Grammar Webquest: Lauren Wozny

Understanding the mechanics of correct grammar is helpful in improving both your reading and writing skills. Aspects such as capital letters, italics, the apostrophe, the hyphen numbers all have specific jobs when it comes to sentence structure. The use of capitals is used to identify names, titles as well as signaling the beginning of a sentence or line in the case of poetry. Capitals often indicate the importance of a subject so we can see why a proper knowledge of their use is good to have. Italics emphasize certain words and phrases within a sentence. Whether it be the title of a work or in a sentence like “ I met the Brad Pitt.” , the use of italics helps us to flag certain words and phrases so we can add an extra accent to their meaning. Possession and conjugation are highlighted with the apostrophe. How we show possession of a noun depends on weather or not the now ends in “s”; adding an addition “s” to a word such as boys creates awkwardness with the word boys’s. The correct placement of an apostrophe when it comes to conjugation not only helps us to avoid confusion but also promotes proper pronunciation. The hyphen acts as the bond between two words that may sound like they belong together in speech but may not appear so in writing. All of these mechanics contribute in their own unique way to proper grammar.

The are other facets of grammar, such as adverbs and adjectives, that help to develop proper sentence structure. The University of Ottawa has posted a helpful page on the correct and incorrect use of adverbs and adjectives that helps to illustrate why this knowledge is important to make our sentences coherent. Things like verbs and nouns are also key in the make up of a grammatically correct sentence. The University of Ottawa has also created a helpful page the gives us insight on how to identify nouns and verbs within a sentence. To better understand how these rules and others came to be, Encyclopedia Britannica has developed a lengthy history on english grammar. This timeline highlights major points in the developments of verb, adjective and noun use through the ages as well as multiple other grammatical aspects.