Who/whom has trouble knowing when to use who/whom? Who/whom do you ask when you need to know whether to use who or whom? Who/whom cares?

I do. : )

Read this excellent explanation to help you figure out how to use who/whom correctly.

P. S. Notice The Oatmeal's other grammar comics at the bottom of the post.

Oh, the things you can do with The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter. Here is my list.

• Turn the title, a fragment, into a complete sentence which summarizes the story.

• Choose xx of Selig's favorite words. (You decide the number.) Based on the context, guess the meaning and part of speech of each one.  Then use a dictionary to check your guesses.

• Make a list of the words you love.

            Categories:
            I love the sound of these words in my ears.
            I love the taste of these words on my tongue.
            I love the thought of these words in my brain.
            I love the feel of these words in my heart.

• Incorporate words from the list into a story, identifying them with italics.

• Find several favorite sentences to imitate. Follow their structure, not their content. (If you want to practice using a dash in your writing, choose one of Schotter's many examples to imitate.)

           Example:
           "Pursuing that perfect note, Selig found a young woman seated by a lake, playing a lute."
            Hearing a soprano scream, Billy noticed a petite girl perched on the bleacher, rallying the             fans.

• Go on a language arts scavenger hunt. Find one or more of each of the following:   
  

            serial comma, alliteration, assonance, parallel structure, verb, adjective, appositive,                         metaphor, fragment, participle, simile, adverb

• If you want to take a deeper look at participles, look at the lesson here.
  

Rick Walton makes teaching and learning language arts fun. In Pig, Pigger, Piggest, he demonstrates, in sometimes silly ways, how to use comparatives and superlatives. (If you're having a memory lapse about what they are, review them here.) 

When you're finished reading, invite your student to compare toys, blocks, stuffed animals, family members, etc., using the appropriate comparative or superlative.

Note: Walton includes witches in his story.

Imagine teaching a classroom of 26 students or, if you're a homeschooling mom, having a crew of the same size  in your house. One cherub annoys another and sets off a domino reaction of blaming and crying, drooling, elbowing, and fuming.

On second thought, you don't need to imagine the scene. You are either watching it in real time with your own brood or you can see it described and illustrated in Barbara Bottner's An Annoying ABC.

Possible activities for students to do with this book:
Read the book and make observations about the text or illustrations.

List the verbs, either verbally or in writing.
         annoyed, blamed, cried, drooled....

Talk about alliteration (the repetition of initial sounds). Where does it occur?
        Flora fumes, Grover grabs, and Joshua jabs, for instance.

Cover an advanced topic. Read about transitive and intransitive verbs. Categorize the verbs from above in one of the two categories.
        Annoyed is transitive. The direct object is Bailey. (Poor Bailey!)
        Cried is intransitive. It has no direct object.

Review alphabetization. Write the names, one per index card, and shuffle. Put the cards in alphabetical order.

Talk about cause and effect.

Some of the sentences, such as "Bailey blamed Clyde," are simple. Young students can identify their subject and verb.

Possible writing connection:
Write a similar alphabet book, choosing an adjective other than annoying. The characters don't have to be children in a classroom. They can be animals or insects or professional athletes.  Follow Bottner's example and include alliteration.

If your student writes an alphabet book, give us a taste of it in the comments or submit it in full to the Student Showcase.

Some might call me an English geek, but I love to read grammar handbooks.  Last week I found one written just for kids: Woe Is I Jr.: The Younger Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English by Patricia T. O'Connor. (She also wrote Woe Is I for adults, which I haven't read.)

I'm a fan. How couldn't I be?  O'Connor explains grammatical principles all kids need, in a way they can understand. I can't wait to use it; I just need to find my first victim, I mean, student. Don't be surprised if I work the book into lessons here, but until that happens, I wanted to be sure you know about it.

One bummer: Unfortunately, you'll have to tolerate occasional mentions of poop and vomit, belches and boogers. Otherwise, O'Connor does well with writing conversationally, using examples and jokes which keep the content from becoming dense and dry.

* Go on a mad dash through the farm as fox chases mouse around, under, into, out... in Rick Walton's Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse.

* After resting from the chase, work through the three learning activities included at the end of the book.

* Next, see if students can identify the prepositions and prepositional phrases in Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by Lindsay Barrett George.

* Now students are ready to write an adventure of their own with prepositions. Give them a list.

* Submit adventures to the Student Showcase for others to enjoy!

1. Find a sofa and a little person, sit down with your arm around him or her, and read A Sick Day for Amos McGee, the 2011 Caldecott Medal winner. Such a sweet book with a precious main character.

2. If you want to use this book as a teaching tool, find another young one, if the first one is too young, who wants to go on a verb hunt. Philip C. Stead includes many worth noticing.

How many active verbs are there?
    (Some examples: clanged, swung, swapped, curled, worried, yawned)

If you simply want to delight in strong verbs, stop here.  If you want to search for different forms of verbs, continue.

How many helping verbs are there?
    (Some examples: would wind, could use, will share)
    Note: Don't miss all of the ones where the "would" is mentioned with the first verb         but implied with the verbs in the rest in the sentence.)

How many participles are there?
    (Some examples: scratching, keeping, knowing)

How many infinitives are there?
    (Two examples: to visit, to feel)

3. You've enjoyed the book; you've hunted for verbs; now join the Amos fan club. Isn't he adorable?!

To help students become better editors, consider using Jeff Anderson's idea--Invitation to Edit--from Everyday Editing.

Begin by looking at the first sentence, the mentor text, with your student.  What does she notice about it?  She can comment on anything--content, diction, syntax, punctuation, anything.

Once she has studied it and made her observations, cover it and show her the subsequent sentences, one by one, allowing her to point out what is different (i.e. incorrect) about each one.

"In the city of Boston, on a cobblestoned street, a new hat shop was opening for business."                                                            The Hatmaker's Sign by Candace Fleming

In the City of Boston, on a cobblestoned street, a new hat shop was opening for business.

In the city of Boston on a cobblestoned street, a new hat shop was opening for business.

In the city of boston, on a cobblestoned street, a new hat shop was opening for business.

In the city of Boston, on a cobblestoned street, a knew hat shop was opening for business.

In the city of Boston, on a cobblestoned street, a new hat shop was opening for buisness.

To help students become better editors, consider using Jeff Anderson's idea--Invitation to Edit--from Everyday Editing.

Begin by looking at the first sentence, the mentor text, with your student.  What does she notice about it?  She can comment on anything--content, diction, syntax, punctuation, anything.

Once she has studied it and made her observations, cover it and show her the subsequent sentences, one by one, allowing her to point out what is different (i.e. incorrect) about each one.

"As soon as she got home, Marguerite lit the fire, set a small pot of water to boil, and unpacked her basket."                                  Marguerite Makes a Book by Bruce Robertson

As soon as she got home. Marguerite lit the fire, set a small pot of water to boil, and unpacked her basket.

As soon as she got home Marguerite lit the fire, set a small pot of water to boil, and unpacked her basket.

As soon as she got home, Marguerite lit the fire set a small pot of water to boil and unpacked her basket.

As soon as she got home, Marguerite lit the fire, set a small pot of water to boil, and unpacking her basket.

As soon as she got home, Marguerite lights the fire, sets a small pot of water to boil, and unpacks her basket.