2nd Grade Grammar: Key Skills and Worksheets

Second graders will study and practice using collective nouns.

• Identify and use common collective nouns.
• Properly use collective nouns for people.
• Properly use collective nouns for groups of animals.
• Practice skills with collective noun worksheets.

During second grade, students will learn how to form irregular plural noun forms of commonly used words.

• Learn what irregular plural nouns are and how to form them.
• Properly form the possessive form of irregular plural nouns (such as women and children)
• Use plural noun worksheets and examples of plural possessive nouns to reinforce skills.

Reflexive pronouns are a part of the 2nd grade grammar curriculum.

• Learn what reflexive pronouns are and how they are used.
• Determine when to use a reflexive pronoun versus another type of pronoun.
• Write sentences featuring reflexive pronouns.

Second graders will go beyond basic verb skills by learning how to form and use the past tense of common irregular verbs.

• Form and properly use the past tense of irregular verbs. Work with a past tense verb chart.
• Recognize correct examples of past tense irregular verbs.
• Practice and reinforce skills with irregular verb worksheets.

Mastering the use of both adjectives and adverbs is important 2nd grade grammar skills.

• Learn what adjectives are and how they are used.
• Learn what adverbs are, as well as how they are used.
• Correctly use adverbs and adjectives in sentences to describe other words.

Second graders will need to learn to use proper syntax so they can write simple and complex sentences using proper word arrangement.

• Properly order and arrange words and phrases to form complete sentences.
• Discover key sentence patterns in English grammar and review examples of syntax.
• Learn the rules for properly structuring complex sentences.

Second grade punctuation skills include learning how to properly capitalize commonly used proper nouns.

• Learn and apply proper noun capitalization rules.
• Correctly capitalize holidays, brand names, geographic locations, and other proper nouns.
• Use capitalization worksheets to practice and reinforce skills.

Second graders will start to expand their knowledge of the ways commas should be used in letters.

• Learn how to properly use commas in a letter's salutation (greeting).
• Learn how to properly use commas in the closing of a letter.
• Practice skills by writing a properly formatted letter, maybe to Santa Claus or the President.

During second grade, students will discover how to use apostrophes to form contractions and possessives.

• Learn apostrophe rules and how to use apostrophes correctly to form contractions
• Master how to use contractions correctly, as well as when apostrophes should not be used.
• Discover how to correctly use apostrophes to form common possessive nouns.
• Learn how to properly choose between its and it's.

Second graders will learn strategies to help them decipher the meaning of new words.

• Determine the meaning of compound words based on the individual words that make them up.
• Figure out what an unfamiliar word means by looking at the other words in the sentence.
  
• Use familiar root words and common prefixes to figure out what unfamiliar words might mean.

Second grade grammar development will push students to expand what they learned in first grade. They'll learn new rules of grammar and perfect the skills that were introduced the previous year. For even more information about what to expect in 2nd grade English class, review some examples of second grade vocabulary words.