Yesterday I talked about the three types of sentences we teach to Year 2. Now, it's time for the three sentence structures we teach the littl'uns. Bare in mind that these sentence types are revisited over and over throughout primary school, so whatever age your child, you'll probably find this helpful.
Simple sentences
A simple sentence has one clause. What is a clause? Why, it's a group of words with a verb in it! How is it different to a phrase? A phrase doesn't have any verbs in it! This sentence:
William played on his phone.
Has a single clause, as all the information is about William and what he did to which device.
To include a phrase in this sentence, you could write in noun phrases:
Bored William played on his phone.
William played on his expensive phone.
Or adverbial phrases:
William played happily on his phone.
Yesterday afternoon, William played on his phone.
Compound sentences
A compound sentence is a sentence with two clauses that are equal in importance. That means they could stand by themselves as a simple sentence as both clauses contain a verb. Let's nip back to William and his phone:
William played on his phone for his XBox had broken.
Although the pronoun 'his' has been used instead of 'William', the second clause still makes sense, because it has the auxiliary verb and verb had broken in it.
Compound sentences are a good way for your child to jam those coordinating conjunctions into their writing:
William played on his phone for his XBox had broken.
William played on his phone and he loved every minute of it.
William neither played on his phone nor on his computer.
William played on his phone but he would have preferred to play Fortnite.
William could have played on his phone or he could have played on his PS4.
William could have played on his phone yet he decided to stare into the void of space instead.
Challenge your child to take a simple sentence and use all the different coordinating conjunctions they know to make different compound sentences!
Complex Sentences
A complex sentence is a sentence with a main clause (one that stands by itself) and a subordinate clause. A subordinate clause is one which is dependent on the main clause to make sense. Look here:
Before he went outside, William played on his phone.
Before he went outside doesn't make sense by itself - It adds detail to the main clause and really lets you in on a slice of William's life.
To create a complex sentence, you'll need subordinating conjunctions:
Because the subordinate clause includes the subordinating conjunction, it's quite difficult to get this wrong. One trick we use in school is to get the children to look at a book (any book) and spot the different sentence types. If your child picks up a novel, ask them what effect using the different sentence types has. Then perhaps they can write their own story with their own array of sentences!
Right, I don't know about you, but I've actually had my fill of grammar for now. I'll change it up next time, but for now, stay safe, stay positive and, whatever you do to educate your child, remember that you're doing your best.
Again, you can challenge your child
Simple sentences
A simple sentence has one clause. What is a clause? Why, it's a group of words with a verb in it! How is it different to a phrase? A phrase doesn't have any verbs in it! This sentence:
William played on his phone.
Has a single clause, as all the information is about William and what he did to which device.
To include a phrase in this sentence, you could write in noun phrases:
Bored William played on his phone.
William played on his expensive phone.
Or adverbial phrases:
William played happily on his phone.
Yesterday afternoon, William played on his phone.
Compound sentences
A compound sentence is a sentence with two clauses that are equal in importance. That means they could stand by themselves as a simple sentence as both clauses contain a verb. Let's nip back to William and his phone:
William played on his phone for his XBox had broken.
Although the pronoun 'his' has been used instead of 'William', the second clause still makes sense, because it has the auxiliary verb and verb had broken in it.
Compound sentences are a good way for your child to jam those coordinating conjunctions into their writing:
William played on his phone for his XBox had broken.
William played on his phone and he loved every minute of it.
William neither played on his phone nor on his computer.
William played on his phone but he would have preferred to play Fortnite.
William could have played on his phone or he could have played on his PS4.
William could have played on his phone yet he decided to stare into the void of space instead.
Challenge your child to take a simple sentence and use all the different coordinating conjunctions they know to make different compound sentences!
Complex Sentences
A complex sentence is a sentence with a main clause (one that stands by itself) and a subordinate clause. A subordinate clause is one which is dependent on the main clause to make sense. Look here:
Before he went outside, William played on his phone.
Before he went outside doesn't make sense by itself - It adds detail to the main clause and really lets you in on a slice of William's life.
To create a complex sentence, you'll need subordinating conjunctions:
Because the subordinate clause includes the subordinating conjunction, it's quite difficult to get this wrong. One trick we use in school is to get the children to look at a book (any book) and spot the different sentence types. If your child picks up a novel, ask them what effect using the different sentence types has. Then perhaps they can write their own story with their own array of sentences!
Right, I don't know about you, but I've actually had my fill of grammar for now. I'll change it up next time, but for now, stay safe, stay positive and, whatever you do to educate your child, remember that you're doing your best.
Again, you can challenge your child
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