LITERACY BASICS: SENTENCE WORKSHEETS ANAT ARKIN ...

LITERACY BASICS: 

SENTENCE 

WORKSHEETS 

ANAT ARKIN 

based on an idea by 

STUART SILLARS 

ILLUSTRATED BY 

LUCY WATSON 

ISBN 1 86025 428 4

The pack 

Student 

suitability 

Using the pack 

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contact us 

INTRODUCTION 

Literacy Basics: Sentence Worksheets provides practice in writing simple 

sentences and in building more complex sentences including phrases 

and clauses. Each sheet explains basic points, gives examples and 

provides exercises.The pack covers the same topics as the equivalent 

pages on verbs and building sentences in the pack Literacy Basics: 

Grammar Worksheets, but with a simpler approach and vocabulary. 

Some of the more complex concepts covered in Literacy Basics: 

Grammar Worksheets are omitted from this pack and, equally, this pack 

goes into more detail on some concepts than Literacy Basics: Grammar 

Worksheets does. 

The pack is aimed at KS3 and KS4 students. Because the pack is 

photocopiable, you can use it flexibly – with individual students, small 

or large groups, or across a whole year set. 

The pack provides a complete course in writing and building sentences 

but you can also use the worksheets separately. Where students have 

done little previous work on sentences, you may need to go over the 

grammatical points covered in each sheet with them. In other cases, 

students should be able to tackle the worksheets on their own. The eight 

‘check what you know’ sheets can be used either for testing purposes or 

for revision. If you have a query about how best to use the pack, we are 

happy to help; please write to us at the address below. 

Literacy Basics: Grammar Worksheets provides parallel coverage of 

many of the topics in this pack, in a format suitable for more advanced 

students. You may also find the following packs useful: Literacy Basics: 

Punctuation Worksheets, Literacy Basics: Word Worksheets, Literacy 

Basics: Spelling Worksheets 1, 2 and 3. 

Anat Arkin, the author of this pack, is a freelance journalist and former 

teacher of English and Communication. Stuart Sillars, the author of 

Literacy Basics: Grammar Worksheets, is a writer and freelance lecturer. 

This pack was illustrated by Lucy Watson, Rob Redfern was the editorial 

co-ordinator and Bridget Gibbs was the layout artist and copy editor. 

The text and pictures in this pack belong to The Chalkface Project Ltd. 

However, you may photocopy the pages, provided you do so only for 

use within your own institution. If you wish to photocopy them for any 

other use, you must write to us for permission, for which we may charge 

you a fee. 

The Chalkface Project, PO Box 111, Milton Keynes, MK11 1XN 

Tel: 0800 781 8858 

Fax: 0845 458 5344 

E-mail: sales@chalkface.com 

Website: www.chalkface.com 

Literacy Basics: Sentence Worksheets © The Chalkface Project Ltd, 1995 

ISBN 1 86025 428 4 LBSE Last updated: 19/10/01 

Previously published as Grammar Rules OK! Sentences

THE FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING ENGLISH 

The topics covered in this pack come under the sentence level objectives in the Framework 

for teaching English: Years 7, 8 and 9. 

Word level 

· Spelling 

· Spelling strategies 

· Vocabularies 

Sentence level 

· Sentence 

construction & 

punctuation 

· Paragraphing & 

cohesion 

· Stylistic 

conventions 

· Standard English & 

language variation 

Text level: Reading 

· Research & study 

skills 

· Reading for 

meaning 

· Study of literary 

texts 

· Understanding the 

author’s craft 

Text level: Writing 

· Imagine, explore, 

entertain 

· Inform, explain, 

describe 

· Persuade, argue, 

advise 

· Analyse, review, 

comment 

· Plan, draft & 

present 

Text level: Speaking 

& Listening 

· Speaking 

· Listening 

· Group discussion 

& interaction 

· Drama 

The overall aim of the Framework is to enable all pupils to develop sophisticated literacy 

skills. By the end of Year 9, each pupil is expected to be: 

A shrewd and fluent independent reader: 

• orchestrating a range of strategies to get at meaning in text, including inferential and 

evaluative skills; 

• sensitive to the way meanings are made; 

• reading in different ways for different purposes, including skimming to quickly pick up 

the gist of a text, scanning to locate specific information, close reading to follow 

complex passages and re-reading to uncover layers of meaning; 

• reflective, critical and discriminating in response to a wide range of printed and visual 

texts. 

