Help Your Kids with English: A Unique Step-by-Step Visual Guide 9781409314943, 1409314944

If English is sounding like a foreign language, make it easy and effortless with the ultimate study guide. This visual

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Help Your Kids with English: A Unique Step-by-Step Visual Guide
 9781409314943, 1409314944

Table of contents :
Contents 8......Page 10
FOREWORD 6......Page 8
WHY LEARN THE RULES? 10......Page 12
SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 12......Page 14
ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD 14......Page 16
1 GRAMMAR......Page 19
The purpose of grammar 18......Page 20
Parts of speech 20......Page 22
Nouns 22......Page 24
Plurals 24......Page 26
Adjectives 26......Page 28
Comparatives and superlatives 28......Page 30
Articles 30......Page 32
Determiners 32......Page 34
Pronouns 34......Page 36
Number and gender 36......Page 38
Verbs 38......Page 40
Adverbs 40......Page 42
Simple tenses 42......Page 44
Perfect and continuous tenses 44......Page 46
Participles 46......Page 48
Auxiliary verbs 48......Page 50
Irregular verbs 50......Page 52
Verb agreement 52......Page 54
Voices and moods 54......Page 56
Phrasal verbs 56......Page 58
Conjunctions 58......Page 60
Prepositions 60......Page 62
Interjections 62......Page 64
Phrases 64......Page 66
Clauses 66......Page 68
Sentences 68......Page 70
Compound sentences 70......Page 72
Complex sentences 72......Page 74
Using clauses correctly 74......Page 76
Managing modifiers 76......Page 78
Commonly misused words 78......Page 80
Negatives 80......Page 82
Relative clauses 82......Page 84
Idioms, analogies and figures of speech 84......Page 86
Colloquialisms and slang 86......Page 88
Direct and indirect speech 88......Page 90
What is punctuation? 92......Page 94
Full stops and ellipses 94......Page 96
Commas 96......Page 98
Other uses of commas 98......Page 100
Semi-colons 100......Page 102
Colons 102......Page 104
Apostrophes 104......Page 106
Hyphens 106......Page 108
Inverted commas 108......Page 110
Question marks 110......Page 112
Exclamation marks 112......Page 114
Brackets and dashes 114......Page 116
Bullet points 116......Page 118
Numbers, dates and time 118......Page 120
Other punctuation 120......Page 122
Italics 122......Page 124
3 SPELLING......Page 127
Why learn to spell? 126......Page 128
Alphabetical order 128......Page 130
Vowel sounds 130......Page 132
Morphemes 136......Page 138
Syllables 134......Page 136
Consonant sounds 132......Page 134
Understanding English irregularities 138......Page 140
Roots 140......Page 142
2 PUNCTUATION......Page 93
Prefixes and suffixes 142......Page 144
Hard and soft letter sounds 144......Page 146
Words ending in -e or -y 146......Page 148
Words ending in -tion, -sion or -ssion 148......Page 150
Words ending in -able or -ible 150......Page 152
Words ending in -le, -el, -al or -ol 152......Page 154
Single and double consonant words 154......Page 156
The “i before e except after c” rule 156......Page 158
Capital letters 158......Page 160
Silent letters 160......Page 162
Compound words 162......Page 164
Irregular word spellings 164......Page 166
Homonyms, homophones and homographs 166......Page 168
Confusing words 168......Page 170
Other confusing words 170......Page 172
Abbreviations 172......Page 174
British and American spellings 174......Page 176
More British and American spellings 176......Page 178
4 COMMUNICATION SKILLS......Page 181
Effective communication 180......Page 182
Picking the right words 182......Page 184
Making sentences interesting 184......Page 186
Planning and research 186......Page 188
Paragraphing 188......Page 190
Genre, purpose and audience 190......Page 192
Reading and commenting on texts 192......Page 194
Layout and presentational features 194......Page 196
Writing to inform 196......Page 198
Newspaper articles 198......Page 200
Letters and e-mails 200......Page 202
Writing to influence 202......Page 204
Writing to explain or advise 204......Page 206
Writing to analyse or review 206......Page 208
Writing to describe 208......Page 210
Writing from personal experience 210......Page 212
Writing a narrative 212......Page 214
Writing for the Web 214......Page 216
Writing a script 216......Page 218
Re-creations 218......Page 220
Checking and editing 220......Page 222
The spoken word 222......Page 224
Debates and role plays 224......Page 226
Writing a speech 226......Page 228
Presentation skills 228......Page 230
5 REFERENCE......Page 233
Reference – Grammar 232......Page 234
Reference – Punctuation 236......Page 238
Reference – Spelling 238......Page 240
Reference – Communication skills 244......Page 246
Glossary 248......Page 250
Index 252......Page 254
Acknowledgements 256......Page 258

