L.11-12.2: Capitalization, Punctuation, Hyphenation and Spelling
In plain English: L.11-12.2 is the Common Core ELA standard that asks students to show command of standard English capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing. Students observe hyphenation conventions, such as hyphens in compound modifiers before a noun and in compound numbers, and spell correctly, checking a current dictionary when a form is in doubt. It is usually taught in English 11 and 12.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
a.Observe hyphenation conventions.
b.Spell correctly.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Language Standards · Cluster: Conventions of Standard English · Official standard
Students review the capitalization, punctuation and spelling conventions that edited American English expects, with the two areas the standard singles out: hyphenation and spelling. They learn when a compound takes a hyphen (a compound modifier before a noun, a spelled-out compound number, certain prefixes, a word that would otherwise be misread) and when it does not (after an adverb ending in -ly, or when the words follow the noun). They practice the spelling patterns behind many errors, such as doubling a final consonant and keeping or dropping a silent e.
Two older texts show that these conventions are not fixed. Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (1889) hyphenates compounds such as to-day and soup-plates, which current writers spell differently, and Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome (1911) shows American conventions for compound numbers, place names and quotation marks that still hold, beside compounds such as post-office that current writers spell as two words. Throughout, students check doubtful forms in a current dictionary and in the style manual their class uses, and they practice by editing a newsletter draft and their own writing.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Hyphenate compound modifiers, compound numbers and prefixed words according to current conventions, and leave out hyphens where the conventions call for none
Use a current dictionary to decide whether a compound is open, hyphenated or closed, and explain why older texts differ
Spell words correctly by applying suffix patterns (doubling, silent e, y to i) and by learning frequently misspelled words and homophones
Capitalize proper nouns, titles and regions correctly and punctuate quotations and possessives by American conventions
Edit a draft and their own writing for capitalization, punctuation, hyphenation and spelling, including errors a spell checker misses
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Semicolons, colons and spelling in grades 9-10 L.9-10.2
Commas, ellipses and dashes for pauses and omissions L.8.2
Parts of speech, especially adjectives, adverbs and nouns
Using a dictionary entry: spelling, part of speech and variant forms
"What is the difference between a man eating shark and a man-eating shark? Between a little used car and a little-used car? What does the hyphen do?"
Let students sketch or explain each pair. Guide them to see that the hyphen joins words into a single modifier: a man-eating shark eats people, while a man eating shark is a man having a meal. Ask where else they have seen hyphens and whether they ever feel unsure about one. List their questions; the lesson will answer most of them.
Direct Instruction20 minutes
Part 1: Hyphenation conventions (standard a). Walk through Diagram 1, which puts the conventions in the order a writer checks them. Stress two points. First, the dictionary comes first for compound nouns and many compound adjectives. Second, a compound modifier is usually hyphenated before a noun but not after it, and never after an adverb ending in -ly, because the -ly already shows how the words group. When the compound follows the noun, style manuals differ for some adjectives, so students check the style manual their class uses.
A compound modifier before and after the noun
We submitted a 12 page report. Then: The report is 12 pages long.
Result: Write a 12-page report: the two words work as one modifier before the noun. In 12 pages long the words follow the noun and pages is a plural noun, not part of a modifier, so there is no hyphen.
No hyphen after an -ly adverb
The students walked down a freshly-painted hallway.
Result: Write a freshly painted hallway. An adverb ending in -ly clearly modifies the word after it, so the hyphen adds nothing. (Compare a fresh-baked loaf, where fresh is not an -ly adverb.)
Prefixes and hyphens
The exmayor asked the council to resign the lease. (The writer means to sign it again.)
Result: Write The ex-mayor asked the council to re-sign the lease. Ex- meaning "former" takes a hyphen, and re-sign needs one because resign is a different word (to quit). Most prefixes, as in preview or nonprofit, are closed.
A spelling pattern: doubling the final consonant
Add -ed and -ing to control and to limit.
Result: controlled, controlling but limited, limiting. Double the final consonant when the last syllable is stressed and ends in one vowel plus one consonant (con-TROL); do not double when the stress falls earlier (LIM-it).
