Super Examples!

When we first started our blog, it was so that we could share some of our ideas and artwork with you as we went through the production of Super Grammar. And now, even though our production of Super Grammar is finished, and even though it's going to be published (very soon—on September 1st!), it doesn't mean that we can't still share some Super Grammar fun with you. So that's what we're going to do!

As you know, at the end of any superhero or supervillain's character description, we always include Super Example sentences to help us better understand and remember what we just learned about that character. Well, in the book, each and every single one of our Super Examples will include a full color illustration.

Here are some of our favorites:

The Prickly Pair are causing trouble.

 
Dr. Brainstorm is hatching an evil plot.

Captain Cliché said, "You'll never get away with this."

Wherever you hide, I'll find you.

The cat burglar is stealing cats.

Every character in the book has at least two Super Example sentences, but many others have as many as eight or nine, depending on how many super powers they possess. And with 29 individual Super Grammar characters in the book, well, that means that you can expect to see over 100 different super powered illustrations in Super Grammar!

Making these Super Examples was a lot of fun for us, but it was also a lot of hard work, especially for Super Grammar's co-creator and illustrator, Rhode Montijo. Luckily though, we had the help of two fellow super artists (and good friends) who came to our rescue. The mighty Jenny Hansen did all the wonderful coloring and shading for all of our Super Examples. And the powerful Joe To helped us hit our looming deadline by inking several of the Super Examples.

They both did an amazing job, and we're proud to have them as part of the Super Grammar team. Thanks a lot, you guys. We couldn't have done it without you!

Super Grammar is on the way!

Hello Citizens,

We've been really busy here at Super Grammar Headquarters for the past few months. We've been working on a high priority super mission that has been requiring our full and undivided attention. But now that this super mission has been successfully completed, we can now share some super, amazing news with you.

Our book—Super Grammar—is on the way!

That's right, citizens; Super Grammar is getting published! We just finished wrapping up production on 176 full color pages of Super Grammar. And, as promised, these pages are all jam-packed with superheroes, supervillians, and fully illustrated super example sentences which are all designed to help everyone better understand and easily remember all the important elements related to English grammar (See "ABOUT: SUPERGRAMMAR" on the menu bar at the top).

Super Grammar will be available on September 1st of this year—just in time for back-to-school. But you don't have to wait for back-to-school to order your copy of Super Grammar. You can reserve a copy anytime through this link: Order Super Grammar!

We're really super excited to share this news with you. And in the coming weeks, we'll be sharing more information, artwork, and Super Grammar related fun, so stay tuned!

Sincerely,
The Super Grammar Team

The Comma Splice

Beware, citizen, for this is not really the Comma!   

This imposter is The Comma Splice, and as a sinister member of the Sabotage Squad (a.k.a. grammar mistakes), this counterfeit comma is out to fool you into making a classic grammar mistake: splicing together complete sentences.

Real commas are useful and powerful pieces of punctuation, but they don't have the power to join two complete sentences together.  That’s why true commas would never try to do such a thing.  But The Comma Splice is neither honest nor true, and that’s why she’s on a malicious mission to trick you into thinking that she has the power to join complete sentences.

For example:

They need help, I must fly to the rescue.

This sentence is not correct.  It’s a comma splice: a fake comma that is incorrectly splicing (or patching) together two complete sentences. 

Complete sentences cannot be correctly joined together by a single comma.  In order to be correct, complete sentences must either be: 1) ended with proper sentence-ending punctuation, 2) joined together by using the combination of a comma with a coordinating conjunction, or 3) joined together using a semicolon.  

To fix this sentence, we’ll use a semicolon, like this:

They need help; I must fly to the rescue.

There’s a correct way to join two complete sentences together, and there’s a wrong way; using a comma splice will never be a correct way.

So, citizen, now that you know about this counterfeit comma, The Comma Splice, don’t let her fool you into splicing your sentences together; because in the end, no matter how you splice it—it’s still a mistake!

EVIL POWER: 

The Comma Splice has the power to fool you into thinking that she can join together two complete sentences.

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1) 

I can’t believe it, he’s breaking loose.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

I can’t believe it.  He’s breaking loose.

Fix by: separating them out into two sentences, and  ended both with proper sentence-ending punctuation.

2) 

It’s true, I’m a mutant.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

It’s true; I’m a mutant.

Fix by:  adding a semicolon to properly join them into one sentence.

3)

You grab the cash, I’ll snatch the jewels.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

You grab the cash, and I’ll snatch the jewels.

Fixed by: adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction to join them into one sentence.

4)

Your muscles are strong, your mind is weak.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

Your muscles are strong, but your mind is weak.

Fixed by: adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction to join them into one sentence.

Super Teachers!

Unbelievable! The heroes and villains of Super Grammar have been brought to life! 

On October 28, (just before Halloween) this picture was posted onto our Super Grammar facebook page.  When we first saw it, we were knocked out.  “These are Super Grammar characters,” we thought, “and these costumes are amazing!”  But how did this happen?  Where did these heroes come from?  Our curiosity was too great, and we knew that we had no choice; we had to learn the truth.  So, using the awesome (and nearly unlimited) power of our hypertext transfer protocol device, we made contact with these mysterious beings, and then we asked them to tell us—their origins story.

We soon learned that this photo was sent to us by a courageous group of 3^rd grade teachers from King-Chavez Arts and Athletics Academies in San Diego, and they told us that they made these super costumes for their school’s fall carnival.  But why did they do it?  Well, here’s what they said:

"This year we started using Super Grammar as part of our lessons. As we introduce our weekly grammar standard, we accompany it with a Super Grammar hero or villain. Our kids have been so into it and are always begging for more, so we thought they would LOVE it if their very own teachers turned into super heroes for a day... and oh boy! We all had a blast!"

And so, these valiant teachers dressed up as: The Subject (Ms Lima), The Predicate (Ms. Hernandez), The Noun (Mrs. Woodhead), and The Fragment (Mr. Hobson).   We couldn’t help but notice what a great job they did on their costumes, too.  We were really impressed with the level of detail and craftsmanship that they had put into each character.  It’s obvious that they had fun making the costumes, but wait; their fun was just getting started.  As part of their super powered mission, they came up with a way to share the fun of their super identities with their students!  Here’s how they did it: 

"During the day of the carnival, we each printed out mini cards with our character on them. We challenged our kids to collect all of the cards by the end of the day to earn a prize. As they came up to each of us we asked them to: tell us who we were, what our super hero's power was or to give an example (of a noun, subject, predicate, fragment). We were amazed at how many prizes we had to give away. Now our only problem is: how on Earth will we be able to top this next year!?"

Truly, only the mightiest of teachers could have pulled off such a bold and daring feat of super powered creativity.  Ms. Lima, Ms. Hernandez, Mrs. Woodhead, and Mr. Hobson; you’re super awesome, and Super Grammar salutes you.  Well done, heroes.  Well done!

As a small “Thank you,” for doing proper justice to the Super Grammar characters, we’ve sent each of you a Super Grammar Bookmark and a set of promo cards.  We hope you enjoy them, and thank you again for making this year's Halloween so special for us!

Sincerely,

The Super Grammar Team

P.S.  If—You—have a Super Grammar story that you’d like to share, please email us (here) or post it onto our facebook page.  We’d love to hear about it! 

The Adjective

The Adjective is a hero with an incredible eye for detail, and as a member of The Amazing Eight (A.K.A. parts of speech), this hero puts his keen powers of observation to work for the good of all our sentences.

The Adjective is a modifier, and with the help of his super handy modifying tool, he delivers a fist full of descriptive power to nouns.  The details supplied by The Adjective serve our sentences by adding richness and interest to the people, places, and objects within them.  For instance, “the hero” can become “the fearless hero,” and “the villain” can become “the twisted villain.”  Also, adjectives can be very useful additions to our sentences because they add clarity and understanding by answering the questions: which one, how many, and what kind?

So, the next time you want to add some distinct and dynamic description to your sentences, remember our detail oriented hero—The Adjective. 

SUPER POWERS:

The Adjective has the ability to modify nouns in a sentence with the addition of descriptive detail.  By modifying these words with description, he helps answer these questions: which one, how many, and what kind?

 

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1)

The slimy thief got away.

slimy: adjective answering the question which one?

2)

Three heroes are on patrol.

Three: adjective answering the question how many?

3)

Circuit Breaker is a powerful villain.

powerful: adjective answering the question what kind?

THE POWER OF PHRASING:

The Adjective has The Power of Phrasing.  Sometimes an adjective needs to be more than a single word to properly do its job.  This is when The Adjective uses The Power of Phrasing.  This power allows the adjective to stretch out into being several words that act as a single unit within a sentence.  This group of words is called: a phrase.

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1)

The man with the enormous brain is controlling us.

with the enormous brain: adjective phrase answering the question which one?

2)

His more than two arms gave him the advantage.

more than two: adjective phrase answering the question how many?