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A UNIQUE STEP-BY-STEP VISUAL GUIDE

LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI Senior Project Editor Victoria Pyke Project Editors Carron Brown, Camilla Gersh, Matilda Gollon, Ashwin Khurana Managing Editor Linda Esposito Managing Art Editor Diane Peyton Jones Publishers Laura Buller, Andrew Macintyre Pre-production Controller Adam Stoneham Senior Producer Gemma Sharpe

Senior Designer Jim Green Project Designers Paul Drislane, Hoa Luc, Mary Sandberg Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf Associate Publishing Director Liz Wheeler Art Director Phil Ormerod Jacket Editor Manisha Majithia Jacket Designer Laura Brim

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Dorling Kindersley Limited 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL A Penguin Company Copyright © 2013 Dorling Kindersley Limited 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 001 – 187017 – 6/13

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978 1 4093 1494 3

Printed and bound by South China Printing Co. Ltd, China

See our complete catalogue at

www.dk.com

CAROL VORDERMAN M.A. (Cantab), MBE is one of Britain’s best-loved TV presenters and is renowned for her skills in mathematics, and her enthusiasm and encouragement for education. She hosts numerous shows on the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, from light entertainment with Food Glorious Food and The Pride of Britain Awards to scientific programmes such as Tomorrow’s World. Whether hosting Channel 4’s Countdown for 26 years or becoming the second best-selling female non-fiction author of the noughties decade in the UK, reporting to Prime Minister David Cameron in August 2010 with the far-reaching review “A World Class Mathematics Education for all our Young People”, Carol has a passion for education and the value of good numeracy, literacy and communication skills. Carol was a founding trustee of NESTA, is patron for the Cambridge Science Festival, member of the Royal Institution, member of an advisory education panel for Engineering, and holder of many honorary degrees from universities around Britain. In 2010 she launched her own online maths school www.themathsfactor.com where she teaches parents and children how they can become the very best they can be in the language of mathematics. In 2011 she was the author of DK’s English Made Easy series, which aims to help young children learn and practise key English language skills. LINDA B. GAMBRELL is Distinguished Professor of Education at Clemson University. She is past president of the International Reading Association (IRA), Literacy Research Association, and the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers. In 2004 she was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame. She is a former classroom teacher and reading specialist. Linda has written books on reading instruction and published articles in major literacy journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, and Journal of Educational Research. SUSAN ROWAN is a former Head of English and Leading English and Literacy Adviser for a London borough. She has a Certificate in Education (Bishop Otter College of Education), a BA in English and History (Macquarie University, Australia) and an MBA – Education (University of Nottingham). With more than twenty-five years of teaching experience, Susan now works as an independent English and Literacy consultant supporting schools in London and south-east England. DR. STEWART SAVARD is an eLibrarian in the Comox Valley of British Columbia. He has written a number of papers on the development of school libraries, the use of online and paper resources and how to work with students to prevent plagiarism. Stewart also has extensive experience as a classroom and Learning Assistance teacher. He has worked on almost twenty books.

Foreword Hello, The three decades I spent working on Countdown taught me to love the use of words and how language evolves. Today, we see poor English everywhere, from shop windows and advertisements to job applications. Some think it doesn’t matter, but it does. The ability to speak and write well is invaluable in everyday life, at school and at work. The rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling can seem complicated, and learning the skills needed to communicate effectively can be a daunting prospect – both for students and parents. Many parents may feel nervous about explaining the countless uses of commas, or lack confidence when deciding whether to say “you and me” or “you and I”. This book presents clear examples and explanations that make even the most complex of concepts easy for everyone to understand. Once you’ve got to grips with the rules, you can use them to get your message across in any situation – from writing an essay or an autobiography to booking a holiday or presenting a television programme. I hope that you enjoy this book as much as we have loved putting it together.

