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Year 8 · English · Drama: writing scenes · Lesson 2

Sentences and punctuation for effect

Sentence types, lengths, openers and punctuation (ellipsis, dash, colon, semicolon) used deliberately for effect in creative writing.

Whiteboard video lesson: Sentences and punctuation for effect

20-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Identify simple, compound, complex and minor sentences
  • Use sentence length to control pace
  • Vary sentence openers
  • Use punctuation for effect

The method

  1. Mix sentence types.
  2. Use length to control pace.
  3. Vary openers.
  4. Use punctuation for effect.

Key words: simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, subordinate clause, minor sentence, ellipsis, semicolon.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

What is a simple sentence?

  1. Step 1: One main clause: subject + verb
  2. Step 2: e.g. ‘The door creaked.’

Answer: One main clause, e.g. ‘The door creaked.’

Question 2

What is a compound sentence?

  1. Step 1: Two main clauses + a conjunction (and, but, so)
  2. Step 2: e.g. ‘The light flickered, but I kept walking.’

Answer: Two main clauses joined by and/but/so

Question 3

What is a complex sentence?

  1. Step 1: Main clause + subordinate clause
  2. Step 2: e.g. ‘Although I was scared, I opened the door.’

Answer: Main clause + subordinate clause