KS3 Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Section Three: Grammar Basics

Use this guide to help you when answering questions in your CGP Workbook
Section Three.

Plural Rules

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 Essay naming words might
Adjective be author, text, poem, novel,
device, effect, technique,
Pronoun
Describing word for conclusion, character, link, Replacing word for
nouns; big, small, blue, evidence, example, type, nouns; her, she for
leathery, chocolatey, object, idea, summary, female nouns, him, his for
friendly, rubbery, loud, protagonist. male nouns, it, their for
etc. Using these can neuter nouns.
help build up a picture NOUN Using these will stop your
for your reader. work from being
repetitive, and help you
establish the Subject and
Object in sentences.

Common or Proper Concrete or Abstract

Common nouns are labels, such as Concrete nouns are tangible (touchable,
teacher, dog, city. sensed with the five senses) things, like
Proper nouns are proper names, such as table, roses, and, well, concrete.
Miss Lemon, Mina and London. Abstract nouns are intangible things (that
(As you can see, proper nouns start with cannot be sensed with your five senses) like
a capital letter.) ideas and concepts, like beauty, bravery,
trust.

PREPOSITION CONJUNCTION
A placing word that tells your reader the A linking word (often called a connective)
position of a noun and its relationship to that links nouns, verbs or clauses together,
the rest of the sentence, such as in, on, most often and, or, nor, but, yet, for, also,
through, before. The noun becomes the so, because. There are different types
object of the preposition, so normally you’ll find in essays:
follows it. In an essay, you will use it to
coordinating (linking items of the same
establish where evidence comes from or
value: ‘him and her’);
locate a text section for discussion.
correlative (pairs of conjunctions that

Adverb
coordinate: ‘Either him or her…’;

A describing word for subordinating (introducing clauses

verbs that tells how the dependent on the previous clause: ’He is,
verb is being done, like although she isn’t’) which will be important
quickly, slowly, intuitively, in explaining the effects of things like
apprehensively, carefully, language devices: ‘The author uses strong
forcefully, amusingly. They verbs in order that the action is vivid’.
often end in –ly.
In an essay, adverbs can
be useful for evaluating
the effect of something:
VERB Essay doing words might be writes,
explores, develops, continues,
‘The author uses this doing chooses, uses, elaborates, explains,
device effectively…’ orchestrates, creates, maintains,
word characterises, emphasises, analyses.

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Sentence Structure
Haven’t a clue what to ‘vary sentences’ with?
Using different types of sentence in your essays will
both improve your grade by showing skill and make
your essay more interesting to read for the
examiner.

Things you need to know first:

Sentences have three basic parts

The cat sat on the mat.

The The The

subject VERB object
This is what This is what This is what
the the subject the subject
sentence is is doing is doing the
about verb to.

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The cat sat on the mat.
The subject of the sentence is
what the sentence is about –
The subject
a noun (Here it’s a cat.)

The cat sat on the mat.

The subject of the
VERB sentence does the verb.
The subject
(Here, the cat is sitting)

The cat sat on the mat.

The subject VERB The object

The object of the sentence has the verb done to it –

another noun (The mat has the cat sitting on it.)

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 Other stuff you should know:

clause - a part of a sentence

main sentence clause - the main part
of the sentence with the verb in it.

Now you’re ready to start:

There are three main types of
sentence you need to use

1. Simple sentences
(The cat sat on the mat.)

2. Compound sentences
(The cat sat on the mat and eyed the goldfish.)

3. Complex sentences
(The cat, which was getting hungry, eyed the goldfish.)

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1. Simple sentences
The cat sat on the mat.  

One thing did

one thing to one
thing.

(That’s it.)

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2. Compound sentences
In Science, a compound is made of
two elements joined together by a
chemical reaction.

A compound. Can
you see the join?

Compound sentences are made of

simple sentences joined together
(connected) with a conjunction
(connective) like ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’.

simple sentence simple sentence

The cat sat on the mat. The cat eyed the goldfish.  

The cat sat on the mat and eyed the goldfish.  

compound sentence CONNECTIVE

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3. Complex sentences
Complex sentences get…
complicated.

There is a main clause, where the

verb, the subject and the object are.
main
clause

The cat, which was getting hungry, eyed the goldfish.  

The subject VERB The object

This is a ‘subordinate clause’. It gives extra

information: ‘subordinate’ means ‘lower
than the main…lower-ranking’, so we know
this is not part of the main clause, but
instead supports it. Commas are put round
it, like brackets, to show that it is extra.

There are other clauses (subordinate

clauses) that give extra information.
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 Subordinate clauses depend on the
main sentence to make sense – they
do not make sense on their own.  

See?
which was getting hungry  
?
This means nothing.
There is no subject or
object for it to relate to.

The cat, which was getting hungry, eyed the goldfish.  

The main clause The subordinate

gives a reason for clause gives extra
the subordinate meaning to the
clause. main clause.

NOTE: this is why you may

Connectives:
NOT begin a sentence and or but because
(main clause) with a although (more later)
connective or relative Relative pronouns:
pronoun (unless you are who whom which whose
asking a question), as these
are used to introduce
whoever whosoever
subordinate clauses! whomever what whatever
that
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Before you read the next page, read this:

EXTRA: How to use ‘because’

EFFECT CAUSE

Something …because… …something

happened… caused it to
happen.

It was my …because… …another year

birthday… had passed.

You are going …because… …you have

to write a studied this
good essay… guide well.

We feel pathos …because… …the author

for the has created
character… them to be
sympathetic.

‘Because’ links the cause and

the effect.

Therefore, you may not have

one without the other in a
sentence.

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The most common error made in essay
sentence structure is using connectives
at the beginning of sentences , like
‘which’, ‘but’, ‘because’, ‘and’:
The cat is described as ‘hungry’. Which suggests it
wants to eat the fish.
NO!

The cat is described as ‘hungry’, which suggests it

wants to eat the fish.
main The subordinate clause
clause gives extra meaning to
the main clause. A
comma shows it Is linked.

Examples of using ‘because’ in different positions:

Because the fish is described as ‘hungry’, the cat
appears to want to eat the fish. ‘Because’ starts the sentence
as it starts the subordinate
clause. It gives a reason for the
main clause.

The cat, because it is described as hungry, appears

to want to eat the fish. ‘Because’ starts the subordinate clause and
introduces it after the first part of the main
clause. ‘The fish’ is switched for the pronoun ‘it’,
because ‘the fish’ has been introduced in the
main clause; ‘it’ relates to it.

The cat appears to want to eat the fish because it

‘Because’ is a connective, and here it
is described as ‘hungry’. connects two simple sentences to make a
compound sentence instead of starting a
subordinate clause. This happens as ‘because’
READ THESE OUT LOUD TO HEAR EACH CLAUSE
suggests a result/effect.

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How examiners see sentence structure:
‘Varying your sentences’ in analytical essays
means that if you use a mix of these three
types, you will get a better mark.

‘Varying your sentences’ in creative writing

means that if you use a mix of these types of
sentences to create effects, you will get a
better mark:

SIMPLE SENTENCES: are short and build suspense

when they are layered one after the other.
He stopped.

COMPOUND SENTENCES: when kept to two

sentences/clauses, have a similar effect to
simple sentences but give more information.
He stopped and looked round.

COMPLEX SENTENCES: can be used to set the

scene with lots of description and additional
‘back-story’ information…and lull readers into a
false sense of security that you can then shock
them out of with a short, simple sentence!
He stopped and looked round at the house, which had once
been a place of happiness but now looked sad and empty.
Suddenly there was a noise behind him…

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