DEFINE A SENTENCE. A sentence has a subject and a verb and is a complete thought. Teach students to strip any sentence down to its core–the subject & verb. Then play Jeff Anderson’s (Mechanically Inclined) “Sentence Smackdown.”
TWO-WORD SENTENCE SEARCH. As a follow-up to Smackdown, collect two-word sentences from reading–a subject and a verb. Here are some examples found in various literature. NOTE: Exclude dialogue from the hunt, but don’t limit your search to literature/fiction.
- Look for two-word sentences in opinion/argumentative writing and all genres of informative text.
- Encourage students to look for examples in authentic text they come across in their everyday world (e.g., CD covers, restaurant placemats, greeting cards, etc.).
Article originally posted May 4, 2016.