How I Teach Complex Sentences in My Classroom

Had to post an article about one of my favorite topics - complex sentences. I love watching my students go from struggling with simple sentences to confidently putting together more detailed thoughts. Over the years, I’ve learned that the key to teaching complex sentences is breaking them down in a way that feels manageable and natural.

What Makes a Complex Sentence?

A complex sentence has two parts: an independent clause and a dependent clause. The independent clause is the part that could stand alone as a sentence. It’s a complete thought. The dependent clause, on the other hand, can’t stand alone. It needs the independent clause to make sense.

To make things clearer, I explain it like this to my students: imagine an independent clause is like a single piece of a puzzle... it works by itself. But when we add a dependent clause, it’s like we’re finding the missing pieces to complete the picture 😊

Simple to Complex - A Step-by-Step Approach

In my classroom, we start with the basics... simple sentences. My students are already comfortable with sentences like “The dog ran” or “The sun is shining.” These are great because they’re short and to the point. Once they’ve mastered these, I introduce the idea of adding more information to make the sentence more interesting.

For example, I might start with a sentence like “The kids played outside.” Then, I ask my class: “What if we want to say when they stopped playing?” That’s where I introduce a word like “until.” So, we might get something like this: “The kids played outside until it got dark.”

At first, my students find it a bit tricky to understand why this new sentence feels different. It’s when I point out that the first part, “The kids played outside,” can stand alone, but the second part, “until it got dark,” needs the first part to make sense, that the lightbulb goes off for most of them.

The Role of Subordinating Conjunctions

One of the hardest things for my students (and for many others) to grasp is understanding subordinating conjunctions. Words like “if,” “because,” “until,” and “when” are what join the independent and dependent clauses. These words are the glue that holds the complex sentence together.

In the beginning, I use lots of examples, often from things my students can relate to. For instance, I might say, “We could go outside after the rain stops.” Here, the word “after” is the subordinating conjunction. The students like this because it makes them think about when certain things can happen.

Practice and Reinforcement

I’ve found that the best way to practice complex sentences is through fun, hands-on activities. I like to give my students sentence strips with independent clauses and a list of subordinating conjunctions. Their job is to match up the independent clauses with the right dependent clauses to create a complete sentence.

I also love doing group activities where we build complex sentences together. One student will write an independent clause on the board,and another will add a dependent clause. The rest of the class then helps identify the independent and dependent parts and the conjunction. These activities help them see how complex sentences are built piece by piece.

Why It Matters

For me, teaching complex sentences is about helping my students communicate more clearly. When they use complex sentences, they’re able to share more details and make their writing more interesting. I always remind them that writing is about telling a story, and the more we can add to that story, the better it gets.

By the end of the year, my students are using complex sentences without thinking too hard about it. It’s become second nature for them, and I’m alwayss amazed at how their writing grows over just a few months!