Give your eighth-graders the focused language arts practice they need to keep their language skills sharp. 36 weeks of practice cover standards-based skills such as: Vocabulary/Word Study - affixes - analogies - base/root words - figurative language - homophones - idioms - spelling Punctuation - end of sentence - apostrophes: contractions and possessives - commas: series, dates, addresses, direct address/interjections, compound sentences, after an introductory phrase/clause, and with nonrestrictive appositives - punctuation and capitalization: dialogue and friendly business letters - quotation marks: songs, poems, and short stories - unnecessary commas - run-on sentences - semicolons, dashes, and parentheses Capitalization - beginning of a sentence - books, songs, and poems - proper nouns Grammar and Usage - active/passive voice - conjunctions - correct article, adjective, adverb - comparative/superlative - predicate adjectives and nouns - easily confused words - sentences: parts, types, structure, fragments, and combining - verbs: parts, tense, usage, and spelling - nouns: possessive, singular/plural, and concrete/abstract - pronouns: subject/object, possessive, and antecedents - prepositional phrases/prepositions/objects of a preposition - double negatives Other Skills - dictionary guide words - syllabication - outlines