Sentence Structure Worksheets

Sentence structure can be a highly effective tool to help students learn English. Sentence structures allow the writer to organize their ideas and allow the reader to follow the flow of the writing. Most importantly, it allows the student to understand the main idea behind the sentence. With this in mind, sentence structure can add or remove emphasis to make a piece of writing easier to understand. When writing, most people tend to use only one, maybe two paragraphs of direct speaking with few if any paragraphs of expository material. Students need to break up their writing and learn how to use different types of structures.

Parallel Structure Worksheet Writing Conventions Worksheet from sentence structure worksheets , source:ning-guo.com

There are four main types of sentence structure that a sentence may display. The simplest form has a single independent clause and displays a complete idea. A compound sentence consists of more than two independent clauses and so forth. A complex sentence has a subject, verb, and either a subordinate or independent clause depending on the nature of the subject. Finally, the sentences with all three components, an object and a verb, are called a trisyllabic.

Sentence structure diagrams can be very effective in teaching students about sentence type. When learning English, teachers should structure their lessons according to the structure most often seen in natural conversations. For example, a conversation might start with a topic and then discuss the various elements that comprise that topic. A teacher may then give a short paragraph summing up the discussion. However, in the next sentence, the topic is discussed again with the same topics being discussed in each subsequent sentence. This is the basic format of most English language classes.

Finding Adjectives Worksheet Activity Sheet Finding Verbs from sentence structure worksheets , source:twinkl.co.uk

One major drawback to using Sentence Structure Worksheets in English class is that students have less flexibility in creating their own original sentences. Sentences that use Sentence Structure are usually pre-written. Therefore, the beginning of each sentence already has a beginning, a middle, and an end. However, students cannot usually create their own original sentences because most of the sentence structures used in English are already used. As a result, students are effectively re-writing their essays or reports.

Another limitation of Sentence Structure Worksheets is that they do not give students an opportunity to build upon previous concepts. Most student’s grammar books will provide extensive examples of how to construct simple sentences that can be used as starting points for constructing more complex sentences. However, the vast majority of grammar books only focus on one particular aspect of sentence structures. They will tell the reader what kind of sentence to use, how many clauses to include, and at what point to insert a pre-slang, post-slang, or pre-verbial item. There are rarely any examples given to show how to construct complex sentences. This is especially true for compounds and complex compound-complex sentence structures where only minimal assistance is provided.

Personification Worksheets from sentence structure worksheets , source:winonarasheed.com

Sentence Structure Worksheets can be used to teach basic sentence structures, but they are also useful for teaching aspects of grammar that are less easily taught in books. In order to teach aspects of grammar not covered in most books, worksheets are needed that can be used multiple times and that allow for repetitions. Sentence structure worksheets do not have this ability. In order to teach properties of the subject, verb, and object of a sentence, it is necessary to write the same example over again, making slight changes to the details of how the example is written. For example, if the author wants the readers to understand that his wife loves him very much, he should rewrite his worksheet to say “(Subjects) (verbs) (wives) love (subjects)”.

Compound Sentence Structure Worksheets are not easy to use. Even though complex sentences worksheets can be found in most language software packages, they are very difficult to understand. For most language learners, complex sentences worksheets are not the best choice. They offer little structure and the information presented is too simple to hold all of the meaning and emphasis that the teacher wants the student to hold. Instead of teaching complicated sentences worksheets, introduce the student to simpler compound sentences worksheets, which make using complex sentences with the new student much easier.

Contractions Worksheet from sentence structure worksheets , source:mychaume.com

Two Independent Clauses Worksheets are also difficult to understand and can be a challenge to teach to students. Two independent clauses are sentences with at least one verb and at least one object, both of which do not share a tense with the main verb or the other subject. When two independent clauses are written in the same sentence, the reader must read the sentence twice, once as the subject and once as the object. The second readability is important for students who struggle to maintain a consistent word ordering in their writing. Two independent clauses worksheets are especially useful for the novice writer because it helps the novice writer to develop the ability to write two independent clauses without confusing the sentence structure.