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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Complete Sentence vs Fragment Sentence Sort
Make sentence structure lessons engaging and hands-on with this playful Complete Sentence vs Fragment sorting activity.
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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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Comparative Connectives Worksheet Pack
Teach comparative connectives with this set of 9 progressive worksheets designed to help your students show similarity and difference in their writing.
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Conditional Connectives Worksheet Pack
Teach conditional connectives with this scaffolded pack of 9 worksheets that help primary students master cohesion in their writing.
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Addition Connectives Worksheet Pack
Teach addition connectives with this scaffolded pack of 9 worksheets that help primary students master connecting ideas and adding information to their writing.
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Cohesive Paragraph Digital Quiz
Explore what makes a cohesive paragraph using this interactive digital quiz that helps students identify cohesive devices in context.
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Complete and Incomplete Sentences Teaching Slides
Teach students about complete and incomplete sentences with this set of teaching slides.
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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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Digital Subject and Verb Agreement Quiz
Engage students with this subject and verb agreement quiz, a fun and interactive digital resource that helps learners master subject-verb agreement.
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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 Trains - Sentence Building Activity
Teach your year 1 students about sentence types and punctuation with Sentence Trains, a fun Sentence Building Activity.
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Building Sentences Earth Day Worksheet (F-1)
Build and write sentences about Earth Day with a printable Earth Day Worksheet for Foundation Year.
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Christmas - Simple, Complex, and Compound Sentence Sort
Read, identify and write simple, compound and complex sentences with a dash of Christmas.
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Active Voice and Passive Voice Poster
A beautifully illustrated poster explaining active voice and passive voice.
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Passive Voice Poster
A beautifully illustrated poster explaining passive voice.
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Active Voice Poster
A beautifully illustrated poster explaining active voice.
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Active Voice and Passive Voice PowerPoint
A 13 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about active voice and passive voice.
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Let's Build a Sentence Unit Plan
This English unit has been designed to introduce the key components of simple and compound sentences to younger students; specifically, capital letters and punctuation; verbs, nouns, adjectives and conjunctions.
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Building Compound Sentences
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that a compound sentence is made up of two or more main clauses joined together by a conjunction.
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Let's Build a Sentence
A 60 minute lesson in which students will write simple and compound sentences.
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Using Adjectives to Describe a Character
A 60 minute lesson in which students will use adjectives to describe the personality and appearance of characters.
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Building Simple Sentences
A 60 minute lesson in which students will build a simple sentence.
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Common and Proper Nouns
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that a noun is a naming word used for a person, place or object.
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What is a Sentence?
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that a simple sentence is a group of words that contains a subject, a verb and expresses a complete thought.
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Active Voice and Passive Voice
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify and use active voice and passive voice in sentences.
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Using Adjectives
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that an adjective provides information about a noun and is often called a describing word.
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Capital Letters and Punctuation - Fix It!
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that capital letters and punctuation are used to build sentences.
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Capital Letters and Punctuation
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that capital letters and different types of punctuation are used to build sentences.
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Very Important Verbs
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify that a verb describes an action in clauses or sentences.
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10 Tips for Teaching the Foundations of Sentence Structure
Increase the fun factor during your language lessons with these top tips for securing student understanding of sentence structure!
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Fun Ways to Learn with LEGO in the Classroom
From learning sentence structure to coding activities, using Lego for learning in the classroom is a no brainer.
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26 Fun Punctuation Resources and Activities
Are you looking for some fun and engaging punctuation activities and resources for the classroom?
- 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