Recommendations for Teaching Students about Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences

In this section, I describe a step-by-step instructional process to use when teaching students about simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex

Figure 5.5 Sentence Types and Benefits Observed by Students.

sentences. The instructional steps I recommend are: (1) help students discuss the benefits of each sentence type; (2) ask students to try to find these sentence types in literature; (3) have students analyze an author's use of a particular sentence type; and (4) ask students to use each of the sentence types purposefully in their own writing. Since this instructional process is designed to help students apply their understandings of simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, I recommend using the information at the beginning of this chapter, such as the examples and definitions in Figures 5.1, 5.2,5.3, and 5.4, to ensure that students understand the fundamentals of these sentence types before beginning these instructional activities.

Help Students Discuss the Benefits of Each Sentence Type

The first step in this instructional process is to help students discuss the benefits of each of these four sentence types. Focusing on these benefits can help students understand how simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences are tools that writers use purposefully in their works. If students are aware that simple sentences, for example, are beneficial because they allow readers to make statements in a direct and straightforward way, they can understand why writers might choose to use these sentences in some contexts, while electing to use other sentence types in different situations.

To help students discuss these benefits, I recommend engaging them in an activity such as the one described in the classroom snapshot section. Once you have explained to the students the key elements of these sentence types and shown them examples of each, ask them to work together and explain why an author might choose to use each sentence type and the benefits of using that kind of sentence. As I did in the lesson described in the classroom snapshot, I recommend dividing the students into groups in order to complete this task. Since the students will be beginning to explore this concept, they can benefit from bouncing ideas off of one another and engaging in what Barnes (1992) calls exploratory talk: conversations about a new and challenging topic that help students formulate ideas.

When my seventh graders worked together on this topic, they began to see these sentence types as not just things to memorize, but tools that are important to effective writing. Recall, for example, the student who initially told me that a benefit of complex sentences is that they have dependent clauses. I responded to this student by saying that this was a true statement, but also pushed her thinking to another level by asking why this is a benefit. Considering the benefits of this sentence type allowed this student and the others in the class to look at these concepts as tools that writers purposefully use, rather than facts to memorize and then forget.

Ask Students to Try to Find These Sentence Types in Literature

The next step in this instructional process is to ask to students to try to find examples of these sentence types in literature. Making this direct connection to literature further illustrates the importance of these sentence types to effective writing, as students are able to see how published writers use these grammatical concepts authentically. This can be done with the students' independent reading books or with a text the entire the class is reading together. As students find different sentence types in literature, they will become more familiar with them and further understand their importance to effective writing. Since not every book on every student's reading level will have all four of these sentence types, I recommend not requiring that students find all four sentence types. I suggest giving the students a certain amount of time (I will often give 15 minutes) and asking them to see which of these sentence types they can find, reminding them that they are not required to find all of them, and instructing them to write down an example of each type they locate. I tell my students that since authors only use these sentence types when necessary, some texts will not need to include all of these sentence types, while others will. Asking the students to find what they can rather than mandating that they find all four kinds makes this activity a fun "scavenger hunt" and reduces possible student frustration.

Have Students Analyze an Author's Use of a Particular Sentence Type

After students have identified some of these sentence types in literature, I recommend asking them to pick one of the sentences that they found and analyze it in more detail. This analysis calls for each student to do the following: (1) select a sentence that really stood out to them as effective; (2) identify the kind of sentence it is; (3) rewrite the sentence as another sentence type; and (4) explain what would be different if the sentence was written as this other type instead. These analytic steps require the students to move from the concrete (by identifying a type of sentence) to the more complex (by explaining how the revised version of the sentence differs from the original one).

Before I ask students to do this activity, I model it to show them exactly what is expected. Figure 5.6 is a model of this activity using a complex sentence from Jeanne DuPrau's (2003) novel The City of Ember that I have used with my students. I will present this chart to students and explain each aspect of it before asking them to fill out a similar chart on their own.

After you show the students this example and discuss it with them, you can then ask your students to complete their own analysis independently. When you ask the students to do this, give them a blank version of the chart

Figure 5.6 Model of Sentence Type Analysis.

in Figure 5.6 to fill out (a blank, reproducible version is available in the appendix). As they work on it, I recommend checking in with them and giving them necessary support, but also making sure that students use their analytic skills.

Figure 5.7 contains a sentence type analysis chart filled out by a student named Erica during this activity. When completing this chart, Erica identified the compound sentence "All of her friends hated lima beans, and she wanted to fit in" in David Shannon's (2004) book A Bad Case of Stripes, rewrote it as a simple sentence, and analyzed the differences between those versions.

Ask Students to Use Each of the Sentence Types Purposefully in Their Own Writing

The final step of this instructional process is to ask students to use simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences purposefully in their own writing. This step is especially important because it calls for students to use these grammatical concepts in strategic ways to improve the quality of their own works. It is the natural conclusion to this process, which began with students discussing the benefits of these sentence types. Once the students reach the point where they understand these benefits and how published authors use each of these sentence types strategically to maximize those benefits, it is time for them to do the same with their own writing.

Figure 5.7 Sentence Type Analysis Chart

I recommend working on this step with your students by meeting with each of them individually and asking them to first show you an example of each of these four sentence types in their writing and then to explain why they chose to use each particular sentence type in each situation. When I talk with my students about this topic, I listen carefully to their explanations of why they used different sentence types in different situations and challenge them to explain their choices as clearly as possible. I want to make sure my students understand the benefits of each of these sentence types so they can purposefully use simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to enhance their own works.

Final Thoughts on Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences

♦ Simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences are included in Common Core Language Standard 7.1:

• - A simple sentence consists of one independent clause.
• - A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses joined together by either: (1) a comma and coordinating conjunction; or (2) a semicolon.

• - A complex sentence consists of an independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
• - A compound-complex sentence consists of at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

♦ Effective writers use each of these sentences purposefully, with a clear understanding of the benefits of each. Specifically, a writer would use:

• - A simple sentence to make a point clearly and concisely.
• - A compound sentence to combine multiple statements.
• - A complex sentence to provide additional detail regarding the context of a particular statement.
• - A compound-complex sentence to provide contextual details while also linking multiple statements together.

♦ When teaching students about simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences:

• - Help students discuss the benefits of each sentence type.
• - Ask students to try to find these sentence types in literature.
• - Have students analyze an author's use of a particular sentence type.
• - Ask students to use each of the sentence types purposefully in their own writing.

Figure 5.8 depicts this instructional process in an easy-to-follow flowchart.

Figure 5.8 Sentence Types Instructional Flowchart.