Effective Instructional Strategies
Improving Sentence
Writing Ability Through
Sentence-Combining Practice
TEACHING Exceptional Children, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 6-11. Copyright 2007 CEC.
Bruce Saddler • Jennifer Preschern
Young writers usually begin to write by
creating sentences. They learn to create
sentences by expressing what their
teachers term complete thoughts. After
mastering this feat, they move on to creating sentences that declare, question,
or exclaim. Finally, they string together
enough sentences to qualify as a paragraph and then a short story. But this
process can be derailed when young
writers encounter the challenges of
writing sentences.
Creating well constructed sentences
is challenging for most writers. For less
skilled writers, including writers with
learning disabilities (LD), it can be even
more difficult. These writers generally
produce less syntactically complex sentences that contain more grammatical
errors (Myklebust, 1973). They may
also produce sentences that are shorter;
have higher percentages of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling errors;
and are lower in overall quality than
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those of their average-achieving peers
(Graham & Harris,
1989; Myklebust).
Anderson
(1982)
suggests that less
skilled writers have
more missing subjects and verbs in
their writing than
regularly achieving
students, and more often overuse the
connector and.
Pete was a third grader, and one of
these less skilled writers. Two years ago,
he was identified as having a learning
disability. His Wechsler (WISC-R;
Wechsler, 1974) performance standard
score was 84 and he had a second-grade
reading level, according to the Wide
Range Achievement Test (WRAT-3;
Wilkinson, 1993). His individualized
education program (IEP) included a
written expression goal, and his teacher
reported that his stories were very short,
lacked interest, and often contained
simple, repetitive sentences. Pete did
not like writing very much and often
could not think of what to say when
asked to write.
Pete’s teacher, Ms. Asaro, used a
writing workshop approach in her
classroom. Ms. Asaro enjoyed teaching
writing and gave her students time
every day to write. In addition, she met
with each of her students regularly and
provided minilessons to sharpen skills
that needed additional support. She
would often model writing tasks, and
also allowed her students choice in
writing topics. Early in the year, Pete
wrote a story for Ms. Asaro
I saw a girl named cat at the
snow arena. She was zooming up
the hill on her jet pack. It was
amazing. I wish I had one. She
showed me where to get one. I get
one and I was happy. The End.
Ms. Asaro decided that the short,
choppy sentences Pete used to compose
his stories were actually making his
writing less enjoyable to read. She
decided to include a writing technique
that she had read about in her instruction for Pete: sentence combining. She
believed that this supplemental sentence-level instruction would help Pete
create better, more varied sentences
that might also make his stories more
interesting.
In this article, we discuss the benefits
of sentence combining and how sentence-combining practice can help writers craft more interesting sentences that
convey their ideas in a variety of ways.
In addition, we provide suggestions to
assist teachers in adding sentence-combining instruction to their current writing instruction.
Sentence Combining
Sentence combining was originally
developed in the 1970s to provide systematic instruction in sentence construction skills. Despite evidence that
sentence combining can be used to
improve students’ sentence construction skills (Hillocks, 1986; O’Hare,
1973), such instruction is not a frequently included component in popular
whole-language approaches to writing
instruction, such as Writers’ Workshop
(Pritchard, 1987). However, many students with writing disabilities may
require more explicit and focused
instruction (Harris & Graham, 1996).
Sentence combining can provide systematic instruction in sentence construction skills within an overall framework of the writing workshop. In fact,
researchers have found that sentencecombining practice can help young writers create qualitatively better stories and
increase the amount and quality of revisions (Saddler & Graham, 2005).
Sentence-combining
practice can help writers
craft more interesting
sentences that convey their
ideas in a variety of ways.
What Does the Literature Say About Sentence-Combining Practice?
