Table of Contents Grade 6
Chapter 1 Grammar
Parts of Speech
Lesson 1.1 Common and Proper Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Lesson 1.2 Regular Plural Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Lesson 1.3 Irregular Plural Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Lesson 1.4 Personal Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Lesson 1.5 Demonstrative Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Lesson 1.6 Relative Pronouns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Lesson 1.7 Indefinite Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Lesson 1.8 Verbs: Regular Present and Past Tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Lesson 1.9 Verbs: Irregular Present and Past Tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Lesson 1.10 Subject-Verb Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Lesson 1.11 Action Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Lesson 1.12 Helping Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Lesson 1.13 Linking Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Lesson 1.14 Transitive Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Lesson 1.15 Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lesson 1.16 Adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Lesson 1.17 Adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Lesson 1.18 Conjunctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Lesson 1.19 Interjections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Lesson 1.20 Prepositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Lesson 1.21 Prepositional Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Lesson 1.22 Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Review: Lessons 1.1–1.22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Sentences
Lesson 1.23 Declarative Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Lesson 1.24 Interrogative Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Lesson 1.25 Exclamatory Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Lesson 1.26 Imperative Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Lesson 1.27 Simple Sentences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Lesson 1.28 Compound Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Lesson 1.29 Complex Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Lesson 1.30 Sentence Fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Lesson 1.31 Combining Sentences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Lesson 1.32 Writing a Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Review: Lessons 1.26–1.32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
Table of Contents
3
NAME
Table of Contents, continued
Chapter 2 Mechanics
Capitalization
Lesson 2.1 Proper Nouns:
Days of the Week, Months of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Lesson 2.2 Proper Nouns:
Historical Events, Names of Languages
and Nationalities, Team Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Lesson 2.3 Proper Nouns:
Organizations, Departments of Government,
Sections of the Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Lesson 2.4 Proper Nouns: Titles, Geographic Names . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Lesson 2.5 Sentences, Direct Quotations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Lesson 2.6 Personal and Business Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Review: Lessons 2.1–2.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Punctuation
Lesson 2.7 Periods:
After Imperative Sentences, In Dialogue,
In Abbreviations, In Initials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Lesson 2.8 Periods:
Decimals, Dollars and Cents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Lesson 2.9 Question Marks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Lesson 2.10 Exclamation Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Lesson 2.11 Commas:
Series, Direct Address, Multiple Adjectives . . . . . . . . . 96
Lesson 2.12 Commas:
Combining Sentences (between clauses),
Set-Off Dialogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Lesson 2.13 Commas:
Personal and Business Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Lesson 2.14 Quotation Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Lesson 2.15 Apostrophes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Lesson 2.16 Colons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Lesson 2.17 Semicolons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Lesson 2.18 Hyphens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Lesson 2.19 Parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Review: Lessons 2.7 –2.19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
4
Table of Contents
NAME
Table of Contents, continued
Chapter 3 Usage
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
3.1 Verbs: rise, teach, wrote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.2 Verbs: bring, take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
3.3 Verbs: lay, lie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
3.4 Adjectives: busy, early, easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.5 Adjectives: more and most;
good/better/best; bad/worse/worst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Lesson 3.6 Adjectives and Adverbs: bad/badly, good/well;
Adverb: already vs. Phrase: all ready . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Lesson 3.7 Homophones: cereal/serial, coarse/course,
counsel/council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Lesson 3.8 Homophones: oversees/overseas, wring/ring,
sent/scent/cent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Lesson 3.9 Contractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Lesson 3.10 Negatives and Double Negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Review: Lessons 3.1–3.10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Chapter 4 Writer’s Guide
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
4.1 Prewriting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.2 Drafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.3 Revising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4.4 Proofreading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
4.5 Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
4.6 Evaluating Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4.7 Writing Process Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
Table of Contents
5
NAME
Lesson 1.1 Common and Proper Nouns
Common nouns name people, places, and things. They are general nouns (not
specific). In a sentence, the noun is the person, place, or thing that can act or be acted
upon.
teacher – a person
I like my teacher.
country – a place
I will visit another country.
book – a thing
What is your favorite book?
Proper nouns name specific people, places, and things.
Mrs. Crane – a specific person
Mrs. Crane is my favorite teacher.
United States of America – a specific place
I was born in the United States of America.
Animal Farm – a specific thing
Animal Farm is one of my favorite books.
