Name _________________________ Date ___FOREVER____ IRLA ...



Name _________________________ KEEPER # ____ Period ______

Welcome to 8th Grade English! Your English teachers are all fairly kind and reasonable, but certain behaviors drive us crazy! Here is our combined list, which we affectionately call:

The Seven Deadly Sins of Eighth Grade

Fortunately, these sins are not difficult behaviors to avoid, and we do believe that somewhere down the road, you will thank us for discouraging you from committing The Seven Deadly Sins. Keep in mind, this may not happen for 30 or 40 years, but we are patient. Without further delay, here are the sins:

Sin 1. Do not email me work of yours to print. I certainly understand that sometimes printers run out of ink or break. If that happens, you may email your work to yourself or save it on a memory stick, come into school a little early, and go to the media center to print your work. If you can’t come in early, you may go to the media center during lunch. You may not print your work during our English period or during the Enrichment period. Our classroom printers simply can’t handle the volume of printing that the media center computers can, and your teachers can’t spend their time printing your work. Assignments have not been submitted until I have a hard copy in my hands!

Sin 2. While I can’t control your choice to use phrases like: I love u, B4, LOL, TTYL in your text messaging and instant messaging, this type of writing is never appropriate in schoolwork whether it is homework, in class writing, or projects. K? That was a joke. I meant to say that I hope that is okay with you.

Sin 3. Using the phrase Etc. in your writing is prohibited. For example, if you submitted an essay about school, and you wrote: “We have a lot of different subjects such as Social Studies, Science, etc.,” that means that you have a lot more to write, but you are choosing not to write it. Choose to share your knowledge with your teacher; don’t hide it by using etc.

Sin 4. This sin is the relative of Sin 3. When you use the words stuff or things in your writing, it tells the reader nothing. For example, writing, “I like to do a lot of stuff and I eat many different things,” doesn’t tell me one single activity you like to engage in, nor does it tell me any type of food you specifically like. Using stuff or things is like using etc. in that it indicates that while you have some brilliant ideas, you are not sharing them.

Sin 5. Once upon a time, everyone knew that saying or writing, “I would have come over sooner if I could have finished my homework,” was correct. Somehow, a group of middle school students changed this so that now, many people incorrectly say or write, “I would of come over sooner if I could of finished my homework.” Would of/could of is incorrect. Would have/could have is correct.

Sin 6. there/their/they’re your/you’re it’s/its then/than

to/too/two

These are twelve (12) separate words that cannot be interchanged with each other. Hopefully you know the difference between them. If you don’t, memorize the information below, and I do mean memorize it, so you will never confuse these words. Everyone confuses or misspells certain words, but these nine (9) words fall under the category of words I need to spell correctly and know the meanings of.

there: direction or place ex- I looked over there.

their: shows possession ex- That is their house.

they’re: they are ex- They’re very loud children.

your: belongs to ex- This is your shirt.

you’re: you are ex- You’re smart.

its – shows possession ex- Its roof was very old.

it’s = it is ex- It’s hot in here.

Its’ is not a word. Don’t ever use it! If you don’t believe me, check a dictionary.

then - shows sequence ex- First do homework, then go play.

than - compared ex – My teacher is meaner than yours.

to – direction of time or place ex – They came over to my house

too – in addition ex - I like candy, and I like ice cream too.

two – the number 2 ex – My dog is turning two this week.

Sin 7. Colors are beautiful and make our world interesting. Feel free to express yourself by wearing different colors to school. Assignments that are written in colors other than black or blue are not beautiful. They are difficult to read, distracting, and the last of The Seven Deadly Sins of Eighth Grade!

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