Researchers have documented the positive effects of sentence-combining practice
with writers from elementary age (Gale, 1968) through college (Smith & Combs,
1980). Researched areas include (a) the efficacy of oral training (Ney, 1966); (b)
the impact on reading rate and comprehension, (Wilkinson & Patty, 1993); (c) the
less skilled writer (Saddler & Graham, 2005); and (d) the durability of gains
(Combs, 1975). However, despite generally strong evidence of its effectiveness
from many research efforts in the 1970s and 1980s, sentence combining is not well
known or used in classrooms today.
In a recent study by Saddler and Graham (2005), the researchers assessed the
effects of a sentence-combining procedure involving peer-assisted practice with
more and less skilled young writers. Forty-two students in the fourth grade
received either sentence-combining instruction or grammar instruction. Students
were paired for instruction and received thirty 25-minute lessons, three times a
week for 10 weeks outside their regular classrooms. The results indicated that in
comparison to peers receiving grammar instruction, students in the experimental
treatment condition became more adept at combining simpler sentences together
to create more complex sentences. In addition, the experimental students' sentence-combining skills transferred to a story-writing task, which resulted in
improvements in both writing quality and revising ability.
learning and manipulating syntactic
options in their own writings.
✍ Students may reduce the choppy or
run-on sentence style. Specific pattern drill and mindful syntactic
manipulation allow the writers to
become aware of syntactic alternatives. This awareness may boost students’ confidence in their ability to
manipulate sentence syntax, and
make them more willing to vary,
experiment, and innovate in their
writing.
✍ Sentence-combining exercises can
Sentence combining provides direct,
mindful practice in manipulating and
rewriting basic or kernel sentences into
more syntactically mature or varied
forms (Strong, 1976). Through the
process of constructing and changing
sentences, students learn to untangle,
tighten, and rewrite sentences that may
be too complex for a reader to easily
understand. Conversely, students who
may write short, choppy sentences can
learn to change these sentences into
more varied and syntactically complex
sentences that better reflect what they
want to say.
Sentence-combining practice may
improve writing in four ways.
✍ Students start considering the reader’s perspective during the process of
illustrate how punctuation organizes
sentence elements and may help students become confident about punctuation (Lindemann, 1995).
✍ Sentence-combining practice may
foster revision skills by providing an
organized knowledge of syntactic
structures that enable writers to consider alternatives in sentence structures (Hillocks, 1986; see box, “What
Does the Literature Say About
Sentence-Combining Practice?”).
Instructional Recommendations
Sentence combining can be easily
taught and practiced alongside the writing process approach whether in an
inclusive classroom, a resource room, or
a self-contained setting. The exercises
can be introduced and practiced at any
time, although writers may most effectively apply it during the revising stages
(as students review their writing to
determine if sentence-level changes can
be made).
In the following sections we describe
how to introduce sentence combining,
provide examples of using such exercises to improve sentence variety and correct fragments and run-on sentences,
and offer suggestions on evaluating student responses.
Creating Exercises
The first step in creating sentence-combining exercises is to analyze a sample
of your student’s writing to determine
what skills need to be acquired (see
Table 1). For example, Ms. Asaro
noticed after reading Pete’s writing sample that many of his sentences followed
a very similar simple pattern that made
his stories hard to read and not very
enjoyable. Pete was the only writer in
her class that she believed needed direct
sentence-level instruction; however, if
several students or the whole class
lacked the same skill, she could teach
these activities to the entire group (see
Table 1).
Even if the student’s writing does not
have many short, choppy sentences, as
Pete’s had, it is usually best to start with
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Table 1. Creating Sentence-Combining Exercises
Instructional Approach
Original Sentences
Combined Sentence
Cued exercises
The cake was delicious.
The cake was chocolate.
The chocolate cake was delicious.
provide the student with a “clue
word” to prompt a certain sentence
combination.
The redundant information in the
second sentence has been eliminated,
and only the underlined clue word
included in the new combination.
OR
provide the student with a
parenthetical word at the end of
the sentence to be combined.
