NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

HAND OUT #6
Sentence Fluency

What is Sentence Fluency?

In any piece of writing, there are many possible ways to write any sentence correctly,
but usually, of those correct versions, one or two will sound better than others. A writer who
can pick out those versions and can use them frequently will have a strong sense of sentence
fluency. This does not mean creating longer sentences, but means using long sentences when
they would be best and short sentences when they would suit better. It means creating a sense
of rhythm with the sentences and a flow that the reader finds enjoyable to follow along. Good
sentence fluency stands out when a piece of writing is read aloud.

GRAMMAR SKILLS NECESSARY FOR SENTENCE FLUENCY

The grammar skills listed below are the ones considered necessary to teach students to
encourage good sentence fluency.
1. Fragments and complete sentences
2. Sentence structures -- simple, compound, complex, compound-complex (also including
how to combine sentences)
3. Independent and dependent clauses
4. Relative pronouns and adjective clauses
5. Action verbs, direct objects, and indirect objects
6. Linking verbs and subject complements

SENTENCE FLUENCY READ-ALOUD CHECKLIST

The best way to evaluate sentence fluency in a writing piece is to listen to it read
aloud. As it is read aloud, ask the following questions.
1. Does the reader have any areas where he runs out of breath? If so, look at those areas
for possible run-on sentences.
2. Do any areas of the reading sound short and choppy? If so, check those areas for
fragments and an overuse of simple sentences. Combine some of the sentences.
3. Are there any fragments, or incomplete thoughts? If so, do they add to the message? If
not, rewrite the fragments so that they are complete sentences.
4. Do several sentences begin in the same way? If so, rewrite the sentences so that they
have different beginnings.
5. Do several sentences sound the same? If so, rework some of the sentence structures.
6. Do the sentences all seem to be of the same length? If so, rewrite some of the sentences
to add variety in the length.
7. Does the reader get lost and have to backtrack in any areas? If so, look at how the
sentences are connected to each other. Rewrite them so that their relationship is
clearer.
8. Does it sound like the way a person would normally speak? If not, rewrite the sentences
to sound the way a person would talk.
9. Do any areas of the reading sound effortless, flowing, and rhythmic? If so, these areas
contain good sentence fluency.
10. Do any areas invite expressive, oral reading? If so, they contain good sentence fluency.

Writing Activities
There is a great deal of controversy about the value of formal grammar instruction.
Unfortunately, trying to write without an understanding of what a sentence is and what
accepted usage is all about, is often like trying to paint without an understanding of color
theory. These lessons are just a few that I have taught, but they are at the core of my whole
formal writing instruction. The handouts emphasize the need to understand what are a
complete sentence, what are the major punctuation and structural errors, what is a smooth
sentence, and the necessity of clarity in your writing. All of the handouts will require teacher
instruction so don't just use one of them for busy work. Each should be part of a unified
approach to teaching how to avoid errors and write more clearly.
SUCCESSFUL PARAGRAPHS

OVERVIEW: When 4th - 6th graders are asked to write a paragraph, the result is often a few
short, choppy sentences beginning with. The, An, A, or I. This activity guides students through
the writing process for a successful five-sentence paragraph with varied sentence beginnings.
Repeating this process frequently with many, varied topics teaches students to use variety to
create interesting paragraphs.

OBJECTIVE(s): As a result of this activity, the students will each write a five-sentence
paragraph with varied sentence beginnings, correct spelling and punctuation, and appropriate
margins.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES: Each step in this activity should be modeled by the teacher
and result in a sample paragraph for the students.

1. Each student lists three material things they wish for, three happenings that would make
them happy, and three places they would like to visit.

Sample:
THINGS HAPPENINGS PLACES
Ferrari Peace on Earth Australia
Diamonds Energy consciousness Jamaica
Lottery More recycling Italy

2. Each student circles one favorite item from each list. The following five sentence patterns
are used as each student writes his/her sentences. Sentences are all numbered and begun at
the left margin in this step. A later step puts them in paragraph form. For each pattern, the
teacher models first, students give oral examples, then students write their own sentences.