3)

He is a hero of tremendous virtue.

of tremendous virtue: adjective phrase answering the question what kind?

The Completion Team

There are only two members that belong to The Completion Team (A.K.A. parts of a sentence), and they are The Subject and The Predicate. 

With only two members, The Complete Sentence Super-Team is the smallest of all the super-teams, but just because they don’t have as many team members as the other bigger groups, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a big and important part to play in keeping your sentences strong and correct.  In fact, these two wholesome heroes may very well have one of the most important grammar jobs of all: making complete sentences.

Now, citizen, you might be wondering, “Why are complete sentences so important?”

Well, think about it this way: If you were a super crime-fighter, would you go into battle with only half of your body armor?

No, you wouldn’t—because you’d get clobbered if you did that!
 

Well, it’s the exact same thing with sentences: They need both sides of their armor, the Subject and the Predicate, in order to be complete. And if sentences don’t have their complete armor, they’ll get completely clobbered by the grammar mistakes. But once a sentence is fully complete, that sentence is ready to test its super protective armor against any grammar mistake that dares to attack it, because a complete sentence is a strong sentence.

So, citizen, it's time for you to join forces with the Completion Team and learn all about their superpowers. And after that, your super protective sentence armor will be complete!

SUPER POWERS:

The Subject and The Predicate are members of the Completion Team (A.K.A. parts of a sentence), and they have the power to form strong and complete sentences.

THE COMPLETE SENTENCE SUPER-TEAM MEMBERS:

• The Subject: the someone or something the sentence is about.
• The Predicate: tells (verbalizes) something about the subject.

SUPER EXAMPLE:

The hero rescued the crowd.

Is this a complete sentence?  Let's check.

First, find the subject (ask: who or what is the sentence about?).

 

Next, find the predicate (ask: what is the sentence telling about the subject?).

Now, put the subject and the predicate together, and ...

                 The Subject                                  The Predicate

Yes, this is a complete sentence.

Super Grammar's Public Debut

Super Grammar has just wrapped its first year at the San Diego Comic-Con! 

Here’s a shot (above) of our display.  It featured our double-sided bookmarks and five different promo cards.  We made these bookmarks and promo cards as give-away items to help spread the word about Super Grammar.

 

Here’s a picture (above) of the full table display at the Comic-Con booth.  Super Grammar proudly shared table space with Rhode Montijo’s other children's books: The Halloween Kid, Cloud Boy, Skeletown, and T-t-tartamudo. 

Now, you might be thinking that our Super Grammar display looks a little small, but this small display represents a very big step for us.  You see, this is the first time that we’ve ever presented Super Grammar outside of this blog, so that makes this event—our official public debut!  And, we’re happy to report that our debut went over pretty well. 

The bookmarks, especially, were a big hit!  We printed a thousand of them, and they were all gone by mid Saturday.  If we had any idea that we were going to run out, we would have printed more; but honestly, it was a surprise to us that so many people were interested in having one.  Bookmarks—who knew?

Our promo cards did pretty well, too.  On that front, it was our supervillain card featuring The Fragment that was the highest in demand, but that’s only when someone was interested in taking a single card.  For the most part, I was noticing that people were grabbing one of each so that they had the whole set. 

Here’s a shot (above) of convention goers checking out the goods.

All in all, it was a super fun time, and it felt really great to finally have Super Grammar out in the light of day.  Getting to watch the reactions of people who were seeing Super Grammar for the first time was also a big treat for us.  We’d here things like, “Super Grammar, Yeah!” and, I remember one guy saying, “I love superheroes, and I love grammar, so this is perfect.”  Getting the chance to meet and talk with all these fun people (many of them in costume) was absolutely the best part.  In fact, getting to physically talk to people about Super Grammar has made all of the hard work that we’ve been putting into creating it feel hugely satisfying.  It’s a great feeling to have, so we’d like to pass along our gratitude to all of you who stopped by and shared your excitement and support for Super Grammar with us.  Thank you!

Before we wrap up this post, we’ve got one more picture for you. 

Here are the creators of Super Grammar in their mild mannered disguises: Rhode Montijo (left) and Tony Preciado (right).

Thanks for all the fun, Comic-Con.  And, to all of you who have just found out about Super Grammar, be it by Comic-Con or not, welcome.  We’ve got more Super Grammar heroes and villains on the way!

Sincerely,

The Super Grammar Team

p.s. We’d like to give super special thanks to our talented friend who is Rhode’s Booth partner, Jamie Baker, for all of his support through Comic-Con. 

Thanks, Jamie!