The boy fell over the chair. He lost
his balance. (because)
The boy lost his balance because he
fell over the chair.
Once students are comfortable with combining sentences using clues or parenthetical words, the teacher can move to open
instruction.
Open exercises require the student to
decide what important material in
the second sentence to include in a
combined sentence. Many sentence
combinations are possible.
The boy fell over the chair. The chair
was broken.
The boy fell over the broken chair.
With practice, the student understands
that the word “broken” in the second
sentence offers new information and
should be included in the new
combination.
Once students are comfortable with combining two or three kernel sentences, the intellectual stakes can be raised.
Open, naturalistic exercises elicit
many interesting combinations
and would provide a meaningful
conversation regarding which
version sounds best.
The apple fell. The apple was green.
It fell from the branch. It didn't hit
anyone.
The green apple fell from the branch,
hitting no one.
OR
Falling from the branch, the green
apple did not hit anyone.
OR
The green apple did not hit anyone
when it fell from the branch.
exercises that combine two simple
sentences to make one sentence with
compound parts or one compound sentence. Keep the two sentences in the
exercise as similar as possible, except
for the words to be combined. For
example, choose sentences such as The
dog is big. The dog ran fast.
Initially, exercises can be created
from a literature series or other classroom books by simply reducing a passage into kernel sentences. Well-known
stories can be reduced to kernels and
then rewritten by student pairs. The
new versions could then be read and
discussed for rhetorical effect. Classroom activities or school events could
also be sources of inspiration, along
with the lives and interests of the stu8
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dents themselves. Textbooks, newspapers, and magazines also provide suitable content for sentence-combining
exercises. These sources provide a
bonus for students by providing information on a new concept or reinforcing
a lesson while practicing writing.
These contrived exercises can be
expanded so students can work and
rework their own prose, thereby practicing controlling and manipulating the
syntactic options available to them
within their actual writing (Strong,
1986). The most naturalistic way to
engage students at their level of understanding and to also provide direct resolution of problems associated with a
current piece of writing is to use students’ work.
Introducing Sentence Combining
Introduce sentence-combining exercises
to the class by explaining that this activity will help the students write more
interesting sentences that will also
sound better to readers. Add that good
writers often work with their sentences
to make them sound better. Make it
clear that there will usually be more
than one answer for many of the problems and that mistakes are opportunities for learning. Explain that mistakes
are expected, as many of the students
may be experiencing certain sentence
combinations for the first time.
Begin with whole-class discussion by
showing students a simple pair of kernels and modeling how to combine
them. Then share what your thinking
was in performing the combination and
why the new combination sounds better. Suggest that when combining sentences, they may move words or parts
around, delete or change words or
parts, or add words or parts to the sentences to make them sound better—just
as skilled writers do. If necessary, circle
the words that are the same in both sentences, and show how redundant information can be eliminated. Write all the
different possibilities on the board, and
explain why some options are better
than others.
After modeling several sentences, the
students should practice either independently or with a peer, with teacher
support as needed. After allowing the
students some time to work on practice
sentence combinations, have them share
all the different possible solutions, either
orally or by writing responses on an
overhead or board. Point out the best
options, and discuss why they are better.
During these discussions, researchers
suggest including oral practice along
with written (Frank, 1993; Strong,
1986). Oral practice can be included
simply and effectively by presenting kernel sentence clusters on an overhead
and then asking student pairs to discuss
the kernels and provide examples of
combinations. The teachers can write
down, read aloud, and then discuss suggestions provided by several student
pairs to identify which “sound” the best.
Using Sentence Combining
to Teach Sentence Variety
Once students understand the concept of
combining sentences, sentences can be
varied and specific skills can be targeted.
For example, to teach more sophisticated
time transitions, choose two sentences
such as The woman opened her front
door. Then, the telephone rang. Ask the
students how they could combine these
sentences and eliminate redundant
information. If the students cannot
brainstorm complex sentences such as
Before the telephone rang, the woman
opened the front door or Just as the
woman opened the front door, the telephone rang, a list can be provided with
different possible time transition words
such as before, after, when, while, by the
time, until, whenever, as, and as soon as.
