Grammar, Conventions & Vocabulary
Aligned to L.3.1 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

What this lesson teaches
You can build sentences that are simple, joined together, or have extra parts, and use commas and quotation marks when people talk. When you meet a new word, use the sentence around it and word parts to guess its meaning.
Worked examples
Example 1
In 'The exhausted runner stopped,' the rest of the sentence hints that 'exhausted' means very tired. For dialogue: She said, 'Let's go!' — note the comma and quotation marks.
Example 2
In 'The parched traveler drank the whole canteen,' the rest of the sentence tells you 'parched' means very thirsty.
Example 3
Dialogue punctuation: the comma goes inside the quotation marks — 'Let's go,' she said. — and a new speaker starts a new paragraph.
Practice questions
- Add quotation marks: Tom said I am ready.
- Guess the meaning of a word using the sentence around it.
- Join two short sentences into one using 'and' or 'because.'
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Gramática, convenciones y vocabulario
Puedes construir oraciones simples, unidas entre sí o con partes adicionales, y usar comas y comillas cuando alguien habla. Cuando encuentres una palabra nueva, usa el contexto de la oración y las partes de la palabra para deducir su significado.
Ejemplo 1: En 'The exhausted runner stopped', el resto de la oración da una pista de que 'exhausted' significa muy cansado. En diálogos: She said, 'Let's go!' — observa la coma y las comillas.
Ejemplo 2: En 'El viajero sediento se bebió toda la cantimplora', el resto de la oración te dice que 'sediento' significa con mucha sed.
Ejemplo 3: Puntuación del diálogo: en español el diálogo empieza con una raya — —Vámonos —dijo ella.— y cada persona que habla empieza en un renglón nuevo.
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