7th Grade Grammar

Seventh grade grammar is an amalgam of everything that students have learned in language arts thus far. They simply must start using grammar to an end rather than learn it as an end unto itself. Parts of speech, pronouns, clauses, and punctuation will be called into action by intrepid seventh graders in order to appropriately and accurately engage in discourse and conversation regarding current and historical events while opining and drawing inferences and conclusions. That means book and article reports, learning logs, journals, and plenty of group work. It also means understanding everyone's right to an opinion while reconciling the fact that not every opinion is valid. Grammar is a great first line of defense against invalid opinions.

Parts of Speech

It's less important to know which part of speech is which in the seventh grade, but it's important to know how to talk about them. Seventh grade grammar is more about using grammar than learning it, and knowing your parts of speech enables you to talk about writing selections. Grammar becomes another weapon in the critical thinking arsenal.

Examples

  • Gore Vidal's lack of pronouns is a sneaky way to hide the gender of his protagonist long enough to shock his reader.
  • Ernest Hemingway's sparse use of adjectives empowers his readers by enlisting them as co-creators of the worlds within his novels.
  • Stephanie Meyers's prose, pickled with more adverbs than a sixth grade poem, has the uncanny ability to reduce intriguing subject matter to not much more than prolix, uneventful tripe, utterly boring to anyone who esteems themselves literate.
  • James Ellroy might write one-sentence paragraphs devoid of comfortable prepositional or adverbial clauses, but his strong verbs just might be enough to get most readers through one of his immensely long and grim crime stories.

Knowing the purposes and locations of different parts of speech lends validity to opinions about literature. Your sister might tell you she likes a movie, and you might value her opinion based on what you know about her; but by critically thinking about and presenting your own opinions, you can strengthen their validity irrespective to personal relationships. You wouldn't trust a stranger's position on a painting if they failed to display any knowledge of painting or composition—the same goes for parts of speech when talking about literature.

What Seventh Grade Grammar When

In addition to learning how to appropriately support opinions, one must also learn what types of speech to use when. That means that how one speaks online in IM fields isn't the same as when one's trying to get work done as a group. A seventh grader doesn't speak with his mother the same way he speaks with his friends, and he won't speak with his group members the same he does to a ski-lift operator. Wise adults know that it isn't knowing how to act like a child or a grownup that counts but when to. That skill is something that will stay crucial to how people perceive students long after they're done with the seventh grade. In meetings, at dinner parties, or even on conference calls and sub-Saharan expeditions, different grammar is expected in different situations.

In group work, the language should begin to resemble that of the business meeting. That is decidedly not the funnest thing for a seventh grader to think about, but the value of speaking in a way that is both assertive and respectful, that creates an inclusive unit while maintaining individual identities, is undeniable.

Consider the difference between these examples:

“No” versus “I'm not sure that's our best course of action.”

“Yes” versus “That sounds good to me.”

“I don't know” versus “I'll have to check.”

This is the breeding ground of negotiation and compromise. It's where little capitalists and communists form the first crystals of their political positions and start learning how to discuss their vices and virtues.

Subject Verb Agreement

Singular subjects go with singular verbs and plural subjects go with plural verbs. That's the rule. Most verbs get an “s” tacked onto their ends when conjugated for third person singular subjects.

Example

I/you/they/we abnegate my/your/their/our fourth amendment right.

He/she/it abnegates his/her/its fourth amendment right.

If subject verb agreement is so easy, why do so many people mess it up? With just a few clauses, a sentence can get extremely long. A sentence can get so long, and the verb can be so far away from its antecedent, that your brain tells your fingers to type the wrong verb conjugation. When verbs don't agree with their subjects, it's a sure sign that the author didn't pay enough attention when he or she proofread. It's something to look out for when you reread your work at any age, but it's especially important in the seventh grade because of the whole report card thing.

So proofread everything, sweet grammarians of all ages!