Conjunctive Adverbs (CA’s) are one of the most confusing parts of speech to teach because they are not used that often. However, we need to teach students what they are and how to write with them because they carry so much meaning! They are amazing for transitions–and they show so many relationships between words and between parts of a sentence. (Check out the Tricky Trick student download in this post for the four places to use Conjunctive Adverbs in a Sentence!) They also have several punctuation options (depending on whether the CA is in between two sentences, at the beginning of a sentence, at the end of a sentence, or splitting on complete sentence).

This post is going to give you a partial list of Conjunctive Adverbs and a comical set of sentences that one of my students wrote for her assignment when she had to “Write 15 sentences using conjunctive adverbs.” Plus, I have a Tricky Trick sheet for your students with the four ways that conjunctive adverbs are used/punctuated in sentences (and the aforementioned partial CA list). Lots of learning here!

When you’re done studying the list and the Tricky Trick sheet, try to solve our Punctuation Puzzle containing these interesting words.

* Also a preposition    ** Also a subordinator

Click or tap to download the two-page Tricky-Trick doc!

And a comical paragraph chocked full of these versatile words:

Alas, I have been assigned to write fifteen sentences with conjunctive adverbs in them. So, then I thought, fifteen? In fact, that’s crazy! In spite of this crazy assignment, I still have to do it. At the same time, I understand that it is beneficial for my English learning experience. Nonetheless, I still think fifteen is a bit much. Perhaps Mrs. Reish thinks I that I will be a “conjunctive adverbologist” some day. Then I have news for you! Eventually, I plan on becoming a photographer. On the other hand, I love working with animals, so maybe I’ll become a veterinarian. However, I hate needles,so maybe that is not best for me. Besides, I’m already taking a photography class. No matter how persuasive Mrs. Reish can be, nothing whatsoever can change my mind! Anyway, I don’t need to use conjunctive adverbs. Thus, there is no point in writing fifteen sentences about them. As a result….wait! What?! In spite of all my complaining, I’ve done it? On the contrary, I thought I was pretty bad at all this. As a result, I might become a “conjunctive adverbologist” after all!

Isn’t teaching so much fun? 😉

P.S. How can I help you become a stronger grammar teacher? Let me know, and I’ll see what I can do! Check out my Think Fast Grammar Quiz and Answer Key downloadable product for daily or weekly grammar practice!

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“[A]lways get to the dialogue as soon as possible. I always feel the thing to go for is speed. Nothing puts the reader off more than a big slab of prose at the start,” nineteenth-century writer P.G. Wodehouse commented. He is not alone among authors in emphasizing dialogue in writing, but teaching students how to use quotations can be so difficult.

So, I’d like to give you some tips on teaching basic quotation use and punctuation to your students. Also, check out the Tricky Tricks Sheet at the end of this post. It gives a concise summary of basic quotation rules. Additionally, Character Ink Press’s Meaningful Composition 5 I includes more info on using quotes, along with a number of other writing lessons.

Tip #1 – Teach quotes as they are needed for assignments

Oftentimes, the easiest way to teach quotations is in conjunction with essay and report writing. Most students do not learn quotation rules well unless they have a chance to use them. So, they benefit immensely when they can apply a quotation rule to the assignment they are working on.

This also ensures that your students will know the skills they need for their assignments. Obviously, it’s easier for them to use a skill correctly when they have just learned it.

Tip #2 – Use good examples and have students interact with examples

Everyone learns better when they have an example that clearly demonstrates what they have just learned. For example, let’s say you have just taught your students about quotes with speech tags at the beginning. After going through the rules, you would want to use an example like this:

Charlie Brown sighed and said, “Oh brother, this always happens to me.”

This sentence shows the two rules for punctuating this type of quote: comma in between the speech tag and quote and if there is a period, a period inside the quotation marks. This is a fantastic beginning; however, to help your students analyze the example, it is extremely helpful to let them interact with it.

What do I mean by interacting with the examples? Highlighting, underlining, boxing, circling. Whenever possible, you want your students to mark the example’s important aspects—capital letters, punctuation, quotation marks.

