Grammar has always been the unwanted stepchild of Language Arts. Very few will argue that it has a place and even a necessity, but somewhere along the way, certainly in the past twenty or thirty years it has gained a possibly undeserved but nevertheless  earned reputation: Grammar is boring! All those rules and rigid  Along came diagramming. Again not a terrible idea, certainly it’s one way to dissect a perfectly innocent sentence. What it can hardly be accused of is fun. Certainly not approachable by your average student. Absolutely not a great way to instill the true purpose of gra ..read more

Why worry about expository writing? Think about the type of writing most of us encounter in our daily lives. When was the last time you read a non-fiction book, a magazine, or a newspaper article? You guessed it, the author used expository writing. And you, the writer use it all the time. In school there are school exams, research papers, and book reports; in the workplace there are business reports, memos, emails, not to mention those pesky resumes. Developing strong expository skills can only make you a better writer. As with any kind of writing, the key to exceptional expository writing is ..read more

Scientists tell us that the act of crawling actually creates hard wiring in the brain of small children. It actually helps their brains develop. Quite a concept. To skip this crucial stage from helplessness to walking can be decidedly detrimental to the future learning of said child. Think of that, something as simple as learning to crawl before taking first steps can make a huge difference.  The act of brain to hand to paper feels much like the act of rolling over, getting up on all fours and scurrying across the floor to explore new venues, as is the act of those first laborious marks m ..read more

As part of this blog, I’d like to explore a pair of homonyms or commonly confused words and hopefully shed a little light on using the correct one in the correct places.  We’ll begin with one of my personal pet peeves of a pair of commonly confused words. Not only is this word often used incorrectly in print but it is astonishing how often it is misspoken aloud in movies, television shows, news broadcasts, you name it. Drumroll please... Cavalry and Calvary.  Once and for all: Cavalry: As in here comes the cavalry to the rescue. And Calvary: A hill in Jerusalem.  Yes, they sound ..read more

If you’ve visited our site, www.grammarpunk.com you know that we specialize in programs and products that will take grammar from the subject students dread to one of their favorites. We do that by putting the learning process back where it belongs: into student’s hands. Literally. They learn by doing, not reiterating, diagramming, or flogging the same old material from 20 year old textbooks. We made the teaching and learning of grammar feel more like a game.  When choosing grammar games for your classroom beware of games that are intended only as “time-fillers” and do not also affect or ..read more

The Socratic Method—questions and answers It all goes back to Socrates. The Socratic Method is a form of inquiry and debate among individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking. Eh? In other words, it’s a way to come to a conclusion by tossing out commonly held truths or thoughts that shape opinions and analyzing them to determine if they fit with the conclusions. Grammar can feel very Socratic. And not necessarily in a good way, which is too bad. The thing with grammar, at least the thing that most of us should be concerned about is ..read more

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Grammar has always been the unwanted stepchild of Language Arts. Very few will argue that it has a place and even a necessity, but somewhere along the way, certainly in the past twenty or thirty years it has gained a possibly undeserved but nevertheless  earned reputation: Grammar is boring! All those rules and rigid Along came diagramming. Again not a terrible idea, certainly it’s one way to dissect a perfectly innocent sentence. What it can hardly be accused of is fun. Certainly not approachable by your average student. Absolutely not a great way to instill the true purpose of gramm ..read more

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an⋅te⋅di⋅lu⋅vi⋅an   –adjective 1. of or belonging to the period before the Flood. Gen. 7, 8.   2. very old, old-fashioned, or out of date; antiquated; primitive: antediluvian ideas. –noun 3. a person who lived before the Flood.   4. a very old or old-fashioned person or thing. Origin: 1640–50; ante- + L dīluvi(um) a flood, deluge + -an This is a word that is not often used in everyday conversation. And really should be. It’s a useful little word, that in and of itself is the very definition of old. But how much more effective is antediluv ..read more