Encourage students to try combining the
sentences using all the different types of
transitions that express time, and discuss how the different transitions affect
the meaning of the sentence.
Once students understand
the concept of combining
sentences, sentences
can be varied and
specific skills targeted.
After the students have practiced
sentence combining as an isolated skill,
choose a paragraph that lacks the target
skill area. For example, narrative paragraphs with short, choppy sentences are
ideal for modeling compound sentences. Descriptive paragraphs (with
many sentences beginning with then)
are a good model for subordinate clauses for time relationships.
Improve descriptive paragraphs by
adding adjective clauses or appositives,
which result in more sophisticated sentences. Choose a writing sample and
work with the students to edit and combine the sentences for better grammatical flow.
Practice further by combining underdeveloped or choppy sentences. During
this process, it is important to focus on
creating better, more meaningful sentences, not on editing the work for
spelling mistakes or other technical
writing problems.
Using Sentence-Combining
Activities to Correct Run-ons
and Fragments
Run-ons and fragments often stem from
difficulty understanding punctuation
marks and sentence boundaries. Students frequently use and, but, and or to
create incredibly long sentences, or fail
to include punctuation where necessary.
Sentence-combining activities can help
students understand how sentences
function.
The first step is to analyze a student’s writing to determine what kind of
errors they are making. Run-on sentence mistakes typically fall into one of
two categories: failing to use periods to
separate thoughts, or using too many
conjunctions such as and, but, and so to
connect ideas. Fragments usually result
when students either fail to complete a
thought, or start a thought with a subordinate conjunction. Even though students may make more than one type of
mistake, choose just one to target. For
example, choose to work on eliminating
run-ons that overuse conjunctions to
connect ideas.
In order to target run-ons that fail to
use punctuation, compare the sentence
to an island that can stand alone and
then provide the students with two sentences to combine. Show them how
each independent sentence can stand
alone. Identify the subject, predicate,
and modifiers in each individual sentence. As a group, work on ways to
combine the sentences. Often, students
fail to add punctuation marks because
they are trying to create sentence variety. Because they do not understand
how to create grammatical complexity,
they end up with run-ons. Once they
can manipulate sentences, they become
aware of the boundaries among ideas.
Use the same sort of activities to help
eliminate run-ons that use conjunctions
to connect too many ideas. When introducing the activity, write the overused
conjunction onto a picture of a bridge.
(See sidebar, “How Bridge Conjunctions
Link Ideas.”) Tell students that conjunctions (specifically and, but, and so)
work as bridges to link ideas. When
there are too many bridges in a sentence, it becomes difficult to “cross” and
the reader cannot understand the
author’s meaning. Write a run-on sentence such as, My mom goes to work in
the morning and then she comes home
at night and then she makes dinner and
then she reads me a story on the board.
Replace all the ands with pictures of
bridges to help the students visualize
the problems with the sentence. Once
students see how run-ons can be confusing, pick sentences that can be combined using the overused conjunction.
When students understand the purpose
and function of these conjunctions, they
will be less likely to misuse them.
Sentence-combining activities are
also effective for eliminating sentence
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How Bridge Conjunctions Link Ideas
My mom goes to work in the morning
night
then she makes dinner
fragments that start with subordinate
conjunctions. Students often write fragments because they don’t understand
the purpose of the cohesive words. Just
as with the previously discussed
method of teaching students how to
eliminate run-ons, choose two sentences that can be combined using the
conjunction that is often misused in the
writing. Figure 1 illustrates which sentence-combining skills respond to specific writing needs.