A confident writer: 

• able to write for a variety of purposes and audiences, knowing the conventions and 

beginning to adapt and develop them; 

• able to write imaginatively, effectively and correctly; 

• able to shape, express, experiment with and manipulate sentences; 

• able to organise, develop, spell and punctuate writing accurately. 

An effective speaker and listener: 

• with the clarity and confidence to convey a point of view or information; 

• using talk to explore, create, question and revise ideas, recognising language as a tool 

for learning; 

• able to work effectively with others in a range of roles; 

• having a varied repertoire of styles, which are used appropriately. 

The following lesson structure is highly recommended to teachers using the Framework: 

1 Short lesson starter activity (e.g. spelling, vocabulary) lasting 10–15 minutes 

2 Introduce the main teaching points (e.g. teacher exposition or questioning) 

3 Develop the main teaching points (e.g. through group activity) 

4 Plenary to draw out the learning (e.g. through feedback and presentation), lasting 5–10 

minutes

.CONTENTS. 

1 WHAT ARE SENTENCES? 

2 WHO DID IT? 

3 CHECK WHAT YOU KNOW: 1 

4 VERBS 

5 LIVING VERBS 

6 MORE ABOUT VERBS 


8 LONGER SENTENCES 

9 ACTION PHRASES 

10 ACTION CLAUSES 


12 DESCRIBING DO-ERS 

13 PHRASES FOR DO-ERS 

14 CLAUSES FOR DO-ERS 


16 PHRASES WITH -ING 

17 WHO DOES WHAT? 


19 ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER 

20 IF AND UNLESS 


22 SO, AS AND BECAUSE 

23 BUILDING SENTENCES 

24 MORE SENTENCE BUILDING 


26 ENDING SENTENCES 


28 SPOT THE SENTENCE

.WHAT ARE SENTENCES?. 

Every piece of writing is made up of 

sentences. A sentence is a complete 

idea. Here are some examples. 

Fred won the lottery. 

Sharon smiled. 

I caught the bus. 

A sentence always has a verb in it. Verbs 

are ‘doing’ words. They tell you about 

the action in a sentence. In the 

sentences above, won, smiled and 

caught are all verbs. 

Try filling in the gaps in the following 

sentences with verbs from this list: 

laughed, cried, wrote, drove, danced. 

1 John ________ a long letter. 

2 Mrs Swift ________ too fast. 

3 They ______ by the light of the moon. 

4 I ________ till I ________. 

1 

Now think of some more verbs and use 

them to complete these sentences. 

1 The parrot _________ off its perch. 

2 The robot __________ the house. 

3 Mavis _________ a song. 

4 I __________ some new trainers.

.WHO DID IT?. 

2 

Every sentence must have a verb in it. 

Run, shout, eat and read are all verbs. 

But on their own, verbs don’t tell you a 

lot. They don’t tell you who is running, 

shouting, eating or reading. So when 

you write a sentence, you must say who 

is doing something. 

In the following examples, the words 

showing who (or what) has done 

something are shown in dark type. 

She ran. 

They are shouting. 

The dog ate my dinner. 

Wayne read the comic. 

See if you can spot who or what has 

done something in each of the following 

sentences. Put a line under the right word. 

1 Marmeduke finished his homework. 

2 She yawned. 

3 Thieves stole our TV. 

4 The spider crawled up my leg. 

Now fill in the gaps with words of your 

own to show who has done something 

in these sentences. 

1 ____ jumped. 

2 The ___ roared. 

3 ___ had her tea. 

4 ____ waited.

.CHECK WHAT YOU KNOW: 1. 

See if you can spot which of the 

following examples is not a sentence – 

because it doesn’t tell you who has 

done something. 

I hurried home. 

Went to the disco. 

Sue lost her purse. 

The old lady. 

Now fill in the gaps with words of your 

own to show who or what has done 

something in each of these sentences. 

1 _____ went out. 

2 _____ laughed. 

3 The ______ wagged its tail. 

4 ____ woke up. 

3 

Do the same with the gaps in these 

sentences. 

1 _______ sat down. 

2 The _______ purred. 

3 ______ all shouted at once. 

4 ______ and ______ are going out with 

each other. 

Finally, fill in the gaps in the following 

passage with verbs of your own. 

The monster ____ out of the lake. 

It ____ hungry. Its big stomach ____ as it 

____ to the shore. ‘I ____ some fish and 

chips,’ ____ the monster.

