Give your eighth-graders the focused language arts practice they need to keep their language skills sharp. 36 weeks of practice cover standards-based skills such as: Vocabulary/Word Study *affixes *analogies *base/root words *figurative language *homophones *idioms *spelling Punctuation *end of sentence *apostrophes: contractions and possessives *commas: series, dates, addresses, direct address/interjections, compound sentences, after an introductory phrase/clause, and with nonrestrictive appositives *punctuation and capitalization: dialogue and friendly business letters *quotation marks: songs, poems, and short stories *unnecessary commas *run-on sentences *semicolons, dashes, and parentheses Capitalization *beginning of a sentence *books, songs, and poems *proper nouns Grammar and Usage *active/passive voice *conjunctions *correct article, adjective, adverb *comparative/superlative *predicate adjectives and nouns *easily confused words *sentences: parts, types, structure, fragments, and combining *verbs: parts, tense, usage, and spelling *nouns: possessive, singular/plural, and concrete/abstract *pronouns: subject/object, possessive, and antecedents *prepositional phrases/prepositions/objects of a preposition *double negatives Other Skills *dictionary guide words *syllabication *outlines
