remembering that periods always go inside closing quotation marks in the US
*Great details…I appreciate you putting at least two pieces of information in each sentence!
*Love this informative opening paragraph with its strong link to the body and its MYSTERY!
*Triff!
*Cool vocab in this sentence!
*Perfect personification! 🙂
*Love this allieration!

Happy teaching, learning, and grammar today, LL friends!

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