9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 3 of 14
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.
New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 9-10L1; 9-10L2; 9-10L3 · punctuation, agreement and register
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- A semicolon joins two complete, related sentences. A colon introduces a list or explanation. Dashes add emphasis.
- A fragment can’t stand alone, even if it starts with a capital. Subjects and verbs must agree.
- 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 New York
In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 3 of 14 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.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which is a complete sentence?
- When the rain stopped, and we.
- Although the rain stopped.
- Although the rain stopped, we stayed inside.
- Because we stayed inside.
Although the rain stopped, we stayed inside.
Hint: A complete sentence needs an independent clause. “Although the rain stopped” alone is a fragment.
Question 2
Which sentence has parallel structure?
- She enjoys painting, hiking and cooking.
- She enjoys to paint, hiking and cook.
- She enjoys painting, to hike and cooking.
- She enjoys painting, hiking and to cook.
She enjoys painting, hiking and cooking.
Hint: List items in the same form: painting, hiking, cooking.
Question 3
Complete sentence or fragment? Sort each group of words.
Sort into: ✅ Complete sentence · ✂️ Fragment
- 🔔The bell rang.
- 🏃Running across the field.
- 💪Although we tried our best.
- 🧊Because the road was icy.
- 🎵She hummed while she worked.
- 🚪Close the door!
- 🏟️After the game ended, we went home.
- 🧥The tall man in the red coat.
✅ Complete sentence: The bell rang., She hummed while she worked., Close the door!, After the game ended, we went home. · ✂️ Fragment: Running across the field., Although we tried our best., Because the road was icy., The tall man in the red coat.
Hint: A complete sentence has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. A fragment is missing one of them or leaves the thought unfinished.
Question 4
Which sentence has a misplaced modifier?
- Walking down the street, the trees looked beautiful.
- I walked down the street and admired the trees.
- The trees looked beautiful as I walked down the street.
- Walking down the street, I thought the trees looked beautiful.
Walking down the street, the trees looked beautiful.
Hint: The trees aren't walking. The modifier should be next to “I.”
Question 5
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.
She had only one goal — to win.
Hint: A dash can set off a strong, emphasized addition.
Question 6
Which pronoun fits? “Between you and __, the test was easy.”
- myself
- me
- I
- mine
me
Hint: After a preposition like “between,” use an object pronoun.