Tips from a year 6 SPAG examiner!
SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar) is crucial in Year 6, especially when preparing for SATs. Here are some tips!
- Write clearly, form each letter unambiguously.
- Be accurate and precise with underlining and circling.
- Use hyphens correctly.
- Know the correct way to use : : – ( ) and their names!
- Know the names of tenses eg.. past ,present, present progressive, past progressive, present perfect and past perfect.
Master Key Punctuation Marks
- Full Stops and Capital Letters: Ensure every sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.
- Commas: Learn how to use commas for:
- Separating items in a list.
- After fronted adverbials (e.g., “After the rain stopped, we went outside”).
- To avoid run-on sentences or to add clarity.
- Apostrophes:
- For contractions (e.g., don’t, I’m).
- To show possession (e.g., Jake’s pencil).
- Colons and Semi-Colons: Start to get familiar with how these work:
- Colons: Introduce a list or explain something further (e.g., There are three things I love: pizza, reading, and music).
- Semi-Colons: Link two closely related independent clauses (e.g., I love reading; it’s my favorite hobby).
Learn Sentence Types and Structures
- Simple Sentences: One complete idea (e.g., “I read a book.”).
- Compound Sentences: Two simple sentences joined by a conjunction (e.g., “I read a book, and it was fun.”).
- Complex Sentences: A main clause and one or more subordinate clauses (e.g., “Although it was raining, we still went outside.”).
- Fronted Adverbials: Phrases at the start of a sentence to describe when, where, or how something happens (e.g., “In the morning, we went to the park.”).
Revise Grammar Rules
- Word Classes: Be confident in identifying:
- Nouns (people, places, things, ideas).
- Adjectives (describe nouns).
- Verbs (actions or states of being).
- Adverbs (describe how, when, where something happens).
- Pronouns (he, she, it, they).
- Prepositions (in, on, under, beside).
- Conjunctions: Co-ordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So) and subordinating conjunctions (because, although, while, if).
- Subject-Verb Agreement: Ensure the subject and verb match in number (e.g., “The dog runs” vs. “The dogs run”).
- Tenses: Consistently use the correct tense throughout writing (e.g., past, present, future).
Improve Spelling
- Common Year 6 Words: Focus on the National Curriculum’s Year 5/6 spelling list. Practice these frequently.
- Suffixes and Prefixes: Learn how adding a suffix (e.g., “-ly,” “-ful,” “-ness”) or a prefix (e.g., “un-,” “dis-“) changes the meaning of words.
- Homophones: Be aware of commonly confused homophones (e.g., there/their/they’re, your/you’re, where/wear).
Work on Active and Passive Voice
- Active Voice: The subject performs the action (e.g., “The cat chased the mouse.”).
- Passive Voice: The subject receives the action (e.g., “The mouse was chased by the cat.”). Passive voice is often used to sound more formal.
Use a Range of Conjunctions
- Coordinating Conjunctions: Use these to link independent clauses (e.g., and, but, or).
- Subordinating Conjunctions: Use these to link a subordinate clause to a main clause (e.g., because, although, since).
- Relative Clauses: These add extra information to a noun (e.g., “The boy who was wearing a red hat won the race.”).
Practice Using Direct and Indirect Speech
- Direct Speech: Use speech marks (inverted commas) for direct quotes (e.g., “I’m going to the park,” said Ben.).
- Punctuation in Direct Speech: Ensure punctuation like commas and full stops are correctly placed inside the speech marks.
- Indirect Speech: Report what someone has said without using speech marks (e.g., Ben said that he was going to the park.).
Understand Word Transformation
- Learn how verbs, adjectives, and nouns can transform:
- Verb to Noun: Create nouns from verbs (e.g., “educate” becomes “education”).
- Noun to Adjective: Change nouns into adjectives (e.g., “danger” becomes “dangerous”).
- Verb to Adjective: Turn verbs into adjectives (e.g., “amaze” becomes “amazing”).
Consistent Use of Paragraphs
- Topic Sentences: Start paragraphs with a clear topic sentence that indicates what the paragraph will be about.
- Indenting or Spacing: Show a new paragraph either by indenting the first line or leaving a line break.
- New Ideas/Events: Start a new paragraph whenever there’s a change in time, place, idea, or speaker in dialogue.
Practice Editing and Proofreading
- After writing, always review your work. Check for:
- Spelling errors.
- Punctuation mistakes.
- Sentence variety.
- Consistent tense usage.
- Read your writing aloud to see if it flows well or if any sentences sound awkward.
