Grammar, capitals, and apostrophes (grade 2) · lesson

Special nouns

💡 Some nouns change their spelling for more than one, and some name groups.

One mouse, two mice. One foot, two feet.

A group of cows is a herd. A group of birds is a flock.

🧠 How to think about it

If adding s sounds wrong, the word may have a special plural.

plural: a word for more than one
collective noun: a word for a group, like herd

🏡 Try it at home

Name groups at the zoo or farm: a herd, a flock, a school of fish.

Past tense and self words

💡 Some verbs change their spelling in the past, and self words point back.

Sit becomes sat. Tell becomes told.

Ben did it by himself. Himself points back to Ben.

🧠 How to think about it

Say it out loud. Sitted and telled sound wrong. Sat and told are right.

past tense: a verb form for what already happened

🏡 Try it at home

Tell what you did yesterday. Listen for sat, ran, ate, and told.

Adjectives and adverbs

💡 Adjectives tell about things, and adverbs tell how something is done.

A soft pillow. Soft tells about the pillow.

Ana sang softly. Softly tells how she sang.

🧠 How to think about it

Does the word tell about a thing or about an action? Many how words end in ly.

adjective: a word that tells about a noun
adverb: a word that tells how, often ending in ly

🏡 Try it at home

Walk across the room slowly, then quickly. Name each adverb.

Build and move sentences

💡 You can add words to tell more, or move words without changing the meaning.

The dog barked can grow into The big dog barked loudly.

At night, the owl hunts means The owl hunts at night.

🧠 How to think about it

Check who does it and what they do. If both stay the same, the meaning stays the same.

detail: a word that tells more

🏡 Try it at home

Start with The cat sat. Take turns adding one word at a time.

Capitals and letter commas

💡 Names of months, holidays, and places get capitals.

July and Thanksgiving get capitals. Winter does not.

A letter starts with Dear Grandma. Put a comma after the name.

🧠 How to think about it

Is it the name of one day, month, or place? Then use a capital.

greeting: the hello at the start of a letter

🏡 Try it at home

Write a short letter to a family member. Check the capitals and commas.

Apostrophes

💡 An apostrophe shows letters left out or that something belongs to someone.

Don't means do not. The apostrophe takes the place of o.

Kim's toy means the toy belongs to Kim. Cats with no apostrophe means more than one cat.

🧠 How to think about it

Does something belong? Are letters left out? If neither, you do not need an apostrophe.

apostrophe: a mark like a comma up high
contraction: two words joined, like don't

🏡 Try it at home

Find contractions on signs or boxes, like can't or it's. Say the two words each one stands for.