What grade english class do you learn these?

Factual Questions
1
  • complete sentences
  • sentence fragments
  • compound sentences
  • coordinating conjunctions
  • conjunctive adverbs
  • complex Sentences
  • run-ons and comma splices
  • misplaced and dangling modifiers
  • parallel structure
2

Hello, and welcome to the Straight Dope, Confused. While your questions are specific enough, I’m afraid you’ll have to narrow down your geography to get any useful answers. Not everyone here had their schooling in North America, or in English…

That said, here’s one data point for you. For me, a Montrealer who grew up in the English school system, only “complete sentences” and “sentence fragments” were dealt with in elementary school. Most of the rest of what you describe was taught to me in high school, with a more in-depth analysis at university. (I have a BA in English and Professional Writing.) I went to a private Catholic high school, and many of my university friends would later tell me they’d never heard of concepts such as misplaced modifiers at their public high schools. If they were correct, it would appear that not much emphasis is placed on complex English grammar in the English public high schools of Montreal. These observations apply to the late 1980s and early 90s, when we attended high school. Anecdote is not the singular of data, YMMV.

3

Thanks, that pretty much answered my question. :slight_smile:

4

All of this was spread out over time but the main part of that kind of instruction was in 7th and 8th grade when language class was more about grammar. It switched over to English classes in high school which were more about writing skills and literature and less about the mechanics even though there was still some of that.

5

Hmm, I still haven’t subscribed, so I can’t edit my posts. I’m in Ontario BTW.

6

I think I had most of that in elementary school, although we only diagrammed sentences in seventh grade (and that because our English teacher was actually the district’s best algebra teacher forced to teach English, and diagramming was the closest she could get to math. I hated it.) In elementary school (first through fifth grades) I definitely had complete sentences and fragments, compound sentences, complex sentences, and run-ons. The rest I think we had the concepts taught but not necessarily the terms.

7

I learned virtually all of this in Latin (which for me was grade 8-10), but we did some diagramming sentences in 8th grade.

8

If you were in the schools where I taught, you’d get this content in different ways from 7th to 12th grade, sometimes as review.

9

Growing up in Wisconsin I remember learning the difference between complete sentences and sentence fragments in 4th grade. In fact, I still remember my 4th grade teacher’s very first lesson on this. She wrote “I ran.” on the blackboard and then asked if it was a complete sentence. I think everyone in the class said “no” because it was “too short”.

I remember that really “boring” grammar (i.e., everything else you mentioned ;)) didn’t kick in until junior high in 7th grade through 9th grade. By tenth grade, I recall grammar going on the back burner with more of an emphasis on reading literature and vocabulary/spelling word tests.

10

These were all taught by the 10th grade at my High School (Virginia).

For the most part they were not learned…at all. :wink:

11

I went to school in Ontario too. It was 7th and 8th grade when we learned that stuff. We did a bit in 9th grade too, but by that point, grammar was taking a back seat to literature, and was only taught if everybody had trouble with a particular grammar topic. I should add that this was back in the 1970s, so things may have changed.

12

  • complete sentences and - sentence fragments
    From fourth or fifth grade we were identifying subject and predicate as well as parts of speech. It’s been awhile, so I’m not sure if we identified fragments or not, but it would fit in around there.

  • compound sentences - faded into the mists of memory, but probably by sixth grade

  • coordinating conjunctions - just looked those up.

  • conjunctive adverbs - just looked those up. I’ve used them, of course; they just weren’t identified as a named category.

  • complex Sentences - parallel structure - 12th grade.

  • run-ons and comma splices - misplaced and dangling modifiers - probably in seventh and/or eighth grade. I got a good summary on using semicolons in eleventh grade in a shorthand class.

I graduated from HS in 1973. I attended a Baptist elementary school, then junior high and high school in the LA School District.