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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 3 of 12

Grammar & Style

Punctuation, agreement and register

What your child practices

Semicolons, colons, dashes, commas and apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, misplaced modifiers, run-ons and fragments, and choosing a formal or informal register.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 9.17; 9.19; 9.R6 · punctuation, agreement and register

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A semicolon joins two complete, related sentences. A colon introduces a list or explanation. Dashes add emphasis.
  2. A fragment can’t stand alone, even if it starts with a capital. Subjects and verbs must agree.
  3. Prefer active voice, keep modifiers next to what they describe and match register (formal or informal) to the audience.

Example: Which uses active voice: “The plan was approved by the committee.” or “The committee approved the plan.”? In active voice, the subject does the action. The committee does the approving. Answer: The committee approved the plan.

Grammar & Style in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 3 of 12 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Literary Elements and before Word Detective.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which sentence uses a semicolon correctly?

    • The bus was late; we walked.
    • The bus was; late, we walked.
    • The bus; was late we walked.
    • The bus was late; and we walked.

  2. Question 2

    Which sentence uses a dash correctly for emphasis?

    • She had — only one goal to win.
    • She had only one goal — to win.
    • She had only — one goal to win.
    • She — had only one goal to win.

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence uses the active voice?

    • The plan has been approved.
    • The plan was approved.
    • The plan was approved by the committee.
    • The committee approved the plan.

  4. Question 4

    Complete sentence or fragment? Sort each group of words.

    Sort into: ✅ Complete sentence · ✂️ Fragment

    • 🏟️After the game ended, we went home.
    • 💪Although we tried our best.
    • 🧊Because the road was icy.
    • 🚪Close the door!
    • 🏃Running across the field.
    • 🎵She hummed while she worked.
    • 🧥The tall man in the red coat.
    • 🔔The bell rang.

  5. Question 5

    Which sentence has parallel structure?

    • She enjoys painting, to hike and cooking.
    • She enjoys to paint, hiking and cook.
    • She enjoys painting, hiking and cooking.
    • She enjoys painting, hiking and to cook.

  6. Question 6

    Which is a complete sentence?

    • Because we stayed inside.
    • Although the rain stopped.
    • Although the rain stopped, we stayed inside.
    • When the rain stopped, and we.

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