Capitalization and quotation punctuation
during the great depression, my great-grandfather worked for the Railroad and later said "those years taught me to save".
Result: During the Great Depression, my great-grandfather worked for the railroad and later said, "Those years taught me to save." Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the name of a historical period; lowercase a common noun (railroad); put a comma before a quoted sentence, capitalize its first word, and place the period inside the closing quotation mark (the American convention).
Part 2: Conventions change. Show Diagram 2: compounds come in three forms, and many move from open to hyphenated to closed as they become familiar. Then read the Jerome excerpt aloud. Ask students to circle every hyphenated word and to predict, before checking a dictionary, which ones a current writer would spell the same way. Leave the predictions open; students test them in the quiz and the homework. Remind students that when they quote an older text, they copy its spelling and hyphens exactly.
1To go back to the carved-oak question, they must have had very fair notions of the artistic and the beautiful, our great-great-grandfathers. Why, all our art treasures of to-day are only the dug-up commonplaces of three or four hundred years ago. I wonder if there is real intrinsic beauty in the old soup-plates, beer-mugs, and candle-snuffers that we prize so now, or if it is only the halo of age glowing around them that gives them their charms in our eyes. The “old blue” that we hang about our walls as ornaments were the common every-day household utensils of a few centuries ago; and the pink shepherds and the yellow shepherdesses that we hand round now for all our friends to gush over, and pretend they understand, were the unvalued mantel-ornaments that the mother of the eighteenth century would have given the baby to suck when he cried.
2Will it be the same in the future? Will the prized treasures of to-day always be the cheap trifles of the day before? Will rows of our willow-pattern dinner-plates be ranged above the chimneypieces of the great in the years 2000 and odd? Will the white cups with the gold rim and the beautiful gold flower inside (species unknown), that our Sarah Janes now break in sheer light-heartedness of spirit, be carefully mended, and stood upon a bracket, and dusted only by the lady of the house?
Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), chapter VI (excerpt: old treasures) (1889). Public domain (published 1889). Source text.
Guided Practice15-20 minutes
Read the Wharton excerpt, the opening of the novel's prologue (1911). In pairs, students look for capitalization, punctuation, hyphenation and spelling choices and sort them into two groups: still the convention, or different today. Model one row of the table below, then let pairs complete it and add two rows of their own. Save the compound number in paragraph 3 and the punctuation of Harmon's words in paragraph 4 for the quiz.
1I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.
2If you know Starkfield, Massachusetts, you know the post-office. If you know the post-office you must have seen Ethan Frome drive up to it, drop the reins on his hollow-backed bay and drag himself across the brick pavement to the white colonnade; and you must have asked who he was.
3It was there that, several years ago, I saw him for the first time; and the sight pulled me up sharp. Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man. It was not so much his great height that marked him, for the “natives” were easily singled out by their lank longitude from the stockier foreign breed: it was the careless powerful look he had, in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain. There was something bleak and unapproachable in his face, and he was so stiffened and grizzled that I took him for an old man and was surprised to hear that he was not more than fifty-two. I had this from Harmon Gow, who had driven the stage from Bettsbridge to Starkfield in pre-trolley days and knew the chronicle of all the families on his line.
4“He’s looked that way ever since he had his smash-up; and that’s twenty-four years ago come next February,” Harmon threw out between reminiscent pauses.
Conventions organizer for the Wharton excerpt (teacher key in the second column)
From the text
Convention (teacher key)
Same today? (students fill in, with the reference they checked)
Starkfield, Massachusetts, you know (paragraph 2)
A comma follows the state as well as the city in the middle of a sentence
hollow-backed bay (paragraph 2)
A compound modifier before a noun takes a hyphen
post-office (paragraph 2)
A compound noun; check its current form in a dictionary
February (paragraph 4)
Names of months are capitalized
colonnade, unapproachable, reminiscent
Formal words for a spelling list: note the double n, the -able ending and the -sc- in reminiscent
Finish with a quick check: students write two sentences about the story that use one compound modifier before a noun and one proper noun, and trade with a partner to check each other's hyphens and capitals.