CAROL VORDERMAN

abbreviations, accents, acronyms, adjectives, adverbs, alliteration, apostrophes, Arabic numerals, articles, asterisks, auxiliary verbs, brackets, bullet points, capital letters, clauses, collective nouns, colloquialisms, colons, commands, commas, common nouns, compound sentences, compound words, conditional sentences, conjunctions, consonants, dangling participles, dashes, dialects, direct speech, ellipses, exclamations, exaggeration, figures of speech, first person, fragments, gender, homographs, homonyms, homophones, hyperbole, hyphens, idioms, indefinite pronouns, indicative mood, indirect questions, infinitives, interjections, irregular verbs, italics, jargon, linking verbs, main clauses, misplaced modifiers, moods, morphemes, negatives, noun phrases, nouns, numbers, objects, ordinal numbers, parentheses, participles, personal pronouns, phonetics, phrasal verbs, phrases, pitch, plural nouns, possessive determiners, prefixes, prepositional phrases, present participles, pronouns, proper nouns, puns, punctuation, question marks, questions, quotations, relative pronouns, reported speech, rhetorical questions, Roman numerals, roots, sentences, silent letters, singular, slang, subject, subordinate clauses, suffixes, syllables, tautology, tenses, third person, tone, verbs, voices, vowels

CONTENTS F O R E WO R D W H Y L E A R N T H E R U L ES ? S P O K E N A N D W R I TT E N L A N G UA G E E N G L I S H A R O U N D T H E WO R L D

6 10 12 14

1 GRAMMAR The purpose of grammar Parts of speech Nouns Plurals Adjectives Comparatives and superlatives Articles Determiners Pronouns Number and gender Verbs Adverbs Simple tenses Perfect and continuous tenses Participles Auxiliary verbs Irregular verbs Verb agreement Voices and moods Phrasal verbs Conjunctions Prepositions Interjections Phrases Clauses Sentences Compound sentences Complex sentences Using clauses correctly Managing modifiers Commonly misused words

18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78

Negatives Relative clauses Idioms, analogies and figures of speech Colloquialisms and slang Direct and indirect speech

80 82 84 86 88

2 PUNCTUATION What is punctuation? Full stops and ellipses Commas Other uses of commas Semi-colons Colons Apostrophes Hyphens Inverted commas Question marks Exclamation marks Brackets and dashes Bullet points Numbers, dates and time Other punctuation Italics

92 94 96 98 100 102 104 106 108 110 112 114 116 118 120 122

3 SPELLING Why learn to spell? Alphabetical order Vowel sounds Consonant sounds Syllables Morphemes Understanding English irregularities Roots

126 128 130 132 134 136 138 140

Prefixes and suffixes Hard and soft letter sounds Words ending in -e or -y Words ending in -tion, -sion or -ssion Words ending in -able or -ible Words ending in -le, -el, -al or -ol Single and double consonant words The “i before e except after c” rule Capital letters Silent letters Compound words Irregular word spellings Homonyms, homophones and homographs Confusing words Other confusing words Abbreviations British and American spellings More British and American spellings

142 144 146 148 150 152 154 156 158 160 162 164 166 168 170 172 174 176

4 COMMUNICATION SKILLS Effective communication Picking the right words Making sentences interesting Planning and research Paragraphing Genre, purpose and audience Reading and commenting on texts Layout and presentational features Writing to inform Newspaper articles Letters and e-mails Writing to influence

180 182 184 186 188 190 192 194 196 198 200 202

Writing to explain or advise Writing to analyse or review Writing to describe Writing from personal experience Writing a narrative Writing for the Web Writing a script Re-creations Checking and editing The spoken word Debates and role plays Writing a speech Presentation skills

204 206 208 210 212 214 216 218 220 222 224 226 228

5 REFERENCE Reference – Grammar Reference – Punctuation Reference – Spelling Reference – Communication skills

232 236 238 244

Glossary Index Acknowledgements

248 252 256

10

Why learn the rules? THERE ARE MANY BENEFITS TO LEARNING AND MASTERING THE RULES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The rules of English are indispensable and will help English speakers of all ages in a variety of situations, from sending a simple e-mail and giving travel directions to writing the next bestselling novel.