Verbs tell you what is going on. They can 

also tell you when something is 

happening. Look at these examples. 

Laura met her boyfriend. (past) 

Laura is meeting her boyfriend. (now) 

Laura will meet her boyfriend. (future) 

Sometimes we use verbs with ‘to’ in front 

of them – to go, to sleep, to run. This way 

of using verbs doesn’t tell you who is 

doing something or when. So on its own, 

a verb with ‘to’ in front of it will not give 

you a complete sentence. 

A complete sentence must always answer 

these three questions: Who is doing 

something? What are they doing? When 

are they doing it? 

Here are a few sentences that show both 

ways of using verbs. 

I want to go home. 

They ran to catch a bus. 

Joe will go to meet her. 

See if you can spot which of the 

following examples is not a sentence 

because it doesn’t tell you who is doing 

something or when. 

Mrs Clutterbuck sneezed. 

To go home. 

The lights went out. 

Now fill in the gaps in these sentences 

with verbs that tell you when something 

is happening. 

1 They _________ a video. 

2 Sadia _________ the car. 

3 I _____ ___ my homework later. 

4 He _______ a mistake yesterday. 

5 My tortoise always _______ in winter. 

.VERBS. 

4 

Do the same with the gaps in this 

passage. 

In the future, people ____ ____ on 

different planets. They ____ ____ little 

spaceships instead of cars. Robots ____ 

__ all the work. Kids ____ not ____ to go 

to school. I ____ I lived in the future.

.LIVING VERBS. 

Every sentence must have a verb in it. 

Walk, eat, run, drive and talk are all 

verbs. It’s easy to picture people doing 

these things. But some verbs are more 

tricky. They tell you what people or things 

are and not what they are doing. Look at 

the examples of these ‘living’ verbs shown 

in dark type in the following sentences. 

The books are on the desk. 

She was in a bad mood. 

I am hungry. 

Her mum and dad were out. 

Mr Singh seems happy. 

5 

See if you can fill the gaps in the 

following sentences with verbs that say 

what people or things are. 

1 Emma __ in Year 10. 

2 We ____ hungry. 

3 Tiddles, where ___ you? 

4 The dishes ____ piled up in the sink. 

5 You ___ cheerful today. 

Do the same with the gaps in this passage. 

The sounds ____ coming from the 

room upstairs. But when I got there, the 

room ___ empty. The window ___ open 

and there ____ some footprints on the 

window ledge. I __ sure they ____ the 

biggest footprints I had ever seen. ___ 

our mysterious visitor a human, an 

animal – or something else?

.MORE ABOUT VERBS. 

Verbs that tell you when something is 

happening are often made up of more 

than one word. For example: 

I am going out tonight. 

We have finished the job. 

Mr Summs will be taking us for maths 

this year. 

See if you can underline the verbs in the 

following sentences. 

1 I am writing a letter. 

2 Mr Benson has lost his job. 

3 Tony is playing in today’s match. 

4 She felt sleepy because she had 

stayed out late last night. 

5 Where are you going? 

Complete the following sentences with 

words of your own. 

1 I am _____________ my friends at 

6 o’clock. 

2 Janice is __________ out with Kevin. 

3 Rover was ___________ Mrs Smith’s 

cat. 

4 She will _________ to go home. 

5 I shall __________ you some 

sandwiches. 

6 

Now fill the gaps in these sentences 

with verbs that are made up of more 

than one word. 

1 Some aliens ____ ____ in my back 

garden. 

2 He ____ _____ like a lunatic. 

3 Aunt Mabel was cross because I ____ 

_____ her old clock. 

4 I ____ ____ you a nice cup of tea. 

5 They ____ _____ so loudly you could 

hear them for miles.


7 

Underline the verbs in the following 

sentences. 

1 Sandra laughed. 

2 Jeff worked hard. 

3 We missed the last train. 

4 Our history teacher was telling us 

about the Romans. 

5 You seem happy today. 

Now fill the gaps in these sentences 

with verbs of your own. 

1 They _______ up the hill. 

2 I _______ some lovely presents for my 

birthday. 

3 We ____ _____ shopping next week. 

4 Where ______ you ______? 

5 Jatinder _____ ________ TV when the 

doorbell ______. 

Finally, fill the gaps in this passage with 

‘living’ verbs that say what people or 

things are, rather than what they are 

doing. 

I _____ sure I put my bag on the 

table. Where ___ it? It ______ to have 

disappeared. This ___ very strange. ____ 

you sure you haven’t taken it by mistake?