Sentence Combining During
Revising
Once the revision process has been
modeled, have the students edit one of
their own pieces of writing. The goal is
for them to find two or three places to
add sentence variety, ideally using the
skill that has been taught. For example,
if you have been working on writing
more sophisticated paragraphs by using
participle phrases, have the students
either choose a sentence that can be
embellished using a participle phrase, or
identify two sentences that can be combined to create one sentence with a participle phrase. If necessary, help them
find places to make changes. Again, the
focus is on improving meaning, not on
writing mechanics such as spelling or
punctuation.
After the students have proofread a
previous piece, assign a new writing
topic; in this piece, the students should
include at least two sentences that target the writing goal. For example, if
working on cause/effect subordinate
clauses, there should be two sentences
that correctly use because, since, so, or
even though. Because the overall goal of
writing is meaning, not just grammar,
also allow the students to add these
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grammatically complex sentences during the revision process.
Another great way to increase students’ metacognitive awareness of the
skill is to have them proofread each others’ work. Have the students look for
one sentence that they think is written
well in a partner’s work, and one place
where there could be a revision. Allow
the students about 10 to 15 minutes to
work while providing assistance to
those who need it. Then, ask students
to provide one positive comment and
one corrective comment on their partners’ work. Students really enjoy being
sentence detectives. In addition, it helps
them see that the revising process is not
just about fixing spelling and making
capital letters!
Evaluating Responses
While rating responses, students may
want to establish criteria to help them
test the overall “correctness” of a combined sentence. Although our language
does have rules governing syntax, don’t
launch into a detailed discussion about
the grammatical issues in play. Effectiveness is a much better indicator of
merit. Gauging effectiveness encourages
risk taking as it welcomes “mistakes” as
opportunities for problem solving.
Within this context, “mistakes” become
sentences that can be formed in better
ways than the writer originally tried.
Nemans (1995) recommends three
standards to aid students in gauging the
effectiveness of responses: (a) clarity
and directness of meaning, (b) rhythmic
appeal, and (c) intended audience.
Think of the reasons you like to read
your favorite author. Why does their
writing appeal to you? Initially, these
three standards could be applied to sentence combinations through teacher
then she reads me a story
modeling and discussion. Students
could then use the standards to rate
each other’s responses. These questions
can also serve as whole-class discussion
starters about sentence combining.
Final Thoughts
Although sentence-combining exercises
have proven effective in increasing the
syntactical fluency of writers (Saddler &
Graham, 2005), they only represent one
component within a writing program.
Ms. Asaro supplemented her writing
instruction with sentence-combining
practice for Pete; she did not replace any
of her other instruction. As Ms. Asaro
discovered, these exercises were not a
“quick-fix.” Pete needed 2 months of
practice via short, frequent minilessons
before Ms. Asaro noticed his writing
consistently improving. Ms. Asaro collected this writing sample from Pete following their practice:
There was an alien who crashed
on the earth. His name was Joe.
He went to the phone and called
the police. The police didn’t hear
him, so he hung up. Then last
night he went over to his space
ship and boom! a lot of smoke
came out. He couldn’t believe it,
but he did. So he got working on it
but before it was almost done he
fell asleep. That night a squirrel
came out and fixed it and then
went away. In the morning he
woke up and said, Wow. Then he
got in and went home. The End.
Ms. Asaro used sentence-combining
exercises as one component in a wellrounded writing program that included
ample time for writing, conferencing
between peers and teachers, minilessons to increase skills, teacher modeling, and choice in assignments to fill a
much needed void in her instruction.
Figure 1. Sentence-Combining Skills for Specific Writing Needs
Student writing has
short, choppy sentences
Student writing uses
first, second, third,
then, and next as the
only transitions
Student writing
overuses but and so
Student writing is
unsophisticated and
simplistic
➙
Teach how to make compound
subjects, predicates, and
adjective modifiers
Teach how to make compound
sentences using and, but, and or
➙
Teach how to make complex
sentences using subordinate clauses
that express time relationships,
using before, after, when, while,
by the time, until, whenever, as,
and as soon as
➙
Teach how to make complex
sentences using subordinate
clauses that express cause and
effect relationships using because,
since, so and even though
➙
The time invested in direct skill instruction on the sentence level benefited
Pete, as his sentences were more varied
and interesting and the overall quality
of his stories improved.