English is the main language of news and information in the world.

Ways with words The rules or skills of English can be divided into four major areas. These areas show how words should be organised in a sentence, how they should be spelt and punctuated and how they should be used in specific situations.

Grammar

Punctuation

Spelling

Communication skills

Grammar rules show how different types of words – such as nouns and adjectives – should be put together in a sentence to create fluent and clear writing.

Punctuation refers to the use of symbols – such as full stops, question marks, commas and apostrophes – to tell the reader how to read a piece of writing.

Spelling rules help English speakers to understand and remember the ways in which letters and groups of letters combine to form words.

Communication skills help English speakers to interact with others effectively: for instance, when writing a letter, passing on instructions or delivering a speech.

Access all areas A solid grasp of English will help students to succeed in all subject areas, not just in English lessons. Whether writing a science report, instructing a basketball team as captain or auditioning for a play, English language skills help students to fulfil their potential.

English language skills can help students to succeed in all subject areas.

Report Card Student: Paul Drislan e Course

Mark

Grade

English Maths Science History Geography Drama Sport

97% 94% 90% 92% 97% 93% 95%

A A A A A A A

WHY LEARN THE RULES?

11

Dream job Solid communication skills are important in the workplace.

When applying for jobs, good English language skills can make all the difference. Knowing the rules will help a candidate to write a perfect application, and to speak clearly and confidently in an interview. All employers, regardless of the industry, look for candidates who can express themselves correctly and assertively because these skills are valuable in most jobs every day.

Time out Language is used creatively in a variety of social situations, from a rowdy sports game to a sophisticated stage show. At a big game, fans sing rhyming and repetitive chants filled with playful jokes or insults to the opposite team. In the theatre, actors perform dramatic, evocative lines to express feelings of love, passion, sadness or anger. Whether watching a funny film, reading a newspaper or listening to a pop song, a person who has a good working knowledge of English will get the most out of these experiences.

Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn. William Shakespeare’s character Romeo compares love to a sharp thorn, suggesting that love hurts. An audience with a good understanding of English will appreciate this subtle, visual use of language.

Travel the world English is one of the most popular languages spoken across the globe, and it’s the main language used in the business world. Fluency in the language makes it easier to travel to English-speaking places for work or holidays. What’s more, a knowledge of grammatical terms makes learning other languages easier.

Hi! Hello! How are you?

12

Spoken and written language BOTH WRITTEN AND SPOKEN ENGLISH HAVE UNIQUE FEATURES. It’s important to understand the differences between written and spoken language – as well as the different uses within each – to improve these two types of communication.

Written language Pieces of writing such as novels, letters and newspaper articles are carefully constructed because writers usually have time to think about the words and sentences that they use. This means that written English is organised into complete sentences and uses formal vocabulary and correct grammar.

Written English should be in complete sentences.

The earliest known written language was Sumerian, which developed in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) in about 2600 bce.

Dear Jan e, I am havin g a wonderful time in Thailand. It’s a beautiful country with a fascin atin g culture. The Miss Jan e Palmer sun shin es every day, so we 2 Villa Court spend most of our time at the London, SE4 2JK stunnin g beaches, sunbathin g and sn orkellin g. I would love ENGL AND to come back an other year. Love f rom Nick x

Spoken language In general, spoken language is more spontaneous than written language, so it contains features such as repetition, pauses and sounds like er or um. Words are often left out or shortened to speed up a conversation, and the vocabulary and pronunciation varies according to the background of the speaker.

People often repeat words when they are speaking. It is more common to shorten or abbreviate words in spoken language. Here, cannot has been shortened to can’t and I has been omitted.

The words I had an have been left out.

The words yeah and awesome are informal words used in speech.

Hey, Jane! Yeah, awesome trip, thanks. Good weather, good beaches…um… we went snorkelling, too. Can’t wait to go back another time. People pause and fill silences with sounds when they speak.

13

SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Writing spoken language Some pieces of writing intentionally mimic the features of spoken English. For instance, the dialogue in novels or dramatic scripts is often written to sound spontaneous, and uses words and spellings that suggest the background of the characters, to make them more authentic. G’day is a word used in Australian speech for “hello”.

The informal phrase catch ya later is used instead of see you later. You is written as ya to show how the word should be pronounced.

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