Category Archives: English Writing Instruction

In English, we have three types of sentences: simple, compound and complex. Each trumps in particular situations.

A simple sentence is one containing one independent clause (one complete subject and one complete predicate). Almost an infinite variety of simple sentences can be formed, making them the bedrock of modern-day English.

Simple sentences can be just one word (Run!). They can be two or three words (The dog barked. He did?) They can have compound subjects (Jack and Jill went up a hill) or compound predicates (Marie plays softball and swims). They can start with prepositional phrases (On my bike I rode to Grandma’s), gerund phrases (Munching carrots is a healthy snack) or adjectives (Big snakes scare me). They can end with adverbs (I practice the piano daily), infinitive phrases (That’s a good place to fish) or verbs (Will you go?). They can be declarative (I see), interrogative (Would you buy me one too?) and exclamatory (I won the spelling bee!).

Why use simple sentences in your writing?

• Simple sentences can express ideas clearly. ( “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

• Short, simple sentences can add punch after a long-winded sentence. (“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge — and more.”)

• Simple sentences can seem honest and to the point. (“Jesus wept.”)

• Simple sentences can mimic uncomplicated and unadorned thought patterns. (I wasn’t sure what to do. It was so dark. The baby was sobbing. I needed help. So I phoned you.)

• Simple sentences can be expanded by modifying subjects, verbs and objects with adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, gerund phrases, infinitive phrases.

• Simple sentences can seem more informal than complex sentences yet more sophisticated than certain types of compound sentences. (“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”)

As little children learning to write, we start with simple sentences. Then teachers introduce compound and complex sentences, encouraging students to use those kinds. Yet some great writers have built their careers on writing simple sentences—Ernest Hemingway, for example.

(To show their versatility, I wrote every sentence in this blog as a simple sentence. Did you notice?)

Some students to whom I have tutored writing tell me their teachers suggest a different kind of prewriting organizer for every kind of essay essay.

That’s ridiculous.

Most children can rely on three types of prewriting organizers for the kind of writing they are expected to do in elementary and middle school.

A mind web (sometimes called a spider web) works great for most expository and persuasive essays. The topic goes in the middle of the notebook paper, and, like spokes of a wheel, two, three or four spokes go out to subtopics. Each subtopic is further subdivided into many more details.

A modified timeline works great for most narratives. At the top left of a notebook page goes the word “beginning.” Branching off from it are the words “setting” (divided into “time” and “place”), “characters,” “problem to be solved,” and “how it begins.” A little farther down the page on the left is the word “middle” and next to it and covering most of the page is a sequence of actions (the plot). At the bottom are the words “climax” and “resolution” where are listed the high point of the drama and how the story ends.

For comparison or contrast essays, either a chart with three or four vertical sections or a Venn diagram works well. I prefer the chart because the overlapping section of a Venn diagram is often too small (the way children draw it) to allow much detail to be written there. But either can work.

For reluctant writers or for young writers I break this rule of three and use as many kinds of prewriting organizers that encourage the child to write. One time I taught a third-grader who was going through a transformer phase. Each week I would draw the outline of a different transformer which he delighted in filling in with details of his planned paragraph.

As a professional writer and tutor who knows a lot about writing, I face the problem of contradicting a teacher who seems to know little about writing. (I have a masters degree in middle grades education and for that degree I was not required to take a single course in how to teach writing. Many grade level teachers haven’t taken a how-to-teach-writing course either.) If a teacher is suggesting a different type of prewriting organizer for every writing situation, the child can becme overwhelmed in remembering what kind to use in what situation. I suggest that he follow his teacher’s instructions when he is writing a school essay, but when he is with me, I suggest he rely on just three choices: the mind web, the modified time line and either the chart or Venn diagram.

I have paged through various writing workbooks meant for children and find numerous prewriting organizer styles when only three are needed. Why would a workbook publisher suggest so many? The reason is simple: to make money. The publisher thinks unsuspecting parents will decide knowing many kinds of prewriting organizers is necessary.

The fewer choices there are to remember, the more likely a student will remember and will use those choices. Stick to three prewriting organizers—a mind web, a modified time line and either a chart or Venn diagram.