Complete It
Use the word box below to complete the following sentences. Remember, common
nouns are general and proper nouns are more specific. Proper nouns are also
capitalized.
doctor
poem
song
Saturn
Dr. Green
planet
"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
Where the Sidewalk Ends
1. I am writing a ______________________________ for music class.
2. I took my cat to see ______________________________ when he had a cold.
3. The planet with the rings is called ______________________________.
4. My mom takes me to the ______________________________ when I’m sick.
5. My ______________________________ came in third place in the poetry contest.
6. Mars is the closest ______________________________ to the earth.
7. ______________________________ is one of my favorite books.
8. My little sister likes to sing ______________________________ before she goes to bed.
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
6
Chapter 1 Lesson 1
Grammar: Parts of Speech
NAME
Lesson 1.1 Common and Proper Nouns
Proof It
Correct the mistakes in the use of common and
proper nouns using proofreading marks.
/ – lowercase letter
– capitalize letter
^ – insert words or letters
John Muir
John muir was born in 1838 in dunbar, scotland. From a very young age, he had a
love of Nature. He traveled all over the world. He came to the united states to observe
nature and take notes on what he saw. He wrote many nature Books. John Muir was
concerned for the welfare of the land. He wanted to protect it. He asked president
theodore roosevelt for help. The National parks System was founded by John Muir. This
System sets aside land for Parks. The first national park was yellowstone national park.
John Muir is also the founder of the sierra club. The people in this Club teach others
about nature and how to protect it. John Muir is known as one of the world’s greatest
conservation leaders.
Try It
Write a biography about someone you think is a hero. Use at least six common and six
proper nouns correctly in your biography.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
Chapter 1 Lesson 1
Grammar: Parts of Speech
7
NAME
Lesson 1.2 Regular Plural Nouns
A plural noun names more than one noun. Most nouns are made plural by adding an s
to the end of the word.
months
friends
mornings
Some nouns need an es added to the end of the word to make it plural. Nouns that
end in the letters s, x, or z or in a ch or sh sound need es.
dresses
foxes
waltzes
speeches
brushes
If a word ends in the letter y, then the y is changed to an i before adding the es.
batteries
companies
centuries
However, words that end in y with a vowel before the y only add the s.
keys
valleys
monkeys
In some cases, the noun has to change its spelling before making the plural form. If a
noun ends in f or fe, and the f sound can still be heard in the plural form, just add s.
However, if the final sound of the plural form is v, then change the f to ve and add
the s.
scarfs (f sound)
staffs (f sound)
shelves (v sound)
hooves (v sound)
Plurals of nouns ending in o that have a vowel before the letter o are formed by adding
an s.
radios
patios
videos
Plurals of nouns ending in o that have a consonant letter before the letter o are formed
by adding an es.
tornadoes
echoes
tomatoes
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
8
Chapter 1 Lesson 2
Grammar: Parts of Speech
NAME
Lesson 1.2 Regular Plural Nouns
Try It
Use the lines to explain how the nouns were made into their plural forms. The first one is
done for you.
Column A
Column B
match
matches
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in ch, add an es.
_____________________________________
eyebrow
eyebrows
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
volcano
volcanoes
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
wolf
wolves
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
trophy
trophies
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
toothbrush
toothbrushes
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
fax
faxes
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
sheriff
sheriffs
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
studio
studios
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
kiss
kisses
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
Chapter 1 Lesson 2
Grammar: Parts of Speech
9
NAME
Lesson 1.3 Irregular Plural Nouns
Irregular plural nouns do not have a pattern for changing from singular to plural. These
nouns and their plural spellings have to be learned.
Singular noun:
child
foot
tooth
Plural noun:
children
feet
teeth
Some irregular nouns do not change at all when they are in the plural form. These forms
also have to be learned.
Singular noun:
fish
deer
moose
Plural noun:
fish
deer
moose
The best way to learn these plural forms is by reading, writing, and practicing.
Sometimes, when you read or hear these words used incorrectly, you will be able to tell
if they are spelled incorrectly.
Find It
Write the irregular plural noun form of the following singular nouns on the lines provided.
Use a dictionary if you need help.
1. ox ____________________________
7. sheep_________________________
2. trout __________________________
8. salmon________________________
3. man __________________________
9. woman _______________________
4. series _________________________
10. crisis __________________________
5. axis ___________________________
11. oasis __________________________
6. mouse ________________________
12. radius _________________________
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
10
Chapter 1 Lesson 3
Grammar: Parts of Speech
Answer Key
Common nouns name people, places, and things. They are general nouns (not
specific). In a sentence, the noun is the person, place, or thing that can act or be
acted upon.
teacher — a person
I like my teacher.