3. a. This is the opening or topic sentence.

Samples:

a. Three things that would make me happy are a Ferrari, and energy conscious
society, and a trip to Australia.
b. If I had three wishes they would include.......
c. _______, _________, and ________ are three things that would make me happy.
d. Three sure ways to make me happy would be....

b. The second sentence begins with and -ing word and used the thing wished for.

Samples:
a. Racing down the freeway in my Ferrari, I would be the envy of everyone I met.
b. Owning a red Ferrari would probably net me many speeding tickets.
c. Driving my zippy Ferrari would be sheer pleasure.

c. The third sentence begins with "To" plus and action word and uses the happening wished
for.

Samples:

a. To live in an energy conscious society would make our lives healthier.

b. To know that everyone was energy conscious would make me feel satisfied.
c. To be aware of energy conservation should be of importance to all.

d. The fourth sentence begins with a prepositional phrase and uses the place desired to visit.

Samples:

a. During a visit to Australia, I would certainly see kangaroos.

b. For visiting Australia, I would need a new camera.
c. From a visit to Australia, I would learn about many different animals and plants.
e. The last sentence is a concluding sentence beginning with a word such as finally, certainly,
surely, etc.

Samples:
a. Certainly my wishes are attainable.
b. Surely I deserve all I wish for.
c. Hopefully my wishes will come true before I'm 50.

4. Collect student papers and proof for spelling errors.

5. Return papers and have students rewrite in paragraph form. Discuss margins and any other
criteria you will be using for scoring (ink, cursive, illustrated, etc.).

SENTENCE BEGINNINGS

This activity is meant to encourage students to vary the beginnings of sentences. Some
students get into a rut and use the same type of beginning for most of their sentences. Put the
ideas in any order you wish and add your own to the list. If you use this activity more than
once, vary the pattern.

STUDENT DIRECTIONS: Choose a writing topic for this activity. You will write at least 10
sentences, following the pattern below.

Sentence 1 -- Begin with a singular common noun.

(Do not begin with the.)
Sentence 2 -- Begin with an adjective.
Sentence 3 -- Begin with a phrase that tells when.
Sentence 4 -- Begin with a verb ending in -ing.
Sentence 5 -- Begin with a phrase that tells where.
Sentence 6 -- Begin with an interjection.
Sentence 7 -- Begin with a phrase that tells how.
Sentence 8 -- Begin with an adverb ending in -ly.
Sentence 9 -- Begin with prepositional phrase.
Sentence 10 -- Begin with a verb ending in -ed.

A similar activity is to give the students a list of rules rather than a specific pattern. Add your
own rules to the suggestions below, but be careful not to give too many rules (only five or so);
the idea is to get students to vary the sentence beginnings, not stifle their creativity.

STUDENT DIRECTIONS: Choose a writing topic for this activity. You will write at least 10
sentences, following the rules below.

1. Do not begin any sentence with a, an, or the.

2. All sentences must begin with a different word.
3. Do not begin any sentences with a common noun.
4. Do not begin any sentences with I or you.
5. Do not begin more than two sentences with the same part of speech.
LANGUAGE LESSONS

THE CLAUSE
An incomplete sentence or SENTENCE FRAGMENT is often a subordinate clause. It looks
like a sentence and has a noun and a verb, but it doesn't state a complete thought.
An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE is a complete sentence and a SUBORDINATE CLAUSE is merely
an independent clause with a SUBORDINATOR on the front of it. Some common subordinators
are when, because, then, as if, while, since and inasmuch.

EXERCISE 1
Convert each of the independent clauses to a sentence fragment by inserting a subordinator.

Example: She is helping at home.

When she is helping at home.

