Capital Letters The start of a sentencee.g. My father works very hard.

The names of weekdays, months and festivalse.g. We celebrated Christmas Day on a Monday last December.

The names of people, titles of people and the titles of books, plays, films etc. e.g. Sarah Brown shook hands with President Obama.Steven Spielberg directed ‘Jurassic Park’. He met his Aunt Mary in town.

‘I’ when used on its own.e.g. I do not know why I failed the exam.

To begin direct speech.e.g. Paul said, ‘Meet me at the shops at seven’.

To begin the names of places and words made from the names of places. e.g. The Spaniard visited Paris, the capital of France.

Quotation Marks Quotation marks (“.....”) are used when writing the actual words spoken.

E.g “She is a great footballer,” said Mary.

“When is the next bus due?” asked Tom .

The first word inside Quotation marks have a capital letter.

E.g. The man shouted, “Close the door after you”.

The names of plays, books, films, poems, ships etc are in quotation marks E.g. Did you recite the poem “The Snare”.

AntonymsAntonyms are words with opposite meanings.

Wide is an antonym for narrowGuilty/innocentHero/villainMinimum/maximum

Entrance/exitTemporary/permanentRude/politeAdvance/retreatObey/disobeyExpensive/cheapLegal/illegal

Verbs Verbs are action or doing words. A verb can be one word, two words or even three words.

E.G. The cat chased the mouse. The boy was trying his best.

The girl should have worn a helmet.

The man works every dayThe man is working The woman will come Dublin is the capital of Ireland

The house has been sold The lady should have smiled The dog chased the rabbit

Adverbs Adverbs are mainly used to tell us more about verbs e.g. Alex watched intently.

The soldiers marched slowly.

The girls sang happily.

Most adverbs are formed from adjectives, by adding –ly, or -ily if the adjective already ends in –y.e.g. Silently, carelessly,

happy - happily.

NOUNS A noun is a naming word. It names some person, place, animal, state or thing!

E.G. A pack of dogs frightened the sheep in the field. Tom ate pancakes with his friend

The colour of the ink is black

Types of nouns Proper nouns – the names of particular

persons, places or things. They always begin with capital letters, e.g. California, February, Christmas Day, Mary Smith.

Common nouns – the names of things in general, e.g. Girl, ball, mountain.

Collective nouns – the names of groups of people or things, e.g. herd, crowd, pack.

Abstract nouns – the names of qualities, feelings or ideas. It relates to things which cannot be seen, touched, felt or tasted, e.g. bravery, health, height, love

Adjectives An adjective is a word which adds to the meaning of a noun or pronoun. It may go before or after the word it qualifies.

e.g. The fierce dogOr The dog is fierce

In order to write exciting and imaginative stories, you must avoid repetition of the same adjectives.

Giant python – monstrous serpent/slimy snake/loathsome reptile.

The snow lay everywhere. It crowned the leafless trees with magnificent white plumes and wrapped the rooftops of the sleeping village in a silken blanket.