Intro to Word Groups curriculum

About Standards

This lesson introduces the Language Basics: Word Groups lesson pack, including Noun Groups, Verb Groups, Adjective Groups, Adverb Groups, and Prepositional Phrases. There is no writing in this lesson. Instead we talk about the value of grammatical knowledge as an editorial and analysis tool, provide an overview of the word group lessons, and offer some advice on how students should approach what can be otherwise intimidating or overwhelming content.

Australia

Australian National Curriculum F-10

Understand that the starting point of a sentence gives prominence to the message in the text and allows for prediction of how the text will unfold

Understand the difference between main and subordinate clauses and that a complex sentence involves at least one subordinate clause

Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea

Understand the uses of commas to separate clauses

Investigate how complex sentences can be used in a variety of ways to elaborate, extend and explain ideas

Understand how ideas can be expanded and sharpened through careful choice of verbs, elaborated tenses and a range of adverb groups/phrases

Understand the use of punctuation to support meaning in complex sentences with prepositional phrases and embedded clauses

Recognise and understand that subordinate clauses embedded within noun groups/phrases are a common feature of written sentence structures and increase the density of information

Understand how modality is achieved through discriminating choices in modal verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns

Understand the use of punctuation conventions, including colons, semicolons, dashes and brackets in formal and informal texts

Analyse and examine how effective authors control and use a variety of clause structures, including clauses embedded within the structure of a noun group/phrase or clause

Recognise that vocabulary choices contribute to the specificity, abstraction and style of texts

Investigate how evaluation can be expressed directly and indirectly using devices, for example allusion, evocative vocabulary and metaphor

Understand how punctuation is used along with layout and font variations in constructing texts for different audiences and purposes

Explain how authors creatively use the structures of sentences and clauses for particular effects

Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual choices that authors make to present information, opinions and perspectives in different texts

Australian National Curriculum Senior Secondary

ACEEA125

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using teacher editing and conferencing including editing for word order, articles, prepositions and simple tenses

ACEEA168

Year 11 Year 12

Language and text analysis skills and strategies including identifying common differences in lexis and grammar between spoken and written language in familiar texts

ACEEA178

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using cohesive devices at paragraph level, including anaphoric and cataphoric reference, referential pronouns and common conjunctions

ACEEA193

Year 11 Year 12

Language and text analysis skills and strategies including identifying and describing text structures and language features used in a variety of texts, including some literary texts

ACEEA195

Year 11 Year 12

Language and text analysis skills and strategies including explaining how meaning changes with shifts in tone and register

ACEEA202

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using simple, compound and some complex sentences

ACEEA023

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using common language features, for example, subject specific vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, adjectives and adverbs used to create modality, some nominalisation, common collocations and idioms

ACEEA049

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using different types of texts to present ideas and opinions for different purposes and audiences in a range of digital, multimodal and print-based technologies

ACEEA050

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using subject-specific vocabulary, nominalisation, and nouns and verbs used to create modality, collocations, idioms and figurative language

ACEEA051

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of cohesive and structural devices

ACEEA052

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using persuasive, descriptive and emotive language as appropriate

ACEEA053

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using experimentation with different registers and tones

ACEEA075

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of genres and digital, multimodal and print-based technologies

ACEEA076

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using language that influences the audience or that privileges certain ideas or perspectives over others

ACEEA077

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using different sentence structures and forms suited to purpose, audience and subject

ACEEA078

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using modality (including modality in a hypothetical past, nominalised language and discourse markers)

ACEEA098

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of types of texts and digital, multimodal and print-based technologies

ACEEA099

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using language appropriate to the context, including imaginative, persuasive and rhetorical forms and features

ACEEA100

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using stylistic and grammatical choices for effect, including complex lexical elements, modality in the past conditional and subject-specific language forms and features

United States

Common Core

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition).

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

United Kingdom

UK National Curriculum

Studying the effectiveness and impact of the grammatical features of texts. Drawing on new vocabulary and grammatical constructions from reading, and using these consciously in writing and speech to achieve particular effects.

Using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence. Using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause. Using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely. Using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility. Using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun. Using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing. Using hyphens to avoid ambiguity. Using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis. Using semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses.