Grammar Island
Second Edition
art by Milton N. Kemnitz
Student Manual
Michael Clay Thompson
Royal Fireworks Press
Grammar Island
1
Royal Fireworks
Language Arts
by Michael Clay Thompson
Copyright @ 2010, Royal Fireworks Publishing Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved - All Copying Prohibited
Pretest pages 165 and 167 in the teacher resource section may be copied.
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ISBN: 978-0-88092-575-2 Student Manual
978-0-88092-576-0 Teacher Manual
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free
recycled paper using vegetable-based inks
by the Royal Fireworks Printing Company
of Unionville, New York.
November 2010
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Grammar Island
Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................Pages 4-11
Part One: The Parts of Speech ............................................ Page 12
Part Two: The Parts of the Sentence ................................ Page 95
Part Three: Phrases ...............................................................Page 127
Part Four: Clauses ...................................................................Page 136
Teacher Resource Section ......................................................Page 161
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4
Grammar Island
There is a place
called Grammar Island,
made of words and dreams.
There are fish and birds,
and waves and wind,
and beaches
where kids can play.
On Grammar Island
you find wonderful things,
such as birds and language.
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On Grammar Island
you learn that
thinking about language
is fun!
Language is talking and writing.
It is how we make
our ideas out of words!
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Grammar Island
It is important to be good
at language because we use
language for almost everything,
even to say, “Let us go for a swim!”
So the better you are at language,
the better you are at MANY THINGS!
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When we talk or write,
that is language.
When we think in words,
like the word “splash,”
that is language.
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Grammar Island
When we think
about language,
that is called
GRAMMAR.
On Grammar Island,
we think about language
in FOUR great ways.
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The four ways
of thinking about language are called
noun
1. parts of speech
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
2. parts of the sentence
3. phrases
4. clauses
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Grammar Island
on
old
the
pier
We will learn more about these soon,
but here is a sneak preview:
1. parts of speech: the eight kinds of words
2. parts of the sentence: the parts of ideas
3. phrases: little groups of words
4. clauses: subject/predicate ideas
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noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
Part One
The Parts of Speech
(the eight kinds of words!)
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Grammar lets us
think about our
words.
noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
There are
many words.
bug, blue, wave, smell, flower, yellow, beach, ocean, cloud
fish, ran, splash, duck, island, wow, boat, tide
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But how many
different kinds
of words
do you think
there are
for all the things
on Grammar Island?
A zillion?
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Grammar Island
noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
Guess what?
There are only
eight kinds of words!
Only eight!
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noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
The eight kinds of words are called
the
Parts of Speech.
Our language is made of only
eight kinds of parts!
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Grammar Island
Here are the names
of the
Parts
of eight kinds of words:
Speech
noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb
preposition, conjunction, interjection
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noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
It is surprising
that in a huge language,
there are only eight
kinds of words!
There are two main kinds of words,
the noun and the verb,
and six others.
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Grammar Island
noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
And since there are
only eight kinds of words,
it is EASY to learn
what they are!
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noun
verb
pron
adj
adv
interj
prep
conj
1.
Nouns are words
that name things, like
boat, fish, bird, island, and wind.
Nouns can even be names of
people, like Jim Hawkins.
Mark, Rachel, dragonfly, puppy, smile,
wind, wave, sunshine, mom, tree,
lizard, harbor, freedom, frog, noun
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Part Four
Clauses
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Do you remember that every sentence
has TWO parts,
the subject and the predicate?
Each group of words with a
subject and predicate in it
is called a CLAUSE.
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The rain came quickly.
is a clause, because it has
a subject, the noun rain,
and a predicate, the verb came.
The adjective the and the adverb quickly
are also part of this clause.
They go with their subject and predicate.
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Grammar Island
Sometimes we connect one subject and predicate
to ANOTHER subject and predicate
to make a big double sentence!
The rain came quickly,
and
the island grew green.
And each group of words with a subject
and predicate in it is a CLAUSE.
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The rain came quickly
is a clause, and
the island grew green
is a clause.
Each clause has its OWN
subject and predicate!
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Grammar Island
If we take this CLAUSE:
Ducks quack
and add it to this CLAUSE:
cats mew
We get ONE sentence with TWO clauses:
Ducks quack, and cats mew.
It is like two sentences in one!
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When we put two clauses together
to make a double sentence,
this is called a COMPOUND sentence.
If it has only one clause,
it is called a SIMPLE sentence.
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Grammar Island
SIMPLE sentence:
One clause.
Fifi barked at the sailboat.
COMPOUND sentence:
Two clauses.
Ducks quacked loudly,
and Gato mewed.
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Here is something important:
When you write a compound sentence, like
Larry ran, and Curly fell.
You have to put a COMMA before the conjunction.
A comma is a little mark, like this, that separates
the two clauses. The comma goes after the
first clause, then a space, and then the conjunction.
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BUT...
if it is not a compound sentence,
but only a compound part of speech, like
Romeo likes
birds and bugs.
which is only a compound noun,
then you do not put a comma
before the conjunction.
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So, one time this
clause collector went down to the beach,
looking for a compound sentence.
“Who’s got the compound?” he asked,
and looked closely at all the sentences.
“I don’t have a compound,” said one sentence, and giggled.
“I’m a simple sentence,” said another, and drew in the sand.
“Compounds double me up,” said another, and everyone laughed.
Finally, the clause collector looked at the last sentence,
who had been very quiet.
“Are you a compound sentence?” asked the clause collector.
“I won’t tell, and you can’t make me!” said the sentence,
and the clause collector said, “Aha! It’s you!”
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Now, we know FOUR ways to look at ideas!
In the examples that follow, the four different ways to look at
ideas are separated, with each one on its own line!
Ducks eat bugs, but piglets squeal in mud.
Parts of Speech
n.
v.
n.
conj.
n.
v.
prep. n.
________________________________
Parts of Sentence subj. AVP D.O.
subj.
AVP
________________________________
Phrases
prep. phrase
________________________________
Clauses
------------clause-------------------------------clause-----------(This is a compound sentence.)
________________________________
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