Tips to Get Students Writing in Complete Sentences | Assignment Collections | assignmentcollections.com

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