Grammar Curriculum for Grades 3 to 8

The Grade 3 to 8 edition of The Grammar Index covers 124 grammar topics in American English, in eight sections. This page lists the concepts behind those topics in the order American schools meet them. The grade for each concept follows the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, whose Language strand names the grade at which a concept is first expected — abstract nouns at L.3.1c in Grade 3, for example, or the passive voice at L.8.1b in Grade 8. States that write their own standards place the same concepts in much the same years.

The edition does not hide a topic until its grade: a fourth grader can read about the perfect tenses, and an eighth grader can go back to the comma. Use the list as a map of what to expect, and as a checklist for review before state testing, which begins in Grade 3.

Grade 3 grammar

12 concepts first expected in Grade 3.

• Abstract nouns Parts of Speech L.3.1c (e.g., childhood)
• Pronoun-antecedent agreement and clear pronoun reference Parts of Speech L.3.1f (agreement); L.6.1c-d (shifts, vague pronouns)
• Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs Parts of Speech L.3.1g
• Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions Parts of Speech L.1.1g; L.3.1h; L.5.1a
• Simple tenses: past, present and future Verbal Forms L.1.1e; L.3.1e (I walked; I walk; I will walk)
• Subject-verb agreement Verbal Forms L.1.1c; L.3.1f
• Simple, compound and complex sentences Sentence Structure L.2.1f (simple, compound); L.3.1i
• Transitions (linking words and phrases) Syntax Rules W.3.1c (linking words); W.6.2c (transitions)
• Root words and word families Mechanics L.3.2f; L.3.4c
• Spelling (grade-appropriate words) Mechanics L.2.2d; L.3.2e-g; L.4.2d; L.5.2e; L.6.2b; L.7.2b; L.8.2c
• Quotation marks (dialogue and quotations) Punctuation L.3.2c; L.4.2b
• Syllable types and multisyllabic words Phonics RF.3.3c; RF.4.3a; RF.5.3a

Grade 4 grammar

11 concepts first expected in Grade 4.

• Relative pronouns and relative adverbs Parts of Speech L.4.1a (who, whose, whom, which, that; relative adverbs where, when, why)
• Order of adjectives Parts of Speech L.4.1d (a small red bag)
• Progressive verb tenses (past, present, future) Verbal Forms L.4.1b (I was / am / will be walking)
• Modal auxiliaries (helping verbs) Verbal Forms L.4.1c (can, may, must)
• Relative clauses (restrictive and nonrestrictive) Sentence Structure L.4.1a; L.6.2a (nonrestrictive elements)
• Sentence fragments and run-on sentences Sentence Structure L.4.1f
• Paragraphs, sections and headings Syntax Rules W.3.2a; W.4.2a (Writing strand)
• Greek and Latin roots and affixes Mechanics L.4.4b; L.5.4b; L.6.4b; L.7.4b; L.8.4b
• Homophones and frequently confused words Mechanics L.4.1g (to / too / two; there / their)
• Synonyms and antonyms Mechanics L.4.5c; L.5.5c
• Comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence Punctuation L.4.2c

Grade 5 grammar

11 concepts first expected in Grade 5.

• Introductory words, phrases and clauses Parts of Speech No equivalent term; L.5.2b (comma after an introductory element)
• Correlative conjunctions Parts of Speech L.5.1e (either/or, neither/nor)
• Interjections Parts of Speech L.5.1a
• Perfect verb tenses (past, present, future) Verbal Forms L.5.1b (I had / have / will have walked)
• Shifts in verb tense Verbal Forms L.5.1c-d
• Expanding, combining and varying sentences Sentence Structure L.5.3a (expand, combine, reduce); L.6.3a (vary patterns)
• Standard English and varieties of English Syntax Rules L.5.3b (dialects, registers); L.6.1e
• Tag questions Syntax Rules L.5.2c (comma before a tag question)
• Comma after an introductory element Punctuation L.5.2b
• Commas with yes / no, tag questions and direct address Punctuation L.5.2c
• Titles of works (italics, underlining, quotation marks) Punctuation L.5.2d

Grade 6 grammar

3 concepts first expected in Grade 6.

• Pronoun case (subjective, objective, possessive) Parts of Speech L.6.1a
• Parentheses, dashes or commas for parenthetical (nonrestrictive) elements Punctuation L.6.2a
• Dashes (em dash) Punctuation L.6.2a; L.8.2a (pause or break)

Grade 7 grammar

5 concepts first expected in Grade 7.