Tip #3 – Go SLOWLY through examples

Quotations are some of the trickiest elements in writing. Students will not catch all the rules unless you take the time to carefully work through the examples with them. Highlighting, underlining, etc. is part of this. The other part is mentioning how each part of the example matches the rules you just taught. For example,

“It was a dark and stormy night,” Snoopy wrote.

Start with the first letter and explain how a quote starts with a capital letter. Then move on to the comma and mention how it comes before the quotation marks and between the quote and speech tag. End with discussing how a speech tag ends in a period when it follows the quote. This, of course, can be done in conjunction with marking:

Download Beginning Quotes Tricky Tricks Sheet by clicking or tapping below, or clicking here:

Tip #4 – Give time for students to practice

Seeing is one thing, but doing is another. Students need time to practice with unpunctuated sentences. Give them sentences that make them decide where to put the punctuation. Have them come up to the board and punctuate a sentence. For example, you might write this sentence up on the board:

What should I do Lucy Charlie Brown asked despairingly

Then, have your student do their best to punctuate the sentence. If they know the rules perfectly, the sentence will look like this:

“What should I do, Lucy?” Charlie Brown asked despairingly.

Most students will not get it right the first time or the first few times. But, even if they mess up, they are getting practice using quotes by themselves. Of course, it also allows you to see which quotation rules they have or have not learned. You can then focus your examples and efforts on helping them learn that rule.

Tip #5 – FIX students’ quotes in their papers for them and EXPLAIN the errors to them

Correcting students’ quotes in their papers is crucial. It allows you to discuss rules with them in the context of an actual paper. This will help them see how the quotation rules apply in their actual writing.

Of course, it doesn’t help students learn if you just fix their errors. You have to explain what was wrong and why you corrected it the way you did. For example,

Charlie Brown sadly stated, “the Kite-Eating Tree ate my kite again.”

If they wrote something like this, you would capitalize the in their paper.

Charlie Brown sadly state, “The Kite-Eating Tree ate my kite again.”

Then you would explain that a quote always starts with a capital letter.

I hope these five tips gave you some help in teaching basic quotations. As I mentioned at the beginning, check out the following Tricky Tricks sheet on basic quotations.

Love and hope,

P.S. What questions does this post leave you with? I will be expanding on this article later, so let me know how I can help you!

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Yep, you read that caption correctly! Contrary to what many people believe, capitOl does not refer to the head city, a good idea, or money invested. CapitOl Only refers to the capitOl building.

Here is the rundown:

1. Capitol
    a. Only has one use that we widely implement.
    b. Means the building or group of buildings in which the functions of government are carried out.
    c. Think. CapitOl Only means Office buildings for gOvernment–that is the Only meaning.

2. Capital
        a. All other uses of capital are the a one—capital is for all other uses. 
        b. ALL other uses of capitol/capital are the word capitAL.
        c. Adjectives
            1) Upper case letter: capital letter   
            2) Chief or primary: capital idea or the capital (most important) thing for us                             to     remember
            3) Die by the court: capital punishment
            4) Primary city: the capital city
        d. Nouns
            1) Stock of goods or income: to have capital in the bank
            2) Capital used by itself for the city: go to the capital of the state (i.e. the city that                 is the capital–not the building–the capitol building).

Watch the blog and Facebook page tomorrow for a quiz over this Wacky Word pair–and over last week‘s vane, vein, and vain! Better start studying!

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1. Wed
2. Nes (short e like ness)
3. Day

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Weary is a word that means tired or overwhelmed from something, such as too much work, no rest, difficult circumstances, etc.

Wary is a word that means to be paranoid or suspicious.

Both words are adjectives, meaning they describe nouns (or sometimes pronouns, in the case of predicate adjectives: I am weary.).

So, what can we use for a Tricky Trick?

Well, I will propose one that has worked for me since my Clara Barton encounter–see if it helps you as well:

1. The day was dreary, so she grew weary–just remember that the spellings are the same–dreary and weary (dreary weather makes you tired or weary!).