1. Grandpa knew the man.

2. The television is on the table.
3. The earth goes around the sun.
4. I decided to move to Toronto.
5. The job opportunities were limited.

The correction for a sentence fragment, such as the ones that you created above, is to add an
independent clause after, or before, the fragment to complete it.

EXERCISE 2
Add an independent clause to each of the fragments that you created above to make each a
complete thought. When you are finished, volunteer to write the entire construction on the
board.

Example: When she is helping at home, the work is finished sooner.

The work is finished sooner, when she is helping at home.

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS/COMMA SPLICE

Each of the following sentences is an example of either a comma splice (CS), or a sentence
fragment (SF) or a fused sentence (FS).
In the space after each sentence, indicate what the error is (use one of the short forms
above) AND THEN CORRECT IT.
There is only one error per sentence.

Marking scheme:
1 (one) mark for identifying the error correctly.
2 (two) marks for correcting the error.

1- The last thing that happened yesterday.

2- He dove into the water, he didn't notice the shark.
3- The little girl sold lighters she was very poor.
4- As I saw him leaving the school.
5- The officer stopped the car, then he checked the driver.
6- The football that he threw to the other player.
7- The Blue Jays are ahead I hope that they win.

Pronoun Reference errors

A --ambiguous pronoun reference
This is when a pronoun can refer grammatically to more than antecedent.
The teacher informed the student that he needed another test booklet. (who needed the test
booklet?)
Jane said that her mother became pregnant before she graduated from high school (was
Jane's mother a child bride?)
After Jack combed the horse's mane, it ran around the field. (What ran around the field, the
horse or the mane?)
B- Implied antecedent
A pronoun's antecedent is only implied by the wording of the sentence.
In the armed forces, they can retire at an early age. (Who are "they"?)

C- noun/pronoun disagreement.
A pronoun must agree with its antecedent both in number and case.

The army won their most important battle. (army is singular and must take a singular
possessive, not the plural "their".)
The class came to the gym for their picture. ("class" is singular and requires a singular
possessive)
Everyone has their own reason for drinking.
This is a problem that recurs every time that you are attempting to write a sentence which
avoids naming a specific sex "everyone" (and someone, no one, each one) is singular which is
obvious because it takes a singular verb "has"; therefore, it must take a singular possessive,
"his" or "her". You could write the sentence so that it takes a plural possessive if you want a
non-sexist sentence. For example,

D- Correlatives
"Either" and "neither" are called correlatives and each co-relates two things (usually). Be
careful that the verb agrees with the subject that the correlative co-relates.
Neither Fred nor John is driving. (not "are)
Neither of the men drives a truck.

PARALLEL STRUCTURE
Parallelism is defined as when two or more ideas in a sentence are alike in form and
purpose; they can and should be expressed in the same grammatical forms.

Wrong: Midge wants to hop, skip, and to jump. At work and while he was playing, Henry
always pushed himself hard. This book is out of stock and not being printed. Our band plays at
many school dances, town parades, and concert tours. We bought that fridge from a discount
store and with a four-year guarantee.

Right: Midge wants to hop, skip, and jump. At work and at play, Henry always pushed himself
hard. This book is out of stock and out of print. Our band plays at many school dances, marches
in town parades, and makes several concert tours. We bought that fridge from a discount store;
it carries a four-year guarantee.

The four common pairs of correlative conjunctions are both--and, either--or, neither--nor, and
not only--but also. Each part of the pair should be followed immediately by the same
grammatical form,
two similar phrases, or two similar clauses.

Wrong: You can either take the high road or the low road. She not only is quite rich but also
quite stingy.

Right: You can take either the high road or the low road. She is not only quite rich but also
quite stingy.

GRAMMAR SKILLS NECESSARY FOR SENTENCE FLUENCY

1. Sentence Fragments And Complete Sentences

Fragments, or incomplete sentences, occur quite frequently when we speak, so it's no

wonder sentence fragments are often found in formal writing. Consider this example:

"Hey, Sam, do you want to get some lunch?"

