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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Do/Does Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Practice using DO and DOES correctly using a set of Subject-Verb agreement task cards.
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Singular and Plural Subject-Verb Agreement Sort
Provide students with additional grammar practice with a sorting activity focusing on singular and plural subject-verb agreement.
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Singular/Plural Subject Verb Agreement Card Game
Provide students with additional grammar practice with a card game focusing on singular and plural subject-verb agreement.
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Find What Doesn’t Fit: Relevant Details Worksheet
Practice determining what details are relevant and irrelevant to a topic while providing a purposeful context.
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Past, Present, and Future Verb Tense Matching Activity - Irregular Verbs
Master past, present, and future tenses of irregular verbs with a butterfly matching activity.
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Past, Present, and Future Tense Worksheets - Grades 1/2
Provide students with additional verb tense practice with worksheets focusing on changing verbs into past, present, and future tense.
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Has/Have Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using has and have correctly.
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Was/Were Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using was and were correctly
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Comma Task Cards - Grades 4-6
Practice correct comma placement in dates, series, and compound and complex sentences.
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Types of Sentences Sorting Worksheet
A cut and paste sorting worksheet to practice identifying the four types of sentences.
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Writing Compound Sentences with Conjunctions Worksheet
Assign this worksheet to allow students to practice using coordinating conjunctions to create compound 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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Build It! - End Punctuation Task Cards
A set of 20 task cards, directions, and answer key to practice forming end punctuation.
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Declarative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory Sentence Match-up Cards
A set of match-up cards to use when teaching younger students about the types of sentences.
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Statement, Question, Command, Exclamation PowerPoint
A 14-slide editable PowerPoint template that introduces the attributes of the different types of sentences.
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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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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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Independent and Dependent Clauses - Matchup Activity
A set of 5 basic worksheets aimed at the lower grades to help introduce the concept of independent and dependent clauses.
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Christmas Writing Center - Types of Sentences for 2nd Grade
Help your students answer “What Type of Sentence Is This?’ with a printable Christmas sorting activity on the 4 types of sentences.
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3rd Grade English Worksheets - Christmas Printables
Add some Christmas spirit to your December grammar lessons with a printable pack of Christmas-themed 3rd-grade English 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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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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Classroom Rules Writing Prompt Pack
Teach classroom rules and procedures and review early writing skills with Classroom Rule Writing Worksheets for primary grades.
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Synonyms and Antonyms - Build a Sentence Interactive
Build strong vocabulary and sentence-writing skills with an interactive synonyms and antonyms sentence-building activity.
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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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What's the Opposite? Differentiated Antonym Vocabulary Game
Build vocabulary and recognition of antonyms with a fun game of Antonyms Scoot!
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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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St. Patrick's Day Writing Prompt Worksheets
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and write imaginative stories using a collection of narrative writing prompts.
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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.
- 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