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The Grammar Key is Easy-to-Use, Proven Software for Mastering the Elements of English Grammar on 2 CD-ROMS:
The Grammar Key Sentence Structure & Parts of Speech
The Grammar Key Punctuation and Mechanics

Click here to view The Grammar Key Video Demo

The Grammar Key is both a traditional and unique approach to grammar that helps students understand the rules of grammar and transfer those rules to their own writing.

The Grammar Key is designed for students having difficulty with grammar and writing, for teachers who are not necessarily English majors, and for ESL teachers who want alternatives to teaching English grammar to foreign students.

The Grammar Key builds on students’ previous knowledge of English and motivates them by demonstrating how much they already know.

What sets The Grammar Key apart from other grammar programs? Since the emphasis is placed on the total sentence, students understand writing as a body of related skills working together.

The Grammar Key promotes the instruction of all grammar objectives. Since words combined into sentences follow predictable patterns, the aim of The Grammar Key is to first make students aware of these patterns and then help them absorb the rules these patterns represent, turning grammar into a seamless mechanism they can apply to their own writing.

The beauty of this program is simplicity, consistency, and efficiency.

Cathy Duffy
Curriculum Manual

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What’s the difference between The Grammar Key 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.

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The New SAT College Entrance Exam includes a separate section on grammar and writing.