Standard 5: Language

Students will apply knowledge of grammar and rhetorical style to reading and writing. 

5.5.W.2 Students will compose simple, compound, and complex sentences and questions, create sentences with an understood subject, and correct fragments and run-on sentences.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students compose simple sentences and questions that express one complete thought or idea.  
• Example: Astronauts must pass certain tests.
• Students compose compound sentences and questions that express more than one thought or idea and are connected by a coordinating conjunction.
• Example: Astronauts need to be fit, and they have to be intelligent.
• Students compose complex sentences and questions that contain an independent and dependent clause connected by a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun.  
• Example: Because it’s very difficult to become an astronaut, people study and train for many years.
• Students identify and correct fragments and run-on sentences.
• Students write using an understood subject.
• Students vary the types of sentences used in their writing.  

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to write simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing relationships among ideas
• Simple sentence: expresses one complete thought or idea
• Compound sentence: two or more complete thoughts connected by a conjunction
• Complex sentence: one complete thought (one independent clause) and one or more “incomplete” thoughts (dependent clauses that cannot stand alone)
• Teachers explain and model how to identify and correct fragments and run-on sentences.
• Teachers provide opportunities for students to identify and correct fragments and run-on sentences.
• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback when they identify and correct fragments and run-on sentences.
• During writing conferences, place a dot next to lines that students need to review. 
• Teachers explain and model how to write using an understood subject.
• Teachers provide opportunities for students to write using an understood subject.
• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities to receive feedback when writing using an understood subject.   
• Teachers model using Write Aloud strategies how to revise writing and vary the types of sentences used in a composition.
• Teachers provide students with support while they engage in opportunities to practice using various sentence types within a writing composition.  

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

• Khan Academy/commas and apostrophes (video)

• Schoolhouse Rocks - Mr. Morton (video)

• Punctuating Compound and Complex Sentences (webpage)

• Khan Academy/simple and compound sentences (video)

• Khan Academy/complex sentences (video)

• Reading Rockets/Sentence Combining (webpage)

• NCTE/Sentence Combining: Building Skills through Reading and Writing (webpage)

• Show-Me Sentences (webpage) 

• Manipulating Sentences to Reinforce Grammar Skills (webpage)  

• How to Revise and Edit (webpage) 

• As a writing objective, the goal is for students to be able to effectively and intentionally use a variety of sentence types that transition effectively from one idea to the next.

• A simple sentence contains one independent clause. An independent clause is a group of words that can stand alone as a complete thought.

• Ex: English class is fun.

• A compound sentence has more than one independent clauses joined together with appropriate punctuation and/or conjunctions.

• Ex: English class is fun, but I also enjoy math.

• A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one dependent clause (a group of words with a subject and verb but cannot stand alone as a complete thought).

• Ex. English class is fun because our language is interesting.

• It is important to emphasize the relationship between ideas when determining how to combine independent clauses. Students will often memorize the methods of combining sentences but miss the idea behind linking ideas together.

• Sentences with an understood subject will not have the subject actually appear in the sentence. These are known as imperative sentences with the “understood you” as the subject.

• Ex: Watch Trolls on Netflix before it goes way.

• Sentence Fragments are incomplete sentences. Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that have become disconnected from the main clause.

• One of the easiest ways to correct them is to remove the period between the fragment and the main clause.

• Other kinds of punctuation may be needed for the newly combined sentence.

• Run-On Sentences occur when two or more independent clauses are combined without correct punctuation.  

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.