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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Thanksgiving Build-a-Sentence Worksheet
Build and write sentences about Thanksgiving with a cut-and-paste Thanksgiving worksheet for kindergarten and first grade.
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Dressing Up A Sentence - Interactive or Printable Activity
Encourage students to add more descriptive language into their sentence writing with this activity.
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Is/Are Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Practice using is and are correctly using a set of Subject-Verb agreement task cards.
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Types of Sentences Scoot Activity
Reinforce understanding of the 4 types of sentences with this set of 20 task cards.
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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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Roll and Write – Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences
Practice writing simple, compound, and complex sentences with our Roll and Write activity.
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Make a Sentence – Worksheet
A set of worksheets where students unscramble words to create a sentence.
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Everyday Grammar Sentence Structure Warm-Ups – Grades 5 and 6 Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 40 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the upper grades classroom when learning about grammar and sentence structure.
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Types of Clauses Posters
A set of five posters examining the structure of independent and dependent clauses.
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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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Very Important Verbs Worksheet
A worksheet in the theme of The Gingerbread Man that explores the importance of verbs.
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My Drawing of the Gingerbread Man Worksheet
An engaging worksheet in the theme of the Gingerbread Man that explores the use of adjectives through drawing.
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Stretchy Sentences Worksheet
Use this worksheet to help your students write detailed and descriptive 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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Conjunctions Spinners (Coordinating Conjunctions, Subordinating Conjunctions, Correlative Conjunctions)
Bring some fun to your grammar lessons with these colorful conjunctions spinners! Students spin to reveal a conjunction to use in their writing or oral language.
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Coordinating Conjunctions Dice Game
Use this hands on activity for students to create two 8 sided-dice and write compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions.
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Writing Compound Sentences Worksheet
Spark students' creativity with this conjunctions worksheet containing four images to prompt students to write compound sentences.
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Easter Grammar - Worksheets
Practice grammar conventions with a pack of Easter English worksheets.
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C.O.P.S. and A.R.M.S Editing Anchor Charts
Encourage students to proofread and edit their writing using the C.O.P.S. and A.R.M.S acronyms with printable writing anchor charts and editing checklists.
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Cupid's Compound Sentences Valentine's Day Activity
Build some sweet sentence writing skills using a fun Valentine’s Day Compound Sentence interactive activity.
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Valentine's Day - 3rd Grade English Worksheets
Review and practice a wide range of grammar skills with a pack of printable 3rd grade writing worksheets.
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Holiday Worksheet - Easter Sentences
Build and write sentences about Easter sentence-building worksheets.
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Holiday Worksheet - Groundhog Day
Build and write sentences about Groundhog Day with a no-prep Groundhog Day worksheet.
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Springtime Sentence Building - Interactive Activity
Build a strong sentence-writing foundation with an interactive spring sentence-building activity.
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United States Patriotic Symbols - Holiday Worksheets
Build and write sentences about patriotic holidays in the United States with a group of six holiday sentence-building worksheets.
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Write About It! Spiders
Differentiate writing instruction in primary grades with a group of leveled informational writing prompts about spiders
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Groundhog Day Vocabulary Cards and Writing Center
Create a vocabulary and writing center with a Groundhog Day for Kids word wall and writing template.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Sentence Worksheet
Build, read, and write sentences about Martin Luther King, Jr. with a cut-and-paste sentence building worksheet.
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Earth Day Build a Sentence Worksheet
Build and write sentences about Earth Day with a cut-and-paste Earth Day worksheet for kindergarten and first grade.
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Patriotic Holiday Worksheets – Sentence Building
Build and write sentences about different patriotic holidays with this cut-and-paste worksheet
- 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