Quick lessons stop run-on sentences.Teaching children how to identify and fix poorly crafted sentences goes hand in hand with teaching them about flow - that is, how writers make sentences connect seamlessly in a paragraph. The following activities will help students with one of the most common types of sentence snafus, run-ons. ACTIVITY GRADES 4-8 PURPOSE To help students correct run-on sentences run-on sentence n. See fused sentence. Noun 1. run-on sentence - an ungrammatical sentence in which two or more independent clauses are conjoined without a conjunction within a paragraph. MATERIALS strips of paper, a paragraph from a nonfiction book, tape, overhead projector, markers TIME NEEDED 30 minutes The Runaway Sentence 1 To prepare, select a paragraph from a work of nonfiction related to a unit you are studying. Copy the words from the paragraph end to end on strips of paper, leaving out connecting words such as both, also, besides, even, and furthermore. Create run-on sentences by making all capital letters lowercase, and eliminating end-of-sentence punctuation punctuation [Lat.,=point], the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used; the term also refers to the signs themselves. In every language, besides the sounds of the words that are strung together there are other features, such as tone, accent, and marks. Tape the strips of paper together and fold them along the taped edges. 2 Introduce the activity by asking a helper to unfold the runaway sentence. Students will probably be amazed a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. as they watch it unfurl. Explain that the strip includes several run-on sentences, and the objective of the activity is to write a paragraph containing good sentence structure. 3 Ask students to decide where capital letters and punctuation are needed. Have them make the corrections using a marker. 4 Have students cut the complete sentences apart and post them in paragraph form. 5 Ask students to list criteria for writing a complete sentence. They may say: * Begin with a capital letter. * End with a period, question mark, or exclamation point exclamation point: see punctuation. exclamation point - exclamation mark . * Must make sense. * Do not run on and on. * State a complete thought. EXTENSION ACTIVITY For sentences to flow within a paragraph, writers need to do more than capitalize and punctuate punc·tu·ate v. punc·tu·at·ed, punc·tu·at·ing, punc·tu·ates v.tr. 1. To provide (a text) with punctuation marks. 2. correctly. You can reinforce that point this way. 1 Place a transparency of the original, well-written paragraph on the overhead projector and read it aloud. 2 Ask students to compare and contrast this paragraph with the one they assembled. Record their ideas on a Venn diagram A graphic technique for visualizing set theory concepts using overlapping circles and shading to indicate intersection, union and complement. It was introduced in the late 1800s by English logician, John Venn, although it is believed that the method originated earlier. . 3 Summarize by pointing out that authors expand sentences by combining details in interesting ways. Show other examples. ACTIVITY GRADES 4-8 Combat Run-ons PURPOSE To show students how to recognize and correct run-on sentences. MATERIALS reproducible on page 42 TIME NEEDED 20 minutes 1 Display the run-on sentence example (below). 2 Explain that a run-on sentence occurs when two or more simple sentences are joined without punctuation or a connecting word. 3 Have students look at the example, think about various ways to correct it, and write revised versions Revised Version n. A British and American revision of the King James Version of the Bible, completed in 1885. Revised Version Noun . 4 Distribute the reproducible. Read and discuss "How to Correct a Run-on Sentence," then ask students to identify the strategies they used to fix the example. 5 For extra practice, have students correct the run-ons in Part 2. Name _____ Date _____ How to Correct a Run-on Sentence PART 1 Create new sentences by adding periods and using capital letters. Example: Some people call diving beetles diving beetle: see water beetle. water tigers Wa´ter ti´ger 1. (Zool.) A diving, or water, beetle, especially the larva of a water beetle. See Illust. Add a connecting word such as and, but, so, while, as, when, because, or before. Example: Some people call diving beetles water tigers because they will just grab an insect and swallow it. Change words around and eliminate unnecessary words. Example: Because they grab and swallow insects, diving beetles are called water tigers. Identify the strategies you used to correct the same run-on sentence. Write A, B, and/or C here: PART 2 Revise the following run-on sentence using any of the strategies listed above. On Saturday my sister and I were raking raking of an elephant—see back raking. leaves we found her lost chocolate bar. _____ I visited Chocolate World we saw how they poured the melted chocolate into molds it looked so good I felt like sticking my hand in the chocolate and licking Licking, river, c.320 mi (515 km) long, rising in E Ky. and flowing NW to the Ohio River opposite Cincinnati; the North and South Forks are its chief tributaries. it. |
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