Sentence Structure Teaching Resources
Teach students the elements of sentence structure this school year with printable worksheets, sentence-building activities, sorting games and more primary school teaching resources designed to help extend your students' understanding of how to write clear and concise sentences that follow the rules of English grammar.
This extensive collection of teaching resources has been created by teachers for teachers like you. Aligned to the National curriculum, the English collection includes editable worksheets and teaching presentations and more to save primary teachers time on lesson planning.
Created by expert teachers, each resource in this sentence collection has been carefully reviewed and curated by our team. That means it's ready to use in the classroom! You'll even find editable resources, plus differentiated options.
New to teaching about sentence structure, or just looking for fresh ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teaching team!
English Sentence Structure Explained
From subjects to predicates, objects to clauses, the English language is packed with rules specific to sentence structure that students need to learn on the way to becoming proficient writers.
Ready to break down how to build a sentence in English and look at some examples? Let's go!
Subject
The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun that performs the action or is described in the sentence.
For example, in the sentence 'Jaquan did his homework,' Jaquan is the subject.
Predicate
The predicate of a sentence expresses the action or state of being in a sentence.
Let's go back to the sentence 'Jaquan did his homework.' In this case, did is the predicate.
Object
The object of a sentence is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb.
For example, 'homework' would be the object in 'Jaquan did his homework.'
Complement
The complement of a sentence is a word or phrase that completes the meaning of a sentence.
The complement can be a direct object, indirect object or subject complement.
For example: 'a doctor' in 'She became a doctor.'
Modifier
A modifier in a sentence provides additional information about a word or phrase in the sentence. It can be an adjective or an adverb. Example: 'kind' in 'She was a kind teacher.'
What Are Clauses?
Clauses are groups of words containing a subject and a verb. They're important to understand when learning sentence structure. After all, one kind of clause is a sentence!
There are two main types of clauses:
- Independent Clause — An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence because it expresses a complete thought. For example: 'I did all of my homework.'
- Dependent Clause — A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence because it does not express a complete thought. It relies on an independent clause to make sense. Example: 'When I went to the store,' (Dependent clause) 'I bought an apple.' (Independent clause). Dependent clauses can be paired with independent clauses to build sentences.
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Cohesive Devices Teaching Slides
Explore cohesive devices with this engaging teaching slide deck designed to help primary students understand and use them confidently in their writing.
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Subject and Verb Agreement Activity – Sort the Sentences
Use this subject and verb agreement activity to help your students identify correct and incorrect subject-verb agreement.
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Simple Sentence Posters
Help students understand what makes a simple sentence with this clear and engaging Simple Sentence Poster Pack.
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4 Types of Sentences Flipbook
Create a helpful types of sentences flipbook with our Differentiated 4 Kinds of Sentences foldable graphic organisers.
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Sentence Types Quiz (Year 1)
Assess your students ability to identify types of sentences and their matching punctuation with a printable Sentence Types Quiz for Year 1.
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Is or Are? Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Download these is or are task cards, designed to help students confidently choose the correct verb form while improving their grammar skills.
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Has or Have? Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Download these has or have task cards, designed to help students confidently choose the correct verb form while improving their grammar skills.
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Writing Compound Sentences with Conjunctions Worksheet
Assign this worksheet to allow students to practise using coordinating conjunctions to create compound sentences.
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Independent and Dependent Clauses Worksheet Pack
Introduce the concept of independent and dependent clauses with a set of printable sentence structure worksheets.
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Dressing Up A Sentence Activity
An activity to help encourage students to add more descriptive language into their sentence writing.
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Dependent Clause Worksheets
Explore how a dependent clause can show purpose, time, reason, concession and condition with this engaging set of worksheets for Year 5 students.
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Types of Dependent Clauses Sorting Activity
Teach the types of dependent clauses with this hands-on sorting activity that helps students explore sentence structure in a collaborative and engaging way.
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Sentence in Correct Order Digital Game
Help your students master the fundamentals of sentence structure with the Arrange Sentence in Correct Order Game!
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Combining Sentences With 'And' Worksheets
Use these printable Combining Sentences With ‘And’ Worksheets to help your students practise using the conjunction ‘and’ to form compound sentences.
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Fixing Sentence Fragments Worksheets
Use these no-prep sentence fragments worksheets to help your students improve their sentence writing skills.
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Singular and Plural Subject to Verb Agreement Matching Game
Support student grammar skills with a fun and interactive matching game that reinforces plural and singular subject to verb agreement through hands-on learning.
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Subject Verb Agreement Poster
Display this subject-verb agreement poster in your classroom to help students master singular and plural subject-verb pairs with clear explanations and example sentences.
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Sentence Saga - Sentence Construction Activity
Teach your students to build a better sentence with Sentence Saga, a printable sentence construction activity for upper primary.
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Types of Sentences - Sentence Strips Activity Pack
Use our Sentence Types - Sentence Strip Activity pack to teach your students about statements, commands, questions, and exclamation sentences.
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SPLAT! Types of Sentences Card Game (Year 1-2)
Play SPLAT!, a types of sentences game to help your students learn to identify statement, command, question, and exclamation sentences
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Statement, Question, Command & Exclamation Sentences PowerPoint
Introduce statement, command, question, and exclamation sentences with an interactive teaching slide deck.
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A or An? - Worksheets
Teach when to use A or An as an article with a printable pack of 'A or An' Worksheets.
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Subject-Verb Agreement Game
Use this subject-verb agreement game as a fun and collaborative way of teaching the fundamentals of correct sentence structure.
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Was or Were? Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Download these was or were task cards, designed to help students confidently choose the correct verb form while improving their grammar skills.
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Subject Verb Agreement Dice Game
Download this dice game for pairs of students to practise subject-verb agreement and sentence writing.
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Complete the Sentences – Worksheets for Beginning Writers
A set of 10 worksheets for students to practise completing simple sentences.
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Roll and Write – Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences
An interactive activity to help students practise writing simple, compound and complex sentences.
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Everyday Grammar Sentence Structure Warm Ups - Upper Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the upper years classroom when learning about grammar and sentence structure.
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Everyday Grammar Sentence Structure Warm Ups - Lower Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the lower years classroom when learning about grammar and sentence structure.
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Embedded Clauses Matching Game
Explore embedded clauses with this fun matching game that helps students practise building complete sentences in a collaborative setting.
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Sentence vs Fragment Worksheet Pack
Help students master the difference between what is a sentence and a fragment with this easy-to-use Sentence vs Fragment Worksheet Pack.
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Complete and Incomplete Sentences Teaching Slides
Teach students about complete and incomplete sentences with this set of teaching slides.
- Sentence Structure Worksheets
- Sentence Structure Games
- Sentence Structure Teaching Presentations
- Sentence Structure Posters
- Sentence Structure for Foundation Year
- Sentence Structure for Year 1
- Sentence Structure for Year 2
- Sentence Structure for Year 3
- Sentence Structure for Year 4
- Sentence Structure for Year 5
- Sentence Structure for Year 6