English language sentence structure

1. Sentences
Learning Objective: To effectively use
a range of sentence structures and
punctuation.

2. Drama Information
Excitement Variety
Tension Description
You can create all these effects with different
punctuation and a variety of sentences!
When reading
your work, your
readers want….

3. It was midnight. It was silent. The
villagers were asleep. A sound
was heard. They woke up. A
dragon was outside. It blew fire
and landed on the bridge. A
knight turned up and stabbed it
with his sword. He felt sad.
BORING!

4. In pairs, produce a mind map showing
as many ways to use sentence and
punctuation variety for purpose and
effect.
Exclamation
sentence-
creates a
sense of
urgency/
emphasis
Questions
- give the
effect of
mystery/
the
unknown

5. It was midnight. It was silent.
The villagers were asleep. A
sound was heard. They woke up.
A dragon was outside. It blew
fire and landed on the bridge. A
knight turned up and stabbed it
with his sword. He felt sad.
Putting theory into practice…

6. You must now write the next paragraph of this
story
Remember to include:
• Variety of sentence lengths
• Punctuation for emphasis
• Complex and compound sentences to build detail
• Simple sentences to show tension/ to shock.
You have 10 minutes

7. Now swap your paragraph with your partner.
• Highlight/ underline any examples of the
different sentence types and punctuation
variety that contribute to the text’s effect
• 2 stars and a wish:
1. Write down 2 good examples your partner
has used and WHY they are good “Joe used a
short sentence which added to the effect of
building tension”
2. Write down 1 thing your partner could
improve. Is there anything to add/ too many
questions?

8. Now you have explored sentences in
more depth how confident do you
feel?
On a scale of 1- 10, how confident are you
communicating using a variety of sentence
structures and punctuation for clarity,
purpose and effect?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Completely
Confused
Completely
Confident