Independent Practice15 minutes
Students edit the newsletter draft below as if they were the paper's copy editor. The draft contains 13 errors in capitalization, punctuation, hyphenation and spelling. Students mark each correction and name the convention. Then they reread the draft once more with a current dictionary open, since a spell checker would not flag every error.
Teacher key: saturday to Saturday; schools robotics to school's robotics; San jose to San Jose; twenty two to twenty-two; four wheeled to four-wheeled; ten pound to ten-pound; paid off". to paid off." (period inside the quotation marks); recieved to received; former Engineer to former engineer; definately to definitely; well organized team to well-organized team; in april to in April; teams sponsor to team's sponsor.
Last saturday, our schools robotics team won first place at the regional competition in San jose. The team, which includes twenty two students, built a four wheeled robot that can climb a ramp and lift a ten pound weight. "We never expected to win," said Priya Nair, the team captain, "but our practice paid off". The team recieved a trophy and a check for $500. Coach Daniel Ortiz, a former Engineer, said the students had definately earned it. The well organized team will now travel to the state finals in april. Anyone who wants to help can contact the teams sponsor, Ms. Reyes, in room 214.
Written for this page (the school, team and people are invented), Newsletter draft for editing: Robotics Team Heads to State. Original passage written for this page.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Write one sentence that uses a compound modifier before a noun and the same idea after the noun, and punctuate both correctly. (2) Name one word you misspell often and the pattern or memory aid that will fix it.
Teacher note: in the Jerome excerpt, "our Sarah Janes" is a period expression for young household servants, and "the great" means wealthy and important families. Explain these phrases before students read the second paragraph, and keep the author's words when quoting. In the Wharton excerpt, the narrator's contrast between the "natives" and "the stockier foreign breed" reflects attitudes of the early 1900s toward immigrant workers; name it as a dated and belittling way of describing people before students read paragraph 3.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a one-page version of Diagram 1 to keep beside their writing, with one extra example for each question
Limit spelling work to one pattern at a time (doubling, then silent e, then y to i) with five words each
In the newsletter edit, tell students how many errors of each kind to look for
For Advanced Students
Ask students to compare how two style manuals treat one hyphenation question, such as compounds after the noun, and write a style-sheet entry for the school paper
Have students trace one compound (such as week-end or on-line) through dictionaries that give dates or through older texts, and explain the change
Have students write a short passage that is correct but uses every hyphen convention in Diagram 1, then trade for a peer check
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Look for accurate choices, not just accurate labels. In hyphenation, check compound modifiers before nouns, compound numbers and prefixes, and watch for extra hyphens after -ly adverbs or in phrases after the noun. In spelling, look for correct application of suffix patterns and for real-word errors (affect and effect, loose and lose) that a spell checker misses. In capitalization and punctuation, check proper nouns against common nouns and the placement of periods and commas with quotation marks. When a student chooses a form that a current dictionary or the class style manual supports, accept it.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Hyphen or Not? Card Sort
15 minGroups of 3-4
Groups sort 12 cards into three piles: hyphenated, open (two words) and closed (one word), using Diagram 1 and a current dictionary (standard a).
Cards
1. a sugar free drink
2. a highly skilled worker
3. an all day event
4. a half hour show
5. a nationally ranked team
6. a post 1945 building
7. note book
8. ice cream
9. mother in law
10. re create the scene for the film (make it again)
11. book shelf
12. a nearly empty room
Procedure
Groups sort the cards first by the rules in Diagram 1, then check each one in a current dictionary and move any card that was in the wrong pile
For each card, the group writes the rule or the dictionary entry that decided it
Which cards did the rules decide, and which could only the dictionary decide?
Why does re-create need a hyphen when recreate is also a word?
Why do cards 2, 5 and 12 stay open even though the words work together before a noun?
2
Then and Now: Tracing Compounds
20 minGroups of 4
Groups trace eight compounds whose written form has changed, using current dictionaries, and look for the pattern behind the changes (standards a and b).