"I can't. Too much homework to finish before class."

 Sam's response demonstrates the way we use fragmentation in speech. Though the remark
includes the verb "finish" and several nouns, the sentence is a fragment. It lacks a subject and
verb to define the sentence. A corrected response would include a subject and verb:

"I can't. I have too much homework to finish before class."

Learning how we use fragments in our speech will help us avoid sentence fragments in our
writing.

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence. Some fragments are incomplete because they
lack either a subject or a verb, or both. The fragments that most students have trouble with,
however, are dependent clauses—they have a subject and a verb, so they look like complete
sentences, but they don't express a complete thought. They're called "dependent" because they
can't stand on their own (just like some people you might know who are SO dependent!). Look
at these dependent clauses. They're just begging for more information to make the thoughts
complete:

Because his car was in the shop (What did he do?)

After the rain stops (What then?)

When you finally take the test (What will happen?)

Since you asked (Will you get the answer?)

If you want to go with me (What should you do?)

Fragments in Writing

Sometimes fragments occur during the editing process, in trying to break up a longer sentence.
Consider the following:

"In class today we talked about Byron's poem Don Juan and its main characters. Also Byron's
own life and how it related to his works."

Again, the second phrase includes several nouns and a verb, but it cannot stand alone. The
subject of the first sentence is "we" and the verb "talked." Since the clause is dependant (a
clause that makes no sense except when attached to a sentence) it should not form a sentence.

Correcting a Fragment

There are two easy ways to correct a fragment. We'll use the example above to demonstrate
each method:

1) Add a comma and connect the clause to the sentence

"In class today we talked about Byron's poem and its main characters, as well as Byron's own
life and how it related to his works."

2) If the sentence becomes too long or wordy, add the necessary subject-verb to the clause,
creating a second sentence.

"I class today we talked about Byron's poem and its main characters. We also discussed Byron's
own life and how it related to his works."

How to Spot a Fragment

Put each phrase through a simple test:

a. Does it have a verb?

 b. Does it have a subject?
c. Can the phrase make sense standing alone (is it a dependent clause or phrase)?

Any phrase that answers "yes" to all three questions is a sentence. If any of the answers are
"no," then it is a fragment.

Other hints:

Fragments are often prepositional phrases, beginning with words like these:

after, although, because, before, if, though, unless, until, when, where, who, which, and that.

When you see such a word at the beginning of a sentence, check for a proper subject and verb. If
you can't find one, the sentence is a fragment.

ex. "We are going to play tennis outside today. Unless it rains."

Remember, even phrases which may have a noun and verb can be fragments if they could not
stand alone. "Unless it rains" makes no sense by itself, so it should be attached to a sentence:

"We are going to play tennis outside today, unless it rains."

2. Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses

When you want to use commas and semicolons in sentences and when you are concerned about
whether a sentence is or is not a fragment, a good way to start is to be able to recognize
dependent and independent clauses. The definitions offered here will help you with this.

Independent Clause

An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a
complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence.

Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz.

Dependent Clause

A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a
complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is
marked by a dependent marker word.

When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he
studied? The thought is incomplete.)

Dependent Marker Word

A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause that
makes it into a dependent clause.

When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, it was very noisy.

Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even
though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and
while.

Connecting dependent and independent clauses

There are two types of words that can be used as connectors at the beginning of an independent
clause: coordinating conjunctions and independent marker words.

1. Coordinating Conjunction
The seven coordinating conjunctions used as connecting words at the beginning of an
independent clause are and, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet. When the second independent clause in
a sentence begins with a coordinating conjunction, a comma is needed before the coordinating
conjunction:

Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, but it was hard to concentrate because of
the noise.

2. Independent Marker Word

An independent marker word is a connecting word used at the beginning of an independent

clause. These words can always begin a sentence that can stand alone. When the second
independent clause in a sentence has an independent marker word, a semicolon is needed
before the independent marker word.

Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz; however, it was hard to concentrate
because of the noise.

Some common independent markers are: also, consequently, furthermore, however, moreover,
nevertheless, and therefore.

Some Common Errors to Avoid

Comma Splices

A comma splice is the use of a comma between two independent clauses. You can usually fix the
error by changing the comma to a period and therefore making the two clauses into two
separate sentences, by changing the comma to a semicolon, or by making one clause dependent
by inserting a dependent marker word in front of it.

Incorrect: I like this class, it is very interesting.

 Correct: I like this class. It is very interesting.

 (or) I like this class; it is very interesting.
 (or) I like this class, and it is very interesting.
 (or) I like this class because it is very interesting.
 (or) Because it is very interesting, I like this class.

Fused Sentences

Fused sentences happen when there are two independent clauses not separated by any form of
punctuation. This error is also known as a run-on sentence. The error can sometimes be
corrected by adding a period, semicolon, or colon to separate the two sentences.

Incorrect: My professor is intelligent I've learned a lot from her.

 Correct: My professor is intelligent. I've learned a lot from her.

 (or) My professor is intelligent; I've learned a lot from her.
 (or) My professor is intelligent, and I've learned a lot from her.
 (or) My professor is intelligent; moreover, I've learned a lot from her.

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments happen by treating a dependent clause or other incomplete thought as a

complete sentence. You can usually fix this error by combining it with another sentence to make
a complete thought or by removing the dependent marker.

Incorrect: Because I forgot the exam was today.

  Correct: Because I forgot the exam was today, I didn't study.
 (or) I forgot the exam was today.

3. Subordinating Conjunction

A subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate clause to a main clause.

Subordinate Clause
A subordinate clause is usually introduced by a subordinating element such as a
subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun. It depends on the rest of the sentence for its
meaning. It does not express a complete thought, so it does not stand alone. It must always be
attached to a main clause that completes the meaning.
Subordinate clauses normally act as single part of speech. They can be either noun
clauses, adjective clauses, or adverb clauses.
They are sometimes called dependent clauses because they "depend" on a main clause
to give them meaning.
The italicized clauses above are subordinate clauses. The first one is an adjective clause
because it describes a noun (the word clause). The second one is an adverb clause which
describes a verb (the word called).

Main or Independent Clause

A main clause is a clause that is not introduced by a subordinating term. It does not
modify anything, and it can stand alone as a complete sentence.
The main clauses in the first two sentences of this page are italicized. The second
sentence has two main clauses, one before the comma and one after. Main clauses are
sometimes called principal or independent clauses.

The following is a list of the most common subordinating conjunctions.

after how till ( or 'til)

although if unless
as inasmuch until
as if in order that when
as long as lest whenever
as much as now that where
as soon as provided (that) wherever
as though since while
because so that
before than
even if that
even though though

An adverb clause is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction. A noun clause and

adjective clause sometimes are.

Adverb clause: Before you go, sign the log book.

Noun clause: He asked if he could leave early.

Adjective clause: That is the place where he was last seen.

A subordinating conjunction is always followed by a clause. Many subordinating conjunctions

can be other parts of speech.

Adverb:Jill came tumbling after.

Preposition: Jill came tumbling after Jack.

Subordinating Conjunction: Jill came tumbling after Jack had fallen.

4. Relative Pronoun

A relative pronoun "relates" a subordinate clause to the rest of the sentence. It may be
found in adjective and noun clauses.

A relative pronoun is found only in sentences with more than one clause.

In modern English there are five relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, and whose.

All but that can also be interrogative pronouns. That may also be a demonstrative pronoun.

In addition, these pronouns may take the suffixes -ever and -soever.

Examples (relative pronouns italicized):

He who laughs last laughs best. (Adjective clause)

I cannot believe that he said it. (Noun clause)