How To Teach Sentence Combining

Beginning writers usually start with short sentences like "I went to the zoo. I saw a lion. I ate candy." Choppy, right? This fragmented writing style can be repetitive and difficult to read. To move away from this, students need to learn sentence combining. Read on for a how-to about teaching this skill.

What Is Sentence Combining?

Sentence combining is the process of merging short sentences into longer, more complex ones. When practicing this technique, students become familiar with conjunctions, transition words, and proper grammar. They learn how to use these writing tools to create smoother, more effective writing. This skill helps them communicate their ideas more clearly and use grammar and punctuation more meaningfully.

Effective Techniques To Teach Sentence Combining

To teach sentence combining effectively, educators should use a combination of explicit instruction, modeling, discussion, and hands-on practice. All of these should be broken up into manageable lessons. When it comes to the material:

• Start with conjunctions. Conjunctions are connector words like "and," "but," and "or" and they are used to join simple sentences together. For example, "The boy ran. The girl laughed." can be combined into "The boy ran and the girl laughed."
• Then, introduce compound subjects and objects. These use two or more nouns or pronouns together as a single subject or object in a sentence. For instance, "The cat played. The dog played." can become, "The cat and the dog played."
• Finally, incorporate adjectives and adverbs to merge sentences. For example, transforming "The dog drank water. The dog was thirsty." into "The thirsty dog drank water" demonstrates how these can be combined while adding detail.

With consistent practice and application of these techniques, students will have the skills they need to confidently combine sentences. From there, both their writing styles and ability to offer feedback to peers will improve.

Advanced Sentence Combining Strategies

As students progress, they can move on to more advanced sentence-combining methods. These techniques not only enhance sentence variety but also help students express more complex ideas with clarity. To do this, teachers can:

• Teach subordinating conjunctions. Subordinating conjunctions like "because," "although," and "since" help students connect ideas and show relationships between them. For example, "The girl was tired. She went to bed early" becomes "The girl went to bed early because she was tired."
• Introduce relative clauses. Relative clauses provide additional information about a noun and help create more complex and informative sentences. For example, "The book is interesting. The book is about animals." can become "The book about animals is interesting."
• Incorporate appositives. Appositives, which rename or describe a noun, add depth and detail to sentences. For example, "The teacher is kind. The teacher is also patient." can become "The teacher, a kind and patient person, helped the students."
• Use possessive nouns. Possessive nouns merge sentences while demonstrating ownership and relationships within a single sentence. For instance, "The boy owns a bike. The bike is red." can be combined into "The boy's red bike is shiny."

Demonstrating Sentence Combining Activities

Modeling and explaining how sentences can be combined using different techniques helps students learn how to do it themselves. To begin, present students with basic sentences, such as:

• The bird sang.
• The bird was happy.

Then, demonstrate how these sentences can be combined using a chosen method, and make sure to explain the process step-by-step. For example, here’s how to break down the process of using a conjunction to turn the three basic sentences from above into “The bird sang and was happy.”:

• Step 1—Identify the independent clauses: "The bird sang" and "The bird was happy" are both independent clauses.
• Step 2—Choose a conjunction to join the independent clauses: In this case, "and" shows that both actions “sang” and “was happy” happened.
• Step 3—Combine the clauses: Place the conjunction between the two independent clauses. "The bird sang" + "and" + "the bird was happy" becomes "The bird sang and the bird was happy."
• Step 4—Simplify the sentence: Since both clauses have the same subject ("the bird"), we can combine them, so the sentence becomes "The bird sang and was happy."

Breaking it down in this way allows students to see the logic and strategies at play. Once they have a solid grasp of one technique, move on to other more advanced methods like:

• Using an adjective: The happy bird sang with a beautiful voice.
• Using a relative clause: The bird that had a beautiful voice sang happily.
• Using subordinating conjunction: Because the bird was happy, it sang.

Students should be offered plenty of examples while learning how to combine sentences and practice should be done in both guided and independent settings. As students progress, teachers should encourage them to apply these techniques in their own writing.

The Role of Sentence Combining in Developing Advanced Writing Skills

When students practice sentence combining, they learn to vary sentence structure. In turn, their writing becomes more engaging and nuanced. They also develop a deeper understanding of grammar, which allows them to express their ideas with greater precision and sophistication.

Relevant Teaching Resources for Sentence Combining

A variety of resources can support teachers in implementing sentence-combining activities. Traditional tools like textbooks and workbooks offer structured practice, while digital platforms provide interactive learning experiences.

Voyager Sopris Learning^® offers unique solutions that provide students of all ages with guided practice and explicit instruction in sentence combining. The programs—LANGUAGE! Live^® and Step Up to Writing^®—combine evidence-based strategies with age-appropriate content to build a strong understanding of grammar and writing skills.

Conclusion

Sentence combining is the process of merging independent clauses—it’s an important skill for beginning writers to grasp. Once students master this skill through the various techniques and strategies discussed in this article, their writing abilities will skyrocket. Educators should support this growth through consistent practice and varied instruction. For additional support, check out the writing instruction solutions offered by Voyager Sopris Learning.