.LONGER SENTENCES. 

Sentences can be long or short. Here are 

a few short ones. 

Winston spoke. 

Mrs Jones sneezed. 

He did his homework. 

These sentences tell you who did what. 

But they don’t tell you much else. You 

could add some words to make these 

sentences longer and more interesting. 

For example: 

Winston spoke kindly to the lost child. 

Mrs Jones sneezed loudly. 

He did his homework carelessly. 

Words such as kindly, loudly and 

carelessly tell you how somebody does 

something. They are called adverbs. 

8 

Fill in the gaps in the following 

sentences with adverbs from this list: 

angrily, hard, loudly, quickly, carefully. 

1 Faisal walked _____________. 

2 She worked ____________. 

3 The dog growled ___________. 

4 Beverly drove ______________. 

5 Dave spoke _______________. 

Now think of some more adverbs and 

use them to complete these sentences. 

1 Lehla ran ____________________. 

2 Basil ate _____________________. 

3 Luke and Daniel fought ___________. 

4 I wrote the essay _________________. 

5 Why did he shout so _____________?

.ACTION PHRASES. 

9 

Sometimes you can describe how 

somebody does something by using just 

one word. For example: 

She walked quickly. 

Gareth drove carelessly. 

The little boy smiled sweetly. 

There are other times when you can’t 

describe how something is done with 

just one word. You need to use a few 

words – a phrase – to get the meaning 

across. Here are some examples. 

He worked as hard as possible. 

She waved at him with a sad look on 

her face. 

The old man walked with a limp. 

Write out the following sentences, seeing 

if you can add phrases to show how 

things are done. 

1 He pushed the button _____________. 

2 The mouse looked at the cat _______. 

3 The books fell off the table ________. 

4 Sonia walked home ______________. 

5 They waited for the bus ___________. 

Now do the same with the following 

sentences. 

1 Yasmin sat down _________________. 

2 The chicken squawked ___________. 

3 We followed him _______________. 

4 Mr O’Brien wrote on the board ____. 

5 The car skidded _______________.

.ACTION CLAUSES. 

You can describe how something is 

done by adding a single word – an 

adverb – to the verb, or by adding a 

short phrase. For example: 

She spoke quietly. (adverb) 

She spoke in a quiet voice. (phrase) 

Another way to describe how or why 

somebody does something is to add a 

group of words with their own verb to 

the main idea in your sentence. These 

groups of words are called clauses. Look 

at the clauses shown in darker type in 

the following sentences. 

They walked to the top of the hill 

where they could see the view. 

She stayed in bed because she felt ill. 

I felt pleased as I had just been paid. 

Write out the following sentences, 

adding clauses to describe how or why 

things are done. Make sure there is a 

verb in each clause you add. 

1 Jeff hurried home because _________. 

2 Melissa wrote a letter after _________. 

3 The puppy wagged its tail when ____. 

4 Dinosaurs died out because ________. 

5 I phoned him so that ______________. 

10 

Sometimes you can add a clause to the 

beginning of a sentence. Look at this 

example. 

I felt better. 

When I had eaten I felt better. 

Now rewrite and add clauses to these 

sentences. 

1 He felt better when_______________. 

2 ______________ I had an early night. 

3 They walked to the station where 

_______________. 

4 I bought a lottery ticket because 

_______________. 

5 Gerry worked so hard that _________.


An adverb describes how somebody does 

something. Slowly, carefully, well and 

fast are all adverbs. 

Add an adverb to each of the following 

sentences. 

Example: 

The cat crept up to the mouse stealthily. 

1 Our headteacher spoke to us _______. 

2 Rickie worked ________________. 

3 He wrote ________________. 

4 Diane and Imran looked at each other 

_________________. 

5 The hampster nibbled some lettuce 

__________________. 

Now rewrite the following sentences, 

adding a short phrase to describe the 

action in each. 

Example: 

My mum’s best teapot fell to the floor 

with a loud crash. 

1 I woke up ___________________. 

2 Salma went away ________________. 

3 Alex swam ____________________. 

4 The film ended __________________. 

5 The new teacher walked into the 

classroom ___________________. 

11 

Finally, rewrite the following sentences, 

adding clauses to describe how or why 

things are done. Remember, a clause is 

a group of words with its own verb that 

you add to the main idea in a sentence. 

Example: 

Sharon ran all the way to school 

because she was late. 

