Analytical Grammar

[TechWife]

Currently DS is working his way through Analytical Grammar, Season 3. Grammar is one of his strong areas and this program has been a good review for him overall. He knows how to punctuate correctly, however I want him to continue with the remainder of the book because it is a valuable review and we will not likely cover grammar again until 9th or 10th grade.

 

While he is working on the exercises, he does almost all of the punctuation correctly. Anything errors he makes are random - there is no one concept that he is unclear on, he just gets careless every now and then. However, when he gets to the latter part of the exercises he is having a great deal of difficulty knowing which rules apply to the punctuation usage. How much effort should I expend on making sure he can recall the rules if he is already fluent in the application of the rules?

[ekarl2]

What your son has is a great "ear" for punctuation. He's one of those kids who can mimic what he's seen and do it correctly.

 

The backs of the exercises are created the way they are so that even kids with a great ear are forced to learn the actual rules. It's important to know the rules so when you do come to a weird sentence you can analytically look at it and say, "Oh, this is going on here, so I need THIS punctuation."

 

For many of us, our ability to mimic correctly gets us by about 80% of the time. It's the other 20% that can make you look silly if someone DOES know the rule and sees you've done it incorrectly.

 

That's the whole point of AG. It's a matter of mastery, not mimicry.

 

In the end, of course, it's up to you! :001_smile::001_smile: If you and he feel that his mastery of the subject is good enough, then you've answered your question for yourself.

 

Blessings,

 

Erin from AG

[TechWife]

Thanks for responding Erin. I really appreciate all you do to answer AG questions. You've given me something to think about.