Sunday, November 21, 2021

Tips to Strengthen Your Sentences



Here are three tips to help your students strengthen their sentences and improve their writing.


1.  Use strong verbs and nouns instead of trying to prop up weak ones with adjectives and adverbs.

Weak: The dentist intentionally spoke untruthfully about the diagnosis.

Strong: The dentist lied about the diagnosis.

Weak: The insurance agency maliciously took advantage of persons with limited income and limited knowledge.

Strong: The insurance agency deceived the poor and the ignorant.


2.  If you do use adjectives and adverbs choose strong ones and avoid adding intensifiers.

violent  —  not rather violent

starved  —   not somewhat starved


histrionic  —  not slightly histrionic



3.  In contrast, do not try to prop up weak adjectives and adverbs with a string of intensifiers.


She was very, very, very mad. Instead say: She was infuriated. 

The pain was really, really bad. Instead say: The pain was excruciating. 


Here's a lesson with even more hints that will help your students improve their writing. It's ready to print and distribute to your students or you can assign it in Google Classroom.™ 

Answers are included.  https://bit.ly/3oRWhG8




Be sure to check my store for Christmas and holiday activities both free and priced. My latest is Four Fun Holiday Activities that you can print or assign in Easel.™ 

https://bit.ly/3nBVHgf




I hope your Thanksgiving holiday is peaceful and joyful.


Thanks for reading. Take a look at some of the interesting blog posts below from my teacher friends at The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.

Best regards,
Charlene

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