Six Easy Ways to Vary Your Sentences

Six Easy Ways to Vary Your Sentences

Good writers vary their sentences to make their writing more interesting. Readers appreciate writing that is vivid and varied. Here are some techniques found in my book, Simple Steps to Sentence Analysis.

Try these six easy ways to vary your sentences:

1.  Begin with a prepositional phrase.

After the winter storm, the trees began to bud again. 

2. Begin with one or twoadjectives. 

Cold and hungry, the dog howled at the moon. 

3.  Begin with an adverb. 

Quietly, she began her journey up the stairs. 

4.  Begin with a verbal phrase, but be careful that the word the phrase modifies is placed near it to avoid a misplaced modifier. 

Incorrect: Lying in the grass, the sky looked beautiful.

Oops! Was the sky lying in the grass? 

Correct: Lying in the grass, I thought the sky looked beautiful. 

5.  Vary the length of your sentences. 

Use short sentences for emphasis and to quicken the pace of your writing. 

Don't go.

Use longer sentences to slow the pace and make the writing more formal. 

Take your time and remain here with me for a while.

6.  Vary the patterns of your sentences. 

Use all four of the sentence types: 

• simple sentences
• compound sentences
• complex sentences
• compound/complex sentences

If you need more help with any of the techniques or sentence parts above, everything you need to know will be found in my grammar handbook: Simple Steps to Sentence Analysis. You will find here for only $6. For a limited time, everyone who purchases the book will get a link to a free set of practice exercises. The link is in the book. 

Thanks for reading,

   

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The first is my original list so you may already be on that one. I changed the name of the newsletter from Books by Charlene Tess to Educational Resources by Charlene Tess.  

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Thanks for reading,

Use Active Verbs When Writing Sentences

Here's a sample page from Simple Steps to Sentence Sense for Middle School. After students have completed the eight simple steps in the book, they have an opportunity to use their knowledge in a series of writing activities. This activity is on using active verbs when writing sentences.

For more lessons and all of my Simple Steps to Sentence Sense eBooks, visit my store.

Thanks for reading,

Getting to Know Your Students

Here's a blog post from the past that is especially appropriate for the next few weeks.

The first few days of school are crazy busy. In secondary schools, much of the time is spent dealing with students being added or dropped from your class as students’ schedules are adjusted and class loads are balanced.

The paperwork piles up, and yet you meet a room full of new students every hour or so. How do you prepare for these first few important days?

Getting to Know You Activities for the First Few Days of School is a series of activities that introduced my students to one another and to me, and provided a sample of their writing and their oral presentation skills. You can use these activities to make the first few days of your school year informative and productive.

I also hope you will take a look at my best selling product on TeachersPayTeachers.com. My eBook Simple Steps to Sentence Sense has been used in schools throughout the U.S. and is several countries overseas since 1996. It has been tested on thousands of students and they enjoy learning grammar and usage the way I present it. Click on the testamonials tab above to see what teachers are saying about my series of books.

The good news is that both of these products will be on sale at 28% off during the Back to School Sale on TpT August 3rd and 4th. Enter the code: BTS2015 at checkout.

Thanks to Brian Wiltgen (Wise Guys) for creating the links below to other top secondary teachers who are participating in the sale.

I hope your first days of school are fantastic!

An InLinkz Link-up

Secondary Teachers Ready for Back to School

We love back to school time here in secondary! Join us to celebrate with the TpT Sale, August 3rd - 4th and get those lessons you need for up to 28% off! Check out the top secondary teachers below for some great deals on top lesssons!

All of my lesson will be on sale for two days including my Simple Steps to Sentence Sense eBooks. Be sure to check out my Top Secondary Seller friends' stores below for great bargains.

Use the code BTS15 at checkout to receive up to 28% off in some cases.

Thanks for reading,

A Space to Create

The Classroom Sparrow

Room 213

Darlene Anne’s ELA Buffet

Danielle Knight (Study All Knight)

Michele Luck's Social Studies

Teaching FSL

Juggling ELA

Making It Teacher

James Whitaker's SophistThoughts

Created by MrHughes

Leah Cleary

Addie Williams

MissMathDork

The Creative Classroom

Mrs. Brosseau's Binder

Pamela Kranz

Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy

ELA Everyday

The Creative Classroom

Kesler Science

Live Love Math

To the Square Inch- Kate Bing Coners

The Classroom Sparrow

Liz's Lessons

For the Love of Teaching Math

ELA Everyday

Chopsticks to Mason Jars

Connie

Charlene Tess