Word List
Older forms: week-end, on-line, web site, fire-place, post card, tooth-brush, hand-book, ice-cream
Procedure
Each group looks up every word in a current dictionary and records the current form (open, hyphenated or closed), or notes that the dictionary does not list it, which usually means it is written as two words
The group notes the part of speech of each word and whether the dictionary gives any variant form
Groups place the words on a class chart with three columns (open, hyphenated, closed) and draw an arrow from the older form to the current one
Discussion Questions
Seven of the eight words closed up. Which one became open instead, and why might that be?
Why might a word move from open to hyphenated to closed?
If you quote an older text that uses one of these forms, which spelling do you use, and why?
Modification for Distance Learning
Give each group a shared slide with the word list and links to two online dictionaries; groups post their chart and present it in the main session.
3
Spelling Detectives
15 minPairs
Pairs work out spelling patterns from word lists, find the exceptions, and write memory aids and a short spell-checker test (standard b).
Word Lists
List 1 (ie and ei): believe, receive, ceiling, field, weird, seize
List 2 (silent e): hoping, writing, manageable, advantageous, judgment, truly
List 3 (final consonant): beginning, forgetting, opening, visited, committed, gardener
Procedure
For each list, pairs state the pattern in one sentence and circle any word that breaks it
Pairs write a memory aid for two words from the class's list of frequently misspelled words (for example, accommodate has room for two c's and two m's)
Each pair writes three sentences with real-word errors (such as then for than) and runs them through a spell checker to see what it catches
Teacher notes: in List 1, weird and seize break the i-before-e pattern; in List 2, hoping and writing drop the e before a vowel suffix, manageable and advantageous keep it to keep the g soft, and judgment and truly are exceptions that drop it before a consonant suffix; in List 3, beginning, forgetting and committed double the consonant because the stress falls on the last syllable, while opening, visited and gardener do not because the stress falls on the first
Challenge Variation
Collect the class's real-word error sentences into a proofreading quiz for another class, with an answer key that names each error.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Should This Compound Have a Hyphen?
Work down the questions in order and stop at the first yes. The dictionary comes first because many compounds have a settled form. The -ly exception applies to adverbs ending in -ly (a newly built bridge); it does not apply to adjectives that end in -ly, such as friendly (a friendly-looking dog). When a compound follows the noun, style manuals differ for some adjectives, so check the one your class uses.
Diagram 2: Open, Hyphenated and Closed Compounds
Compound words appear in three forms, and the current dictionary shows which form a compound takes. The history of baseball, first written as two words and then with a hyphen, shows why older books hyphenate words that are now closed.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
L.11-12.2 Homework: Hyphenation, Spelling, Capitals and Punctuation
Directions: Complete all six problems. For Problems 1 and 5, name the rule you applied. For Problem 2, use a current dictionary (print or online) and name it.
Part 1: Hyphenation (Problems 1-2)
Rewrite each phrase with or without hyphens and name the rule: (a) a ten minute break (b) the break lasted ten minutes (c) a brightly lit stage (d) the pre 1900 photographs (e) thirty four students (f) an up to date map (g) a self confident speaker (h) twentieth century novels
Choose four of these compounds from the Jerome excerpt: carved-oak, candle-snuffers, mantel-ornaments, great-great-grandfathers, chimneypieces. For each, write the current form a dictionary gives (or note that it is not listed), say whether it is a compound noun or a compound modifier, and explain why its form did or did not change.
Part 2: Capitalization and Punctuation (Problems 3-4)
Correct the capitalization and punctuation: (a) my uncle, a Professor of History, lives in the northeast. (b) we read "the open boat" by Stephen Crane in english class. (c) "The meeting starts at noon", she said. (d) The students lockers were painted during Winter break. (e) Its been a long week, and the team needs it's rest. (f) On july 4 1776 the declaration of independence was adopted.
