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Commonsense Guide to Grammar and Usage

 

Most of our grammar work will derive from this practical guide. If you have already mastered a skill, you will not be obliged to complete the formative homework. Each unit we study is an important aspect of the rubric the Cambridge examiners will use to scrutinize your essays. If you have not yet downloaded the guide, please do so here.  By keeping track of the sequence, you should never be surprised about what's going on in grammar. As you track your proficiency on the grammar tracker, you should reinforce these skills in your essay writing.

   The Basic Sentence

Fragments; Run-ons and Fused Sentences

1

          Verb Tenses

3

Tense Shifting and

Perfect Tenses

       Agreement

Nearest Nouns,There Sentences, 
and Compound Subjects

2

         Pronouns

Agreement; Vague Pronouns;
Correct Form; Who, Whom, and That; Sexist Pronouns; Indefinite Pronouns

4

          Apostrophes

7

In contractions; for possession; 
other uses; unnecessary
apostrophes

          Writing Clear
             Sentences

9

Parallelism and

Passive Voice

              Commas

6

     With: coordinate conjunctions, transitional terms, adverb clauses, introductory elements, adjective clauses, appositives.

                  Other 
             Punctuation

8

     Quotation marks, semicolons,
colons, capitalization

          ESL: Articles

10

Noncount Nouns; A, An,

Some, and The; Generalizations

without Articles

          ESL: Verbs

11

Progressive Tense; Two-Word

Verbs; Information Questions;

Noun Clauses

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