Like a car, students need to be driven in the right direction. And that’s why when writing. It is important to write in complete sentences with correct grammar and punctuation. Students who write in complete sentences with correct grammar and punctuation become better writers and readers. Writing complete sentences is one of the main reasons people get bad grades.
Every student has to write at one point. And it is an unavoidable part of the educational process. Writing is an art and a science; students need to learn these skills from scratch. Writing requires time, patience, and practice. Here are tips to help students write in complete sentences and build their vocabulary.
How to Write in Complete Sentences
Sentence Manipulation
Break down sentences and focus on the fundamentals: subjects and verbs. Overall, you could go back to teaching students how to write sentences. Take some sticky notes and ask students (or prepare ahead of time) to label nouns and verbs. I will occasionally color code, such as utilizing green notes for verbs.
Then, play with the sentences. This can be done digitally by dragging boxes on a smart board. On a whiteboard, you can also move the sticky notes about and add direct objects or prepositional words. My favorite requires more preparation: putting words to blocks and practicing forming sentences. Students can compose sentences about each other if they have a solid classroom community.
Silly sentences work best, but any combination of subjects and verbs will suffice! Manipulate sentences to remind yourself what complete sentences are. Continue to utilize proper vocabulary with students. Using the correct vocabulary may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: utilize domain-specific jargon with students.
Collaborative Writing
In a writing workshop, addressing particular faults, providing direct instruction, and modeling are not always enough. You might compose whole sentences with children to have them write complete and easy sentences.
For example, request that students provide a topic so you can compose sentences for them. (If they can’t develop a theme, write about your dog, as I do.) Explain the distinctions to students.
You can construct sample sentences with kids on several themes. I frequently use phrases about my life to develop relationships, which allows me to manage what information I disclose. I’ve discovered that keeping the topic comparable helps pupils communicate the differences in sentence construction.
Then, go over those sentences again and correct them. Students may be able to identify an incomplete phrase, but do they have the tools to correct it? That’s where a solid grammatical background comes in handy: pupils get to choose how they correct each sentence.
Another approach is to collaborate with the learner on writing about their topic. Request that the student provides you with the initial concept, and then request that the student observe your writing. Hopefully, you and this student can work toward a gradual release.
Provide Focused Practice
Students may sometimes not comprehend the difference between a complete and incomplete sentence. The definitions and examples should come first. (I’m sure most high school students know the definitions, but that isn’t always the case.)
The subject or verb of a sentence is lacking in a fragment. A comma splice joins two sentences (two distinct clauses) with a comma. A run-on sentence comprises two or more sentences that are run together.
Give straightforward instructions and then have them apply what they’ve learned to their writing. It is helpful to place a completed worksheet and their writing with considerable difficulties. Students can revise their writing after reworking the sentences on the worksheet.
Take Phrases from Student Work
We revise complex sentences as a class in an effective complete sentence activity. I take phrases from student papers. I never expose student names, and I never choose something too intimate.
I paste the unfinished sentences into a Google Slide presentation, and we review them together. The quantity of scaffolding varies per class. This is typically the most successful method for teaching entire sentences.
Students are sometimes allowed to amend their mistakes. Sometimes we need to talk about why the sentences aren’t complete. Other grammar lessons automatically enter the picture (commas, semicolons, phrases).
Create a list of questions to ask about each unfinished sentence. Students may lack the necessary internal disc comprises the correct decision. As you read these sentences, verbalize what you are thinking. I even made an anchor chart out of those queries.
You can also divide students into groups or partners and assign each group or partner a slide to repair. Students are engaged in actual work and collaborating on writing tasks.
Highlight Each Subject and Verb
This activity is designed for individual students. When students are frustrated or are not seeing results in other ways, I resort to this. Select a text and have students highlight every subject and verb in that paragraph.
This exercise is not time-consuming, primarily if you circulate and work with individuals. The detailed dissection of a sentence truly helps pupils visualize their messages. (This procedure also aids in the elimination of poor sentence structure, such as “there is” and “there are.”)
Ask students to highlight the subject and verb of each sentence (digitally or on paper). Students should grasp that each sentence must contain at least one subject and verb. Students should add one if a sentence lacks one or the other. Use this time to talk about specific nouns (not pronouns unless they have an antecedent) and power verbs.
Next, time is spent conferring with pupils with difficulty locating their subjects and verbs. Students may have the components but cannot locate them or may lack subjects and verbs.
In this case, detailed and thorough conferences are beneficial. Students will readily add extra components once they understand the “subject-verb” structure. As you continue to work with a class, you will notice who requires additional assistance.
Steps to Write in Complete Sentences
Teach Directly!
Students must be taught writing skills in an organized and unambiguous manner to become good writers. Teach them that complete sentences can be short or long as long as they have two essential parts: a subject and a predicate.
The subject of the phrase indicates WHO or WHAT the sentence is about. The predicate is the part of the sentence that takes action. It describes the subject’s actions.