Write a paragraph of five or six sentences about a trip or school event. Include a direct quotation punctuated correctly, the name of a region and a compass direction, the title of a book or story, a plural possessive and a title before a person's name. Label each.
Part 3: Spelling (Problems 5-6)
Add the suffix, spell the new word and name the pattern: (a) admit + ed (b) cancel + ed (American spelling) (c) notice + able (d) argue + ment (e) happy + ness (f) carry + ing (g) excel + ence (h) courage + ous
Proofread about 300 words of your own recent writing. List every spelling error you find, marking those a spell checker did not flag. Then make a personal list of ten words you misspell, with a memory aid for three of them, and write one sentence for each of two homophone pairs you confuse.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Hyphenation
At least seven of eight phrases correct with the rule named; four compounds traced accurately
Five or six correct, or two or three compounds traced
Fewer than five correct
Capitalization and Punctuation
All six sentences corrected; paragraph includes every labeled element
Four or five corrected, or one element missing
Fewer than four corrected
Spelling
At least seven of eight words correct with the pattern named; complete personal list
Five or six correct, or list incomplete
Fewer than five correct
Using References
Dictionary named and used for every doubtful form
Dictionary used for some forms
No reference used
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 6-8 and 17 use the Jerome excerpt in Direct Instruction, and Questions 9 and 10 use the Wharton excerpt in Guided Practice. Answers follow the conventions of edited American English. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence hyphenates correctly?
Answer: A
In A, three-year-old is a compound modifier before the noun dog, so it takes hyphens. B puts the phrase after the noun, where three years old is written without hyphens. C adds a hyphen after an -ly adverb, which the conventions do not use. D leaves out the hyphens in the compound modifier ten-foot-tall before fence.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which phrase follows hyphenation conventions?
Answer: C
An adverb ending in -ly is not joined to the next word with a hyphen, because the -ly already shows that it modifies the word after it. C follows the rule. A, B and D all add the unneeded hyphen after an -ly adverb.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses the hyphen correctly?
Answer: B
Re-cover (cover again) needs a hyphen so it is not read as recover (get well). A uses re-cover where the meaning is recover. C should be review, a closed word with no competing meaning. D means quit, which is resign with no hyphen; re-sign means sign again.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which phrase is written correctly?
Answer: C
A prefix before a capitalized word takes a hyphen, and the prefix itself stays lowercase: mid-July. A joins the prefix to a capital letter with no hyphen. B separates the prefix, which cannot stand alone. D adds a hyphen between the modifier and the noun heat, which is never joined to it.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence correctly shares one base word between two compound modifiers?
Answer: A
A uses a suspended hyphen: first- stands for first-year, and second-year keeps its hyphen. B drops the hyphen after first, so it no longer reads as first-year. C hyphenates the wrong words. D drops the hyphen in second-year.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1 of the Jerome excerpt, he writes "all our art treasures of to-day." How would a current American writer spell to-day, and what does the change show?
Answer: D
Current dictionaries list today as one word, and the change fits the common path from open to hyphenated to closed. A is wrong because to-day was a standard spelling in its time, not an error. B ignores that the spelling has changed. C is contradicted by Jerome himself, an English writer who used the hyphen.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1, Jerome describes "the common every-day household utensils." Which sentence uses the current forms correctly?
Answer: B
Current dictionaries spell the adjective as one word (everyday dishes, meaning ordinary), and the phrase meaning each day stays two words (every day). A reverses the two forms. C keeps the older hyphen, which current dictionaries no longer use. D uses the adjective where the two-word phrase is needed.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which hyphenated word from the Jerome excerpt is still hyphenated in current American writing?
Answer: D
In paragraph 1, dug-up is a compound modifier before a noun (the dug-up commonplaces), and such modifiers still take a hyphen. A and C are compound nouns that current American writers spell as two words: Merriam-Webster lists soup plate as two words, and beer mug has no main entry, so it follows the open default for compound nouns. B, from paragraph 2, is listed as one word (lightheartedness) in current American dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 3 of the Wharton excerpt, why is fifty-two written with a hyphen?
