Topic: Language Standards, Grades 9 and 10.

10-second review: Conventions in writing and speaking. Vocabulary acquisition and use.

Conventions of grammar and usage

.Use parallel structure in writing.

.Use various types of phrases—noun, verb adjective, adverbial, participial, prepositional, and absolute to add variety and interest to writing or presentations.

.Use various types of clauses—independent, dependent; noun, relative, adverbial to add variety and interest to writing or presentations.

Observe conventions of capitalization, punctuation and spelling

.Use a semicolon (and perhaps a conjunctive adverb) to link two or more closely related independent clauses.

.Use a colon to introduce a list or quotation.

Make effective language choices

.Write and edit work so that it conforms to the guidelines in a style manual.

Vocabulary acquisition and use

.Clarify meaning of unknown or multiple–meaning words.

.Verify the preliminary determination of a word’s meaning by looking up the word in a dictionary.

.Interpret various figures of speech (hyperbole, paradox) and analyze their role in the text.

.Distinguish between words with similar denotations, but different connotations.

Source:  “CCSSI (Common Core State Standards Initiative) for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science.” March 10, 2010. You will find the standards at http://www.corestandards.org/.