Proof It
Correct the mistakes in the use of common and
proper nouns using proofreading marks.
/ — lowercase letter
— capitalize letter
^ — insert words or letters
country — a place
I will visit another country.
book — a thing
What is your favorite book?
John Muir
M
Proper nouns name specific people, places, and things.
Mrs. Crane — a specific person
Mrs. Crane is my favorite teacher.
D
S
John muir was born in 1838 in dunbar, scotland. From a very young age, he had a
U
S
love of Nature. He traveled all over the world. He came to the united states to observe
United States of America — a specific place
I was born in the United States of America.
nature and take notes on what he saw. He wrote many nature Books. John Muir was
Animal Farm — a specific thing
Animal Farm is one of my favorite books.
T
Complete It
Use the word box below to complete the following sentences. Remember, common
nouns are general and proper nouns are more specific. Proper nouns are also
capitalized.
P
concerned for the welfare of the land. He wanted to protect it. He asked president
R
P
theodore roosevelt for help. The National parks System was founded by John Muir. This
Y
N
P
System sets aside land for Parks. The first national park was yellowstone national park.
S
C
John Muir is also the founder of the sierra club. The people in this Club teach others
about nature and how to protect it. John Muir is known as one of the world s greatest
conservation leaders.
doctor
poem
song
Saturn
Dr. Green
planet
"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Try It
Write a biography about someone you think is a hero. Use at least six common and six
proper nouns correctly in your biography.
1. I am writing a ______________________________
for music class.
song
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. I took my cat to see ______________________________
when he had a cold.
Dr. Green
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3. The planet with the rings is called ______________________________.
Saturn
_____________________________________________________________________________________
4. My mom takes me to the ______________________________
when I m sick.
doctor
_____________________________________________________________________________________
5. My ______________________________
came in third place in the poetry contest.
poem
6. Mars is the closest ______________________________
to the earth.
planet
_____________________________________________________________________________________
will vary.
Answers
_____________________________________________________________________________________
7. ______________________________
Where the Sidewalk Ends is one of my favorite books.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
8. My little sister likes to sing
______________________________
Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star before she goes to bed.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
6
7
Try It
Use the lines to explain how the nouns were made into their plural forms. The first one is
done for you.
Column A
Column B
match
matches
eyebrow
eyebrows
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in ch, add an es.
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Most nouns add an s.
_____________________________________
volcano
volcanoes
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in o with a
wolf
wolves
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in an f or fe and has the
_____________________________________
consonant before the o, add es.
_____________________________________
v sound, change the f to v and add es.
trophy
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in y, change
trophies
_____________________________________
the y to i and add es.
toothbrush
toothbrushes
fax
faxes
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in sh, add an
_____________________________________
es.
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in x, add an
_____________________________________
es.
sheriff
sheriffs
studio
studios
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in an f or fe
_____________________________________
and has the f sound, add an s.
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in o with a
Irregular plural nouns do not have a pattern for changing from singular to plural. These
nouns and their plural spellings have to be learned.
Singular noun:
child
foot
tooth
Plural noun:
children
feet
teeth
Some irregular nouns do not change at all when they are in the plural form. These forms
also have to be learned.
Plural noun:
fish
deer
moose
Singular noun:
fish
deer
moose
The best way to learn these plural forms is by reading, writing, and practicing.
Sometimes, when you read or hear these words used incorrectly, you will be able to tell
if they are spelled incorrectly.
Find It
Write the irregular plural noun form of the following singular nouns on the lines provided.
Use a dictionary if you need help.
1. ox ____________________________
oxen
7. sheep_________________________
sheep
2. trout __________________________
trout
8. salmon________________________
salmon
3. m a n __________________________
men
9. w o m a n _______________________
women
4. series _________________________
series
10. crisis __________________________
crises
5. axis ___________________________
axes
11. oasis __________________________
oases
6. mouse ________________________
mice
12. radius _________________________
radii
_____________________________________
vowel before the o, add s.
kiss
_____________________________________
If the noun ends in s, add an
kisses
_____________________________________
es.
9
Spectrum Language Arts
Grade 6
10
Answer Key
149