Writers sometimes make the mistake of repeating simple patterns in their sentences. A simple pattern would begin with the subject and the verb. Although such sentences are correct, using only one sentence pattern can become boring to the reader.
For example: Jane went to the zoo for her birthday. Two large, scary snakes were in the window of the reptile house.
Good writers vary their sentence
patterns by sometimes placing phrases or clauses at the beginning of their
sentences to achieve variety. An introductory phrase or clause should be followed by a comma.
For example: For her birthday, Jane went to the zoo. In the window of the reptile house, were two large, scary snakes.
The twenty Thanksgiving-themed sentences in the exercise shown above all begin with the subject and the verb. Learning to rewrite the sentences without changing their meaning is good practice for students to achieve sentence variety. At the same time, they will be reminded of things that are associated with the Thanksgiving season. Click here to get your copy of this fun exercise in my store.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks for reading,
You might also like this free HOTS activity. Click here.
