Transcript Last-Minute Reminders for STAAR Writing (1)

If you don't know what a transition word or phrase
actually means or what it's purpose is,
look it up in the dictionary!
If you have a sentence with a subject and predicate and a
complete thought and the same on other side of the sentence
separated by a comma, this is called a comma splice.
The sentence is incorrectly punctuated.
Incorrect: Mrs. Johnson walks to the park, she talks about her
pugs on the way.
Comma Splice
Correct: Mrs. Johnson walks to the park, and she talks about
her pugs on the way.
Correct: Mrs. Johnson walks to the park and talks about her
pugs on the way.
If a sentence has a subject and predicate on one
side but only just a predicate on the other side, it
DOES NOT need a comma before the conjunction
(FANBOY). This is a compound predicate.
A compound predicate tell us two things about the
subject.
Mrs. Johnson walks to the park and talks about her
pugs on the way.
Semicolons are used in a COMPOUND sentence where there
is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE/COMPLETE THOUGHT on each
side of the semi-colon.
She was sick of school; she had “checked out” even before
Memorial Day.
;
Informal or very general words in an answer choice
(like things, guys, stuff) will NOT be the correct
choice.
Make sure subject and verb agree:
The girls dance.
The girl dances.
If one is PLURAL, the other is SINGULAR!
When asked about questions regarding imagery and
detail, look for answers that contain descriptive
words and phrases.
Pronoun Antecedent Agreement
Antecedent
Pronoun
Mrs. Johnson was hungry, so she went to the grocery
store to buy some food.
Any questions that ask to change the spelling of a
word, LOOK THE WORDS UP IN THE DICTIONARY to
see which is the correct spelling!
Any questions that ask to change from one word to another,
think about which PART OF SPEECH the words are to
determine which one should be used. Then, ask yourself what
this word is modifying in the sentence (noun/pronoun or
verb/adjective/adverb).
Remember, adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, and
adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
intentional --------------------- intentionally
adjective
adverb
Remember that apostrophes are used to show possession
and contractions.
It’s = it is
its = belonging to it
It’s the beginning of the school year, and I am keeping up with
my work.
The flower lost its petals because the wind was very strong.
Make sure to choose the correct verb tense by
reading the sentences around the sentence
the question refers to.
Remember your BABY-MAMA rule when asked about whether
or not to use a comma.
If the baby comes before the mama, you need a comma.
You need a comma if the baby comes before the mama.
Dependent clauses start with a subordinating conjunction or
relative pronoun like: if, after, when, as, because, even
though, while, which, that…
THAN and THEN
comparing
Time transition
Transitions like eventually and finally mark the last thing
stated in a paragraph.
When using the terms like “Mom” or “Dad” – ask
yourself if they could be replaced with another name.
If so, use a capital letter.
I ate too many cookies and Mom was angry.
Replace “Mom” with another name:
I ate too many cookies and Sara was angry.
When saying “my mom,” you don’t need to capitalize.
If you’re not sure about the spelling of a homonym
(words that sound the same but have different
spellings and meanings),
LOOK THE WORDS UP IN THE DICTIONARY!
Examples
there – their
here – hear
where - wear
“A lot” and “a little” are TWO WORDS!
Punctuation marks generally go
INSIDE
the quotation marks.
For the STAAR test, they will always need to go inside.
Also, look for MISSING quotation marks.
Proper nouns need to be capitalized.
A proper noun is a name used for a specific
individual person, place, or organization, spelled with
initial capital letters,
Examples: Larry, Mexico, and Boston Red Sox.