Students should also be taught that sentences must begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark. Explain why statements that tell us something are followed by a period (.).
Students must have numerous opportunities for practice and evaluation to learn to write in complete sentences. Look for literacy center activities that allow kids to practice developing and writing complete sentences. This ensures that kids receive consistent, repetitive practice.
Once you’ve decided on a center activity, begin introducing it to the entire class. Model how to accomplish the assignment clearly and then do it together- more practice!! Yay!
Practice until you are sure that all kids can perform the job independently. Finally, you can transform the exercise into a literacy center where kids can independently construct and write whole sentences.
Model
Elicit the subject and predicate from your pupils, then demonstrate how to combine those two elements into a complete sentence.
When writing a complete sentence, use think-aloud to let pupils hear your thoughts. “I start with a capital letter….include a subject….space my words out….include an action word….end with the right punctuation,” for example.
Demonstrate how you reread the phrases aloud to catch and correct typos. Show your pupil how you utilize a checklist to verify your complete sentences!
Apply To
Make it realistic! Why shouldn’t grammar lessons be taught separately? Grammar is best taught through student writing. Writing helps pupils learn more effectively!
Pennington Publishing lists 16 Reasons Why Daily Oral Language (D.O.L.) Although it is required for the preceding steps, true contractually allows pupils to learn at a deeper level. They must WRITE and APPLY their information! Get your kids to write and discuss the whole sentences they create.
5 Activities to Help Students Write in Full Sentences
Sentence building is the process of writing engaging and compelling content—writing aims to communicate your message in a way that will compel readers to keep reading. The first step in writing a sentence is to decide on the topic you want to write about and then think about what you want to say about it. Let’s look at the various sentence-building activities below:
Mixing Up Sentences
This task is excellent for practicing putting the various elements of a sentence in a logical order that makes sense.
The intricacy of the sentences you compose will vary based on your pupils’ levels. Take, for example, the complete statement, “I enjoy playing.” And have students try to change it so it makes sense by writing it as “play to I like.”
Human Sentences
For this assignment, students will collaborate to create a compound sentence from two simple sentences, using suitable punctuation and conjunctions/connective adverbs.
Begin by writing two simple sentences on separate sentence strips (the simple sentences should be related and able to be combined to make a compound sentence). Then, on separate index cards, write two significant periods on separate index cards, one large comma, one large semicolon, appropriate conjunctions, and connective adverbs.
Distribute all sentence strips and index cards to various students in the class. Place the two students who received the sentence strips in the front of the room. Students with periods should rise to add punctuation to each sentence.
Then declare that it is time to combine the two basic statements into a single compound sentence. Bring up the two students carrying period leave and holding suitable punctuation and conjunctions/connective adverbs to finish the sentence.
Let Sentences Tell the Story
This practice will assist pupils in developing compound phrases and writing entire thoughts. You can do it orally or have students write the sentences that make sense, depending on your pupils.
Begin by offering a sentence beginning, such as “The kids were getting ready for lunch.” Then, to make a compound sentence, students should add a conjunction to the statement, such as “The youngsters were getting ready for lunch, and they wanted to eat pizza.”
The end of the previous sentence should then be used to begin the following sentence. “The kids craved pizza and asked their mother if they may prepare their pizzas.” In this manner, the game continues, with the end of one sentence being used to construct the following new sentence.
A to Z ESL Sentence Game
This assignment will force kids to think and write sentences. Students should write all of the alphabet letters on a piece of paper. Each letter should be on a separate line. Then, have students create as many phrases as possible, beginning with each letter. As an example:
This weekend, there will be a significant snowfall.
When babies are hungry, they cry a lot.
My favorite type of television show is a cartoon.
Do you want to accompany me to the movies?
Finish the Sentence
You might include images of five lemons and the sentence beginning with “I observe.” Then, students must choose the appropriate cards to complete the phrase and fill in the blanks for “how many,” “what color,” and “what.”
After that, students might practice with a similar sheet, such as one with eight red automobiles.
What Makes a Good Sentence?
Here is what makes a good sentence:
Use Correct Grammar and Punctuation
Avoid clichéd phrases such as “it is believed”, “it is reported,” or “it has been said that…” instead of stating facts or opinions (or both) where they are relevant to the discussion at hand. A good rule of thumb is that if you have read something before, chances are it will not be a good idea to quote it again unless you provide some context for why it was necessary at the time and still is today.
For example, if you have read an article about how everyone should take their vitamins every day, then your reader would know that this is because of all the research showing that taking vitamin supplements can help prevent illness, injure yourself less often, and even live longer (which makes sense). If instead you just wrote, “it has been said,” then your reader would not know what type of advice you gave them about taking vitamins and so may not take them regularly.
Bottom Line
The best way to show students how to write in complete sentences is to set a good example. Modeling is one of the easiest ways to teach students the rules so they will see and hear them while they are being used repeatedly. Once students have seen that the style is practical, they will follow it on their own accord.