2. The  salesman was scary, so the buyers were wary–just remember that the spellings are the same–scary and wary (a scary saleperson makes you wary or suspicious/paranoid).

Now, I hope you don’t get weary in your grammar studies–or wary when you write a sentence using weary/wary! 

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Possession can be so tricky because we think of whether the word is singular or possessive; we contemplate whether the apostrophe should be on the inside or outside of the s, etc. It doesn’t need to be that complicated! You are probably thinking too hard!

Tricky Trick to Help It Stick: Do not worry about whether the word you want to show possession to is singular or plural.
     1. Just write the word you want to show possession to
     2. Then see if it does or does not end in an s:
              a. If it DOES end in an s, just put apostrophe on the outside of the s that is already there (s’)
                       i. glass
                       ii. glass’ rim
             b. It it does NOT end in an s, add apostrophe s (‘s)
                      i. cup
                     ii. cup’s rim

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1. Lie has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
1. I lie in bed at midnight wide awake.
2. Yesterday I lay awake half the night.
3. Before that I had lain down when the cat jumped on me.

2. Lie means to stretch out in a flat position—anybody or anything can lie, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT laid)
1. She lies down with a headache every day.
2. The sun is lying low.
3. She has lain down for a nap.

3. Lay must have an object following it—something that it is being laid down.
1. Lay your book on the table.
2. He laid his money down.
3. She has laid the towels in the sun.

1. Base form: lay—I lay the kids’ clothes out every day. (Tricky: lay is the base form of lay (to put something down; it is also the past tense of lie—to stretch out by yourself or itself.)
2. Past simple: laid—Yesterday I laid the pink pants out for Jon.
3. Past participle: laid—Before the dog came in, I had already laid his bones out.
4. Third person singular: lays—He lays the book down every night at ten.
5. Present participle/gerund: laying—I am laying the swim suits out to dry.

1. Again, do sit/set first (all same base word for tenses of set!) or rise/raise (since many people get this pair correct even if they do not know sit/set and lie/lay very well).
2. Do rise/raise after sit/set or sit/set after rise/raise (saving lie/lay for last).
3. Memorize acronym/rhyme to cement the fact that all three with I’s are the ones that are done by someone or something (not to something).
4. When you get to lie and lay, to lie first all by itself until it is memorized. Then do lay. (I am starting to wait a week between the two with lots of practice on lie during that week before moving on to lay.)

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1. Rise has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
1. I rise around seven a.m.
2. Yesterday I rose at dawn yesterday. (Not really!)
3. Before that I had risen when the cat jumped on me.

2. Rise means to come up to a higher position—anybody or anything can rise, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT raised)
1. She rose to greet us.
2. The sun is rising late.
3. Our grades have risen lately. (Technically, grades are raised by someone (“I raised my GPA”)—but if you do not state who raised them, they would be rising by themselves—which we know doesn’t really happen!)

3. Raise does have an i—but not only an I like rise—raise is done to something.
4. Raise must have an object following it—something that it is being raised.
1. Raise your glass for a toast.
2. He raised his children well.
3. The children are raising their hands in class now.

1. Base form: raise—Today I raise my voice in song. (Object—voice)
2. Past simple: raised—Yesterday I raised the log and found a mole.
3. Past participle: raised—Before I put the binoculars down, I raised them up and looked through them in the distance.
4. Third person singular: raises—She always raises her voice when she is angry.
5. Present participle/gerund: raising—I am raising the bar in that class!

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1. She _________ down and wept when she heard the news.
2. They _______ down.
3. They _______ the plants out.
4. They will be _______ the clothes out beforehand.
5. Yesterday, he ________ down to rest.
6. They will ________ the clothes out to dry.
7. He _________ down.
8. He is ____________ down.
9. They will be _________ the clothes out beforehand.
10. She has _________ the clothes out beforehand.
11. They have __________ down.
12. He has ____________ down.
13. They __________ the trap to catch the bear.
14. They are __________ down.
15. They will ________ the tent up at noon.

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