Sentence Structure Teaching Resources
Teach students the elements of sentence structure this school year with printable worksheets, sentence-building activities, sorting games and more elementary 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 Common Core curriculum, the ELA collection includes editable worksheets and teaching presentations and more to save elementary 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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The Unsinkable Titanic - Weekly Paragraph and Sentence Combining + Answer Key
Practice combining simple sentences to form compound and complex sentences with the Unsinkable Titanic Weekly Paragraphs and Sentence Combining worksheets & answer key.
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Types of Sentences Posters
Display a set of types of sentences posters to help your students discover various types of sentences.
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Simple Sentence Exit Tickets
Check your students' knowledge of simple sentences with this set of simple sentence exit tickets perfect for kindergarten.
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Simple Sentence Picture Prompt Cards
Build sentence confidence with these engaging Simple Sentence Picture Prompt Cards!
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Simple Sentence Frames and Word Bank Displays
Engage young writers with this Sentence Frame and Picture Prompts Display.
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Roll and Write - Simple and Compound Sentence Game
Play a ‘Roll-a-Sentence’ simple and compound sentence game to help your students practice writing simple and compound sentences.
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5 Star Writing Poster and Bookmark Set
Share this 5 star writing poster and bookmark set with your students to remind them how to be "star" writers!
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Statement, Question, Command & Exclamation Sentences Teaching Slides
Introduce statement, command, question, and exclamation sentences with an interactive teaching slide deck.
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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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Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences Poster Pack
Display and use these handy anchor charts to teach your students about simple, compound, and complex sentences.
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Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences Worksheets
Use this set of five grammar worksheets to teach about the structures of simple, compound and complex sentences.
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Valentine's Day Worksheet - Sentence Building
Build and write sentences about Valentine's Day with a cut-and-paste Valentine's Day worksheet for kindergarten and first grade.
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Singular and Plural Subject Verb Agreement – Interactive Activity
Teach singular and plural subject-verb agreement with this interactive drag-and-drop resource, designed to help students master correct verb usage in a fun and engaging way.
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Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences Sort
Practice reading, identifying, and writing simple, compound, and complex sentences with a sorting activity.
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Subject Verb Agreement Sentences Sort
Get your students sorting subject-verb agreement sentences quickly and effectively with this engaging hands-on activity.
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Simple Sentence Dominoes - Set 3
A set of 30 dominoes to assist younger students with building simple sentences.
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Simple Sentence Dominoes - Set 2
A set of 30 dominoes to assist younger students with building simple sentences.
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Simple Sentence Dominoes - Set 1
A set of 30 dominoes to assist younger students with building simple sentences.
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Everyday Grammar Sentence Structure Warm-Ups – Grades 1 and 2 Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 40 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the lower grades classroom when learning about sentence structure.
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Four Types of Sentences Poster Collection - Primary and Intermediate
Display these posters highlighting the four types of sentences and teach your students to use varied sentence types in their writing.
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Adjectival Clause Teaching Slides
Teach the power of the adjectival clause with this engaging slide deck designed to help elementary school students boost their descriptive writing.
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Adjective Clause Digital Quiz
Teach your students about the adjective clause with this interactive digital quiz that helps them identify how these descriptive clauses add detail to sentences.
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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 5th grade students.
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Dependent Clauses Digital Quiz
Explore dependent clauses with this interactive digital quiz that helps students identify clauses that show time, purpose, concession, condition and reason.
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Embedded Clause Worksheets
Teach the embedded clause with these engaging and easy-to-use worksheets designed to build understanding through clear examples and guided practice.
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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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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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Cohesive Sentence Interactive Activity
Engage students with interactive slides that teach the features of a cohesive sentence through a variety of hands-on activities.
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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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Sentence Cohesion Worksheet Pack
Use this sentence cohesion worksheet pack to teach your students about how to write clear sentences containing strongly connected ideas.
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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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Sentence Building Cards and Mat
Use these Sentence Building Cards with Mat to explore the main features of a simple sentence with your Kinder students.
- Sentence Structure Worksheets
- Sentence Structure Games
- Sentence Structure Templates
- Sentence Structure Posters
- Sentence Structure for Kindergarten
- Sentence Structure for 1st Grade
- Sentence Structure for 2nd Grade
- Sentence Structure for 3rd Grade
- Sentence Structure for 4th Grade
- Sentence Structure for 5th Grade
- Sentence Structure for 6th Grade