• Compound-complex sentences Sentence Structure L.7.1b
• Independent and dependent clauses Sentence Structure L.7.1a; L.9-10.1b (independent, dependent; noun, relative, adverbial clauses)
• Misplaced and dangling modifiers Sentence Structure L.7.1c
• Concise language (wordiness and redundancy) Syntax Rules L.7.3a
• Commas between coordinate adjectives Punctuation L.7.2a

Grade 8 grammar

5 concepts first expected in Grade 8.

• Active and passive voice Verbal Forms L.8.1b; L.8.3a
• Subjunctive mood Verbal Forms L.8.1c; L.8.3a
• Verb moods (indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, subjunctive) Verbal Forms L.8.1c-d
• Verbals: gerunds, participles, infinitives Verbal Forms L.8.1a
• Ellipsis (...) as a punctuation mark Punctuation L.8.2a-b

Before Grade 3: the foundations

22 concepts the standards first expect in kindergarten to Grade 2. Students arrive in Grade 3 knowing them unevenly, so the edition teaches every one from the start.

• Plural nouns (regular and irregular) Parts of Speech Kindergarten · L.K.1c (regular); L.2.1b, L.3.1b (irregular: feet, mice)
• Capitalization Mechanics Kindergarten · L.K.2a; L.1.2a; L.2.2a (holidays, product and geographic names); L.3.2a (titles); L.4.2a
• Prefixes Mechanics Kindergarten · L.K.4b; L.2.4b; L.3.4b; RF.3.3a
• Suffixes Mechanics Kindergarten · L.K.4b; L.3.2e; L.3.4b; RF.3.3a-b
• Periods, question marks, exclamation points Punctuation Kindergarten · L.K.2b; L.1.2b
• Phonics and word recognition Phonics Kindergarten · RF.K.2-3; RF.1.3; RF.2.3; RF.3.3
• Parts of speech Parts of Speech Grade 1 · L.K.1b; L.1.1; L.3.1a (function of parts of speech)
• Nouns (common, proper, possessive) Parts of Speech Grade 1 · L.1.1b; L.3.1a
• Pronouns (personal, possessive, indefinite) Parts of Speech Grade 1 · L.1.1d (I, me, my; they, them, their; anyone, everything)
• Adjectives Parts of Speech Grade 1 · L.1.1f; L.3.1a
• Determiners (articles, demonstratives) Parts of Speech Grade 1 · L.1.1h
• Prepositions and prepositional phrases Parts of Speech Grade 1 · L.1.1i; L.4.1e; L.5.1a
• Declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory sentences Sentence Structure Grade 1 · L.1.1j
• Exclamatory sentences Sentence Structure Grade 1 · L.1.1j
• Commas in a series (serial / Oxford comma) Punctuation Grade 1 · L.1.2c; L.5.2a
• Commas in dates, addresses and letters Punctuation Grade 1 · L.1.2c (dates); L.2.2b (letter greetings and closings); L.3.2b (addresses)
• Collective nouns Parts of Speech Grade 2 · L.2.1a (e.g., group)
• Reflexive and intensive pronouns Parts of Speech Grade 2 · L.2.1c (reflexive); L.6.1b (intensive)
• Adverbs Parts of Speech Grade 2 · L.2.1e; L.3.1a
• Regular and irregular verbs Verbal Forms Grade 2 · L.2.1d (irregular past tense); L.3.1d
• Formal and informal English (register) Syntax Rules Grade 2 · L.2.3a; L.4.3c; L.5.3b
• Apostrophes: contractions and possessives Punctuation Grade 2 · L.2.2c; L.3.2d

Beyond Grade 8: a head start

4 concepts the standards place in high school. The edition includes them, marked as advanced, so a strong eighth grader can look ahead.

• Parallel structure Sentence Structure Grade 9 · L.9-10.1a
• Colons Punctuation Grade 9 · L.9-10.2b
• Semicolons Punctuation Grade 9 · L.9-10.2a
• Hyphens Punctuation Grade 11 · L.11-12.2a (hyphenation conventions)

Spelling, by grade band

The edition's Spelling Test draws on 996 words in American spelling, each with a sentence and a meaning, sorted into two lists: Grades 3–5 (349 words) and Grades 6–8 (498 words), with a further 149 that belong to both. A student hears the word, spots the correct spelling among the lookalikes, and types it; autocorrect is switched off so the device cannot spell it for them.

How the edition orders it

Rather than by grade, the edition's learning path groups the topics the way an English Language Arts year is taught — Reading & Phonics, Narrative Writing, Poetry, Informational Writing, and Grammar, Usage & Mechanics — with a graded exercise at the end of each stage, a Todo list of topics to reread, and a retest that comes back on its own. The grade map above and the path in the app are two views of the same 124 topics.