The Punctuation & Mechanics CD also offers over thirty narrated lessons and rounds out the instruction by taking students beyond the parts of speech to the application of rules.

How many times have you learned, after instructing a class in punctuation, how little they have actually understood, or for that matter, retained? Even a 70% passing grade suggests that students have failed to master 30% of the lesson. And if research holds true, they will forget over half those answers in only a few days. Consequently, you are caught in a vicious cycle of instruction, student work, correction, and further instruction.

With our Punctuation & Mechanics CD, those days are over. After the narrated text, students are taken step by step through each piece of information and then progressively challenged—without realizing it—to correct even the most difficult sentences. If they make a mistake (just as with the Sentence Structure & Parts of Speech CD), the program will inform them, at that precise moment, and then offer them clues to work toward the right answer.
 

Students are then encouraged to master 100% of the lesson while still grading their mistakes. You are spared the drudgery of checking and rechecking papers, and freed to do more creative work…to chisel and fine-tune writing skills and offer advice in "real world" writing and composition. Such freedom is normally experienced only by teachers of "Gifted Students."
 

Understanding of mechanics and punctuation of the English language is made simple with The Grammar Key.
 

The Grammar Key
Punctuation & Mechanics CD
 

 

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What’s the difference between The Grammar Sentence Structure & Parts of Speech and The Grammar Key Punctuation & Mechanics?

It might be helpful to examine the punctuation error in this sample sentence:

"When students know the structure of a sentence and the parts of speech they have no problem grasping the rules of punctuation."

In order to know where the comma goes in this sentence, you must first know what a clause is (has a subject and verb), what an introductory clause is (a dependent clause that comes at the beginning of a sentence), and finally what a main clause is (a subject and verb that stands alone). THIS IS WHAT WE TEACH IN THE GRAMMAR KEY STANDARD CD-ROM.

You must also know the punctuation rule that states a comma always follows an introductory clause before the main clause begins. THIS IS WHAT WE TEACH IN THE GRAMMAR KEY PUNCTUATION & MECHANICS CD-ROM.

Then the answer is simple:

"When students know the structure of a sentence and the parts of speech, they have no problem grasping the rules of punctuation."

Of course, there are plenty of exercises that follow the introduction of each new concept or rule.

Why Teach Grammar on a Computer?

Since grammar is systematic, it can be taught on a computer, and since a computer never gets tired, it can repeat those key words and grammatical patterns to the extent that they become internalized in the students’ minds.

When internalized, these words and patterns work as road signs, revealing the direction each sentence should take. If students hear, speak, read, or write the word “When” at the beginning of a sentence, they will intuit where the sentence is going. They will know without thinking that an introductory clause will follow the word “When”, that a comma will follow the introductory clause, and that a main clause will follow the comma:  “When” students internalize those key words and grammatical patterns, they will begin to write effortlessly.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, as more words and patterns become internalized, the image of their writing will become clearer and clearer.

With thirty or forty students in a class, most teachers do not have time to repeat these words and patterns to the degree that they need to be repeated.

A computer can.