Although writing sentences can test a
writer’s ability, by supplementing your
writing curriculum with sentence-combining instruction, you can help your
students craft sentences that are varied
and interesting. Through sentence-combining instruction, the “Petes” in your
classroom can learn and practice an
important writing skill that will help
improve their writing performance.
References
Anderson, P. L. (1982). A preliminary study
of syntax in the written expression of
learning disabled children. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 15, 359–362.
Combs, W. E. (1975). Some further effects
and implications of sentence combining
exercises for the secondary language arts
Teach how to make complex
sentences using subordinate
clauses that express conditional
relationships, using unless, if,
although, and otherwise
Teach how to use adjective phrases
using who, whom, whose, that,
and which; appositives; and
participle phrases
curriculum. Dissertation Abstracts International, 36, A1266.
Frank, M. (1993). Using sentence-combining
to teach sentence structure. A demonstration given at TESOL meetings and at
meetings abroad, New York, NY. (ERIC
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366 208)
Gale, I. F. (1968). An experimental study of
two fifth grade language arts programs
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Graham, S., & Harris, K. (1989). Improving
learning disabled students’ skills at composing essays: Self-instructional strategy
training. Exceptional Children, 56, 201–214.
Harris, K., & Graham, S. (1996). Memo to
constructivists: Skills count, too. Educational Leadership, 53, 26–29.
Hillocks, G. (1986). Research on written composition. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse
on Reading and Communication Skills.
Lindemann, E. (1995). A rhetoric for writing
teachers. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Myklebust, H. R. (1973). Development and
disorders of written language, Vol. 2:
Studies of normal and exceptional children.
New York: Grune & Stratton.
Nemans, B. S. (1995). Teaching students to
write. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ney, J. W. (1966). Applied linguistics in the
seventh grade. English Journal, 25,
895–897.
O’Hare, F. (1973). Sentence combining:
Improving student writing without formal
grammar instruction. Champaign, IL:
National Council of Teachers of English.
Pritchard, R. (1987). Effects on student writing of teacher training in the National
Writing Project Model. Written Communication, 4, 51–67.
Saddler, B., & Graham, S. (2005). The effects
of peer-assisted sentence combining
instruction on the writing of more and less
skilled young writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 43–54.
Smith, W. L., & Combs, W. E. (1980). The
effects of overt and covert cues on written
syntax. Research in the Teaching of
English, 14, 19-38.
Strong, W. (1976). Close-up: Sentence combining. English Journal, 24, 56–65.
Strong, W. (1986). Creative approaches to
sentence combining. Urbana, IL: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills and the National Council of
Teachers of English.
Wechsler, D. (1974). Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for Children-Revised. New York:
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Wilkinson, G. (1993). WRAT-3: Wide Range
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Range, Inc.
Wilkinson, P. A., & Patty, D. (1993). The
effects of sentence combining on the reading comprehension of fourth grade students. Research in the Teaching of English,
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Bruce Saddler (CEC NY Federation), Assistant Professor, Department of Educational
and Counseling Psychology, Division of Special Education, University of Albany. Jennifer
Preschern, Reading and Language Specialist,
LEAP Learning Systems, Evanston, Illinois.
Address correspondence to Bruce Saddler,
Department of Educational and Counseling
Psychology, University of Albany, Albany, NY
12222 (e-mail: [email protected].
edu).
Author’s Note: “Pete” and “Ms. Asaro” are
pseudonyms for an actual third-grade student
and his teacher.
TEACHING Exceptional Children, Vol. 39,
No. 3, pp. 6–11.
Copyright 2007 CEC.
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