Overview Grammar_Punctuation-K-6

Overview of Grammar and Punctuation Skills K–6

  • Framework outlines grammar and punctuation skills expected by end of each stage

  • Organized by text level, moving from broad to specific concepts

  • Concepts from earlier stages should be consolidated as per student needs

TEXT LEVEL – COHESION

Early Stage 1

  • Pronoun Reference: Identifying the noun a pronoun refers to

  • Synonyms: Words with similar meanings, e.g., leave/depart

  • Antonyms: Words with opposite meanings, e.g., hot/cold

Stage 1

  • Time Connectives: Words that sequence information, e.g., first, next

  • Word Families: Related words by topic

  • Noun-Pronoun Agreement: Correct pronoun selection based on noun's number and gender

Stage 2

  • Subject-Verb Agreement: Verb form matches subject’s number

  • Homonyms & Homophones:

    • Homonyms: Same sound/spelling, different meaning, e.g., bark (tree)

    • Homophones: Same sound, different spelling/meaning, e.g., fair/fare

Stage 3

  • Cohesive Links: Using pronouns, conjunctions for connectivity in texts

  • Connectives: Words linking sentences & paragraphs, e.g., however, because

  • Nominalisation: Creating nouns from verbs/adjectives

  • Reference Links: Tracking nouns/pronouns throughout text

SENTENCE LEVEL – STRUCTURE OF THE SENTENCE

Early Stage 1

  • Sentence: Begins with capital letter, ends with punctuation

Stage 1

  • Compound Sentence: Multiple clauses linked by conjunctions

  • Quoted Speech: Direct dialogue citation

Stage 2

  • Complex Sentence: Main and dependent clauses linked by conjunctions

Stage 3

  • Topic Sentence: Introduces main idea of a paragraph

CLAUSE LEVEL – STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSE

Early Stage 1

  • Statement: Provides information

  • Question: Seeks an answer

  • Command: Instructs action

  • Exclamation: For emphasis

Stage 1

  • Clause: Complete thought, includes noun and verb

  • Main Clause: Can stand alone

  • Subordinate Clause: Cannot stand alone, adds information

Stage 2

  • Voice: Active vs Passive (who does action vs who receives)

GROUP AND PHRASE LEVEL

Noun Group

  • Group of words around a noun; may include articles and adjectives

Verb Group

  • Built around a verb; may include auxiliary verbs

Adverbial Phrase

  • Provides information about the main clause (where, when, how)

WORD LEVEL

Nouns

  • Identify nouns in various forms: common, proper, singular/plural

Articles

  • Types: a, an, the

Adjectives

  • Descriptive words for nouns

Pronouns

  • Stand in for nouns, e.g., I, you, he, she

WORD BUILDING AND ORIGINS

  • Compound Words: Two combined words, e.g., playground

  • Base Words: Words to which prefixes/suffixes can attach

  • Etymology: Word origins and histories

CREATIVE AND EVALUATIVE LANGUAGE

  • Features include alliteration, simile, metaphor

  • Evaluative language expresses opinions and assessments

PUNCTUATION

  • Capital Letter: For names & sentence beginnings

  • Full Stop: Ends a sentence

  • Question Mark: Indicates a question

  • Exclamation Mark: Emphasizes a statement

  • Comma: Separates items or clauses

  • Quotation Marks: Indicate dialogue or titles

  • Apostrophe: Shows contraction or possession