GENERAL STANDARD 5: Structure and Origins of Modern English Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages. The English language has changed through time and through contact with other languages. An understanding of its history helps students appreciate the extraordinary richness of its vocabulary, which continues to grow. The study of its grammar and usage gives students more control over the meaning they intend in their writing and speaking.
Grade Level
Learning Standards
PreK–4
Grades PreK–2
5.1: Use language to express spatial and temporal relationships (up, down, before, after).
5.2: Recognize that the names of things can also be the names of actions (fish, dream, run).
5.3: Identify correct capitalization for names and places (Janet, I, George Washington, Springfield), and correct capitalization and commas in dates (February 24, 2001).
5.4: Identify appropriate end marks (periods, question marks).
Grades 3–4
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
5.4: Recognize the subject-predicate relationship in sentences.
5.6: Identify the four basic parts of speech (adjective, noun, verb, adverb).
5.7: Identify correct mechanics (end marks, commas for series, capitalization),correct usage (subject and verb agreement in a simple sentence), and correct sentence structure (elimination of sentence fragments).
5.8: Identify words or word parts from other languages that have been adopted into the English language.
For example, students discuss some of the common foods they eat and discover how many of the names come from other languages: pizza, yogurt, spaghetti, sushi, tacos, and bagels. They use a map to locate countries where these words originated.
5–8
Grades 5-6
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
5.9: Identify the eight basic parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection).
5.10: Expand or reduce sentences (adding or deleting modifiers, combining or decombining sentences).
5.11: Identify verb phrases and verb tenses.
5.12: Recognize that a word performs different functions according to its position in the sentence.
For example, students identify light as a verb in the sentence, The children light the candles. Then they write using the word light in other places in sentences and discuss the meaning and function of light in each.
5.13: Identify simple and compound sentences.
5.14: Identify correct mechanics (apostrophes, quotation marks, comma use in compound sentences, paragraph indentations) and correct sentence structure (elimination of sentence fragments and run-ons).
Grades 7-8
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
5.15: Recognize the basic patterns of English sentences (noun-verb; noun-verb-noun; noun-verb-noun-noun; noun-linking verb-noun).
5.16: Distinguish phrases from clauses.
5.17: Recognize the makeup and function of prepositional phrases.
5.18: Identify simple, compound, and complex sentences.
5.19: Recognize appropriate use of pronoun reference.
5.21: Employ grammar and usage rhetorically by combining, including, reordering, and reducing sentences.
5.22: Describe the origins and meanings of common words, as well as of foreign words or phrases used frequently in written English.
For example, students research the origins of common nouns (popcorn, denim, bus), as well as the meanings and origin of erudite foreign phrases (sub rosa, caveat emptor, carte blanche), and popularly used foreign phrases (bon appetit, au revoir, numero uno), for the purpose of creating their own etymological dictionary.
9–10
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
5.23: Identify simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.
5.29: Describe the origins and meanings of common words and foreign words or phrases used frequently in written English, and show their relationship to historical events or developments (glasnost, coup d’état).
11–12
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
5.30: Identify, describe, and apply all conventions of standard English.
5.31: Describe historical changes in conventions for usage and grammar.
5.32: Explain and evaluate the influence of the English language on world literature and world cultures.
5.33: Analyze and explain how the English language has developed and been influenced by other languages.
