WRITING / sentence structure

Sentence Structure

What is sentence structure?

Sentence structure is the way a sentence is constructed, grammatically. There are two types of clauses that create a sentence: independent and dependent. An independent (main) clause is a complete thought that can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent (subordinate) clause is an incomplete thought that cannot stand alone as a sentence.

There are generally four types of sentence structure; 1) Simple: sentence expresses a single thought and must contain a subject and a verb. 2) Compound: sentence consists of two simple sentences that are connected with a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). 3) Complex: sentence is an independent clause connected to one or more dependent clauses using a subordinating conjunction (despite, although) or a relative pronoun (who, which). 4) Compound Complex: sentence has two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

Common Sentence Errors

There are a number of common sentence structure errors. These are 1) Fragments: an incomplete sentence. 2) Run-on sentences: a sentence that runs into another with no punctuation. 3) Comma splice: a comma is incorrectly used to connect two sentences.

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Sentence Structure Lesson 1

Aim: To support students in their understanding and practice of the four types of sentence structures: simple, compound, complex and complex-compound.

Time: 60 minutes & homework task

Sentence Structure 1: Simple, compound, complex & complex compound

This lesson is to support students in their understanding and practice of the four types of sentence structures: simple, compound, complex and complex-compound. It includes noticing, guided and freer practice. (see worksheet example) Time: 60mins. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1]. / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Sentence Structure Lesson 2

Aim: This lesson helps to improve students’ sentence structure through identifying and rewriting fragment, run-on and comma splice sentences.

Time: 60 minutes & homework task

Sentence Structure 2: Fragment, run-on & comma splice sentences

This lesson helps improve students’ sentence structure through identifying & rewriting fragment, run-on & comma splice sentences. It includes noticing, guided & freer practice. (see worksheet example) Time: 60mins. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1]./ TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Sentence Structure Lesson 3

Aim: This lesson helps to improve students’ understanding and practice of complex sentence structure.

Time: 90 minutes & homework task.

Sentence Structure 3: Complex sentence structure (STEM)

This lesson is to support students in their understanding and practice of complex sentence structure. The worksheets focus on three structures: adverbial, adjective and noun clauses and contain key explanations and sentence and paragraph-level practice within a STEM context (see worksheet example) Time: 90mins. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Relative Clauses

Aim: To support students in their understanding and use of defining and non-defining relative clauses

Time: 60 minutes plus homework task.

Relative clauses: Defining & non-defining clauses [new 2020]

This lesson supports students in their understanding & use of defining & non-defining relative clauses.The lesson includes four tasks of guided practice & two tasks of freer practice (see worksheet example) Time: 60mins. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1]. TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Cause & effect language

Aim: To support students in their understanding and use of cause & effect language.

Time: 60 minutes plus homework task.

Cause & effect

This lesson helps improve students’ awareness of cause & effect language. It includes a language review section, lots of guided practice & a paragraph writing exercise. (see worksheet example) Time: 60mins. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Compare & contrast

Aim: To support students in their understanding and use of compare & contrast language.

Time: 60 minutes plus homework task.

Compare & contrast

This lesson helps improve students’ awareness of compare & contrast language. It includes a language review section, lots of guided practice & a paragraph writing exercise. (see worksheet example) Time: 60mins. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1]. / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Academic Hedging Lesson

Aim: To support students in their understanding and use of hedging (cautious/tentative) language.

Time: 60 minutes plus homework task.

Hedging: Cautious / tentative language

This lesson supports students in their understanding & use of cautious / tentative language.The lesson includes six tasks of guided practice & two tasks of freer practice (see worksheet example) Time: 60mins & homework. Level ***** [B1/B2/C1]. TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

Cohesion

Aim: To support students in their understanding and use of cohesive devices in a text

Time: 60 minutes

Cohesion & Coherence

This worksheet helps to consolidate what ‘cohesion’ is with a focus on pronouns, word forms and summary nouns. It also includes a coherence sheet on key connections and two practice activities (example). [webpage]. Level: ***** [B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Full access to everything - £100 / £200 / £550

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Parallelism

Aim: To support students in their understanding and use of parallelism in writing.

Time: 30 minutes

Parallelism Worksheet: 8 exercises

This worksheet provides an explanation of the key concepts of ‘parallelism’ and provides an error correction exercise to practise the key concepts. An awareness of this writing element really helps establish unity and readability in sentence structure. See Example worksheet. Level: ***** [B1/B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP