In the pages of this workbook, designed for middle school and above, you will find exercises that aid in the understanding of parts of speech that go beyond nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Read a poem or story explaining the part of speech and then practice what you've learned. This includes, but is not limited to the following: Collective Nouns, Oxymorons, Puns, Redundancy, Mnemonic Devices, and Onomatopoeia.

English  is a language that's difficult to read

But it helps when endings are the same, like bead and knead and plead.

It gets a little harder when you're trying to succeed

And the sound remains the same, but the spelling could mislead -

Like this:

A lock that's changed has been re-keyed.

An arm that's burned they must debride.

To come before means to precede.

If you contract "He would," it's he'd.

A cat chased by a dog is treed.

Before you turn assignments in be sure that you proof-read.

There's more to this story, plus another one ("Things to do at the Zoo),   to practice matching a sound to its many different spellings.

And one more...

Besides being a fun word to say, "onomatopoeia" is a great addition to our English language. Let these words "sound" in your head as you read them. It's especially effective if you say them aloud. After finishing this poem you can flip the page and discover some more onomatopoeia on your own.

Popcorn popping in the fire

Thumping of a flattened tire

Whimper when the news is dire

Chattering birds up on the wire

Kerplunk when the stone drops into the well

Roar when you put your ear to a shell

Ding dong when you ring the neighbor's doorbell

Crack when the chick breaks through the eggshell.