Answer: B
Spelled-out compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine are hyphenated, then and now. A is wrong because this convention has not changed. C overgeneralizes: one hundred and sixty have no hyphen. D confuses the number with a prefix rule such as mid-1800s.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 4 of the Wharton excerpt, the comma after February comes before the closing quotation mark, although it is not part of what Harmon said. Which statement describes the convention?
Answer: A
American usage places periods and commas inside closing quotation marks, whether or not they belong to the quoted words. B and C reason from the logic of the quotation, which is the British practice, not the American one. D is wrong: in American usage, colons and semicolons go outside closing quotation marks.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which words in this sentence need capital letters? my sister is taking biology and spanish this fall.
Answer: B
The first word of a sentence is capitalized, and names of languages are proper nouns, so Spanish is capitalized; general school subjects (biology) and seasons (fall) are not. A capitalizes the school subject. C capitalizes the season. D capitalizes both.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which words in this sentence need capital letters? we drove south to meet senator patel, who grew up in the midwest.
Answer: A
A title directly before a name (Senator Patel) is capitalized, a region (the Midwest) is capitalized, and a compass direction (drove south) is lowercase. B capitalizes the direction. C lowercases the title before the name. D capitalizes the direction and misses the title and the region.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which word is spelled correctly?
Answer: C
Embarrass has a double r and a double s. A needs a double r (occurrence), because occur doubles its r before the suffix. B needs a double m (accommodate). D is spelled separate, with an a after the p.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which list spells every word correctly?
Answer: D
Prefer and permit are stressed on the last syllable, so they double the final consonant (preferred, permitting); offer is stressed on the first syllable, so it does not (offered). A reverses the rule in all three words. B doubles only prefer correctly. C fails to double prefer.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Correct the five errors in capitalization, punctuation, hyphenation and spelling, and name each rule: Last Spring, our towns library held it's first ever poetry slam, and a well known local author judged the contest.
Model answer: "Last spring, our town's library held its first-ever poetry slam, and a well-known local author judged the contest." Seasons are lowercase (spring); a singular possessive needs an apostrophe (town's); the possessive pronoun its has no apostrophe (it's means it is); compound modifiers before a noun take hyphens (first-ever, well-known). Rubric line: 2 points for all five corrections with rules; 1 point for three or four.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
A student's spell checker found no errors in this sentence: The principle asked us to bring stationary to the meeting, and there advice was to proofread. Correct the sentence, and give the meaning of each word you chose.
Model answer: "The principal asked us to bring stationery to the meeting, and their advice was to proofread." Principal (the head of a school), stationery (writing paper) and their (possessive) are the right words. Principle means a basic rule, stationary means not moving, and there names a place; each is a real word, which is why the spell checker passed the sentence. Rubric line: 2 points for three corrections with meanings; 1 point for two corrections or no meanings.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
In paragraph 2 of the Jerome excerpt, he writes "willow-pattern dinner-plates." Rewrite the phrase as a current American writer would, and explain each hyphen you keep or remove.
Model answer: "willow-pattern dinner plates." Willow-pattern keeps its hyphen because it is a compound modifier before a noun (it describes the plates). Dinner plate is a compound noun that current American dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, list as two words, so the hyphen goes. Rubric line: 2 points for the correct phrase and both explanations; 1 point for the phrase with one explanation.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Punctuate and capitalize this sentence as a direct quotation of the coach's words: the coach said we are ready for the finals
Model answer: The coach said, "We are ready for the finals." Capitalize the first word of the sentence and the first word of the quoted sentence, put a comma after the verb that introduces the quotation, and place the period inside the closing quotation mark. Rubric line: 2 points for all four conventions; 1 point for two or three.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
A student copying from an old book finds the spellings co-operate and to-morrow. How should the student spell these words (a) in a quotation from the book and (b) in the student's own sentences? How can the student check?
