Hooray, it’s National Grammar Day! From the time our kids are writing papers in school to apply for jobs, poor grammar can deeply affect how they and their work are perceived. But! There’s an easy and fun solution to the issue and that is practicing great grammar throughout their lives. And we have some fun ways to help them practice and remember common grammar with silly mnemonic devices.

M.I.N.T.S.

When it comes to capitalization, it can be tricky to remember which works require a capital letter. Just remember M.I.N.T.S. – or Months and days, the word I, Names of people and places, Titles, and the Start of a sentance.

There, Their, and They’re

This homophone is a very common one for even adults to mix up! Remember the differences this way:

“There”: refers to a place. Remember it because it has the word “here” in it.⁣
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“They’re”: a conjunction of “they” and “are”. If you say “they are” instead, it should make sense.
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“Their”: describes possession – remember because it has an “I” meaning it belongs to a person.

C.O.P.S.

When it comes to checking over work, don’t forget to call the C.O.P.S.! This acronym is a reminder to stop and check work before turning it in:

C – capitalization

O – organization, does the sequence of the story make sense?

P – punctuation

S – spelling

It’s and Its

This might be the most simple device yet! If you replace the word “it’s” in a sentence with “it is” and it makes sense, you have the right version! If it doesn’t drop the apostrophe. “Its” is possessive on its own, “it’s” is a conjunction of “it” and “is”.

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