DK - How to Be Good at English Language Arts: The Simplest-ever Visual Guide

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Grammar Grammar rules! ................................... Nouns .................................................. Pronouns .............................................. Using pronouns ................................... Determiners ......................................... Ad j ectives ............................................. Using more than one ad j ective ........... Noun phrases ...................................... Verb s .................................................... Adverbs ................................................ Adverb phrases and clauses .............. Using adverb phrases ......................... Prepositions ......................................... What is a sentence? ............................ Ty pes of sentences .............................. Clauses ................................................ Relative clauses ................................... Multiclause sentences ......................... Con j unctions ........................................ Te nses .................................................. Ta lking about the past ......................... Ta lking about possibility ...................... Conditional and sub j unctive ................ Senior editors Laura Sandford, Rona Skene, Monica Woods Pro j ect art editor Anna Scully Editors Jolyon Goddard, Car yn Jenner , Sarah MacLeod, Mani Ramaswamy , James Smart Designers Kelly Adams, Lauren Arthur , Gilda Pacitti Illustrators Adam Brackenbur y , Edwood Burn Senior US editor Kayla Dugger US executive editor Lori Hand Authors Geoff Barker , Catherine Casey , Helen Dineen, To m Hanlon, Cath Senker Consultants Jane Burstein, Janet Gough Managing editors Christine Stroyan, Carine T r acanelli Managing art editor Anna Hall Production editor Gillian Reid Senior production contr oller Jude Crozier Jacket designer Vidushi Chaudhry Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT Publisher Andrew Macintyre Art director Karen Self Design director Phil Ormerod Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf First American Edition, 2022 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 1450 Broadway , Suite 801, New Y ork, NY 10018 Copyright 2022 Dorling Kindersley Limited DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC 22 23 24 25 26 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001327410Aug/2022 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner . A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978-0-7440-4847-6 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 1450 Broadway , Suite 801, New Y ork, NY 10018 SpecialSales@dk.com Printed and bound in China www.dk.com This book was made with Forest Stewardship Council certied paperone small step in DKs commitment to a sustainable future. For more information go to www .dk.com/our -green-pledge

Facts, questions, and instructions ....... Verb als ................................................. Active and passive sentences ............. Punctuation Why those dots and marks matter ..... Starting and ending sentences ........... Punctuating direct speech ................... Apostrophes to show possession ....... Apostrophes to show contractions ..... Commas .............................................. Semicolons ........................................... Colons .................................................. Parentheses, dashes, and ellipses ..... Hyphens and dashes .......................... H ow words work Studying words .................................... Roots and root words .......................... Breaking words into parts ................... Prexes ................................................ What is a sufx? ................................. Vowe l sufxes .................................... Doubling letters for sufxes ............... Consonant sufxes ............................ The power of sufxes ......................... Plurals ................................................. Homophones ...................................... Silent and unstressed letters .............. Synonyms ........................................... Reading stories, p lays, and poems Why read? .......................................... Features of stories, plays, and poems ..................................... Genres ............................................... What is the setting? ........................... Why the setting matters .................... Characters ......................................... Understanding characters ................ Who s telling the story? ...................... Introducing plot .................................. The three-act structure ...................... Reading plays .................................... Performance ...................................... What is a poem? ................................ Making sense of poetry ..................... Asking about a story .........................

Sales materials ................................. What s the writer s purpose? ............ Audience ........................................... Levels of formality ............................. Language for different purposes ..... Different viewpoints ........................... Layout and structure .......................... New words and terms ....................... Finding information ............................ Inferring meaning ............................. Facts and opinions ........................... Comparing and contrasting nonction ....................................... Summarizing multiple paragraphs ... Writing How to write well .............................. The stages of writing ........................ Coming up with ideas ...................... Research ........................................... Learning from other writers .............. Collaboration and synthesis ............. Organizing ideas .............................. Identifying your audience and purpose .................................. How to work out meaning ................ The effects of language ..................... Figurative language ........................... What are inferences? ........................ How to make inferences ................... Understanding the tone .................... Exploring dialogue ............................. Analyzing poetry ................................ Finding the main idea ........................ Identifying themes ............................. Comparing and contrasting ction .............................................. Summarizing ...................................... Proving your point .............................. Using evidence from the text ............ Reading nonction Ty pes of nonction ............................. Reading informative texts .................. Magazines and newspapers ............ Reading online media ....................... Narrative nonction ........................... Letters ................................................ Reading speeches .............................