Model answer: (a) In a quotation, copy the words exactly as printed, with their hyphens, because a quotation is never corrected. (b) In my own sentences, I would write cooperate and tomorrow, the forms current American dictionaries list. To check, I look each word up in a current dictionary and, if my class uses a style manual, follow it. Rubric line: 2 points for both answers and a named reference; 1 point for correct spellings without the point about quotations.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Edit the paragraph. It contains four errors; one phrase that looks wrong is correct. Name each correction. My great aunt kept a diary for sixty two years. Her entries, now stored at the county historical society, describe droughts, floods and her familys farm. She wrote in a remarkably neat hand; she only occasionaly crossed out a word.
Model answer: great aunt becomes great-aunt (the dictionary hyphenates great- in family terms); sixty two becomes sixty-two (a compound number); familys becomes family's (a singular possessive); occasionaly becomes occasionally (occasional plus -ly keeps both l's). Remarkably neat is correct without a hyphen because remarkably is an -ly adverb, and the semicolon correctly joins two independent clauses. Rubric line: 2 points for all four corrections and no hyphen added to remarkably neat; 1 point for three corrections.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does L.11-12.2 mean?
L.11-12.2 means that students in grades 11 and 12 use standard capitalization, punctuation and spelling in their writing.
Part a names hyphenation, and part b names spelling. Students are expected to apply these conventions in finished writing and to check a dictionary or style manual when a form is in doubt.
When do you hyphenate a compound modifier?
Hyphenate two or more words that work together as one modifier before a noun, as in a part-time job or a two-hour delay.
Do not hyphenate after an adverb ending in -ly (a newly built bridge). When the compound comes after the noun, it is often written open, but style manuals differ for some words, so check the one your class uses.
What is the difference between a hyphen and a dash?
A hyphen joins words or parts of words; a dash separates parts of a sentence.
The hyphen is the short mark in words such as self-aware. The dash is longer and sets off an interruption or an added thought. Some style manuals also use a mid-length mark, the en dash, for ranges of numbers.
Do all style manuals agree on hyphens?
They agree on the core conventions but differ on some details.
Hyphens in compound modifiers before a noun, in compound numbers and in prefixes before capitals are standard everywhere, and no hyphen follows an -ly adverb. Manuals differ on some compounds after the noun and on some prefixed words, so follow the manual your class or publication uses.
How is L.11-12.2 different from L.9-10.2?
L.9-10.2 names semicolons and colons, while L.11-12.2 names hyphenation.
Both standards ask students to spell correctly and to show command of capitalization, punctuation and spelling. Grade 11-12 students are expected to handle the finer conventions, such as compound modifiers and prefixes.
Should I use the serial comma?
Follow the style manual for your writing: the serial comma is a matter of house style.
MLA, APA and Chicago style use a comma before the last item in a series (red, white, and blue). AP style, used by many newspapers, usually leaves it out unless it is needed to prevent confusion.
Does spell check catch every spelling error?
No: a spell checker misses real words used in the wrong place.
It will not flag affect for effect, lose for loose or then for than, because each is a correctly spelled word. Proofreading, a personal spelling list and a dictionary are still needed.
How is L.11-12.2 tested?
L.11-12.2 is usually assessed through editing questions and through students' own writing.
The digital SAT Reading and Writing section includes a Standard English Conventions domain with punctuation questions, and many state tests include editing items. Spelling, capitalization and hyphenation are also judged in essays and research papers.
Is it British or American spelling that students should use?
Students in American schools use American spelling, such as color, center and traveled.
British spellings (colour, centre, travelled) are correct in British English. When students quote a British text, they keep its spelling.
How can parents help with spelling and hyphenation at home?
Encourage your student to look up any word they are unsure of instead of guessing.
Keep a short list of words your student often misspells on the fridge or in their phone, and ask them to explain why a sign or menu uses (or leaves out) a hyphen.
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Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to L.11-12.2: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
L.9-10.2Prerequisite
Use semicolons and colons correctly, and spell correctly
Lesson coming soon
L.8.2Prerequisite
Use commas, ellipses and dashes for pauses, breaks and omissions; spell correctly
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
L.11-12.1Parallel
Command of usage, knowing that usage changes and is sometimes contested