1 He fell off his bike because ________. 

2 Carl felt better when ______________. 

3 I called my friend after ____________. 

4 We walked to the disco where _____. 

5 Mr Bloggs stood in the queue so that 

_________________.

.DESCRIBING DO-ERS. 

One way of making a sentence more 

interesting is to add a word that 

describes the ‘do-er’, the person or 

thing doing something in the sentence. 

These describing words are called 

adjectives. Here are some examples. 

The old car was parked outside his 

house. 

The cake was delicious. 

The unknown band reached number 

one in the charts. 

12 

Add adjectives to describe the ‘do-ers’ in 

the following sentences. Think up 

adjectives of your own or pick them 

from this list: new, disappointing, short, 

horrible, famous. 

1 All these ________ creepy crawlies 

like the warm weather. 

2 Steve’s _______ bike can go really fast. 

3 The ___________ striker didn’t score a 

single goal all season. 

4 Rina bought a _______ skirt in the sales. 

5 My exam results were _____________. 

Now rewrite these sentences, adding 

two or more adjectives to each. Use 

commas between the adjectives. 

Example: 

That old, derelict and haunted house 

is up for sale. 

1 My ________________ jeans feel very 

comfortable. 

2 The _________ boxer decided to retire. 

3 The _______________ woman was 

wearing diamond earrings. 

4 Her _______________ brother put an 

ice cube down her back. 

5 There is our ________ English teacher.

.PHRASES FOR DO-ERS. 

You can use a single word – an 

adjective – to describe the person or 

thing who is doing something in a 

sentence. But you can give even more 

information by adding a short phrase. 

Here are some examples. 

I bumped into Wayne, an old friend 

of mine. 

My sister, a student nurse, is keen on 

drag racing. 

Our dog, a friendly old labrador, 

didn’t bother the burglar. 

Always use commas to separate phrases 

like these from the rest of the sentence. 


adding phrases to describe the ‘do-ers’. 

Remember to use the right punctuation. 

1 My cat _____________ went missing. 

2 We went to Skegness____________. 

3 The woman _____________ laughed 

nervously. 

4 I think that animal _____________ is a 

porcupine. 

5 The bike _____________ was lying in 

a ditch. 

13 

Do the same with the following 

sentences. 

1 My brother _______________ is a great 

dancer. 

2 We met Mr Andrews _____________. 

3 The shop ____________________ was 

closing down. 

4 The hedgehog ___________________ 

was hibernating. 

5 Nikki _________ said she saw a ghost.

.CLAUSES FOR DO-ERS. 

As well as using adjectives and phrases 

to describe the person or thing doing 

something in a sentence, you can use 

clauses. A clause is a group of words 

with its own verb that you add to the 

main idea in a sentence. Look at the 

clauses shown in these examples. 

She bought the jeans which she had 

wanted for ages. 

It was the same cat he had seen the 

day before. 

The student who got the highest 

marks won a prize. 

Underline the clauses in these sentences. 

1 He bought the bike which had been 

advertised in the newspaper. 

2 The man who is wearing a woolly hat 

is our new science teacher. 

3 The girl who lives next door invited 

me to her party. 

Now rewrite these sentences, adding 

clauses that tell you more about the 

person or thing doing something. 

1 The cassette _______________ is very 

expensive. 

2 That is the teacher _______________ . 

3 The prisoner ________________ gave 

himself up. 

4 Sonja ________ has lost some weight. 

5 Fred finally got the job ____________. 

14 

Finally, rewrite and add clauses to these 

sentences. 

1 There goes the man _____________. 

2 The bumble bee ________________ 

finally flew out of the window. 

3 The criminal ___________________ 

escaped with the loot. 

4 I bought the book _______________. 

5 It was the same car _______________.


Use adjectives to describe the person or 

thing doing something in each of the 

following sentences. 

Example: 

This cottage pie is revolting. 

1 The weather is __________. 

2 The _________ hairdresser cut off too 

much of my hair. 

3 We rented a ________ video last night. 

4 The _________ bus has already left. 

5 The _____ ______ fox jumped over the 

lazy dog. 

Now use short phrases to describe the 

‘do-ers’ in the following sentences. 

Examples: 

That’s Ms Hawkeye, my form teacher. 

Eddie Starlight, the actor, has just got 

married again. 

1 My sister _____________________ is a 

keen swimmer. 

2 There’s Dr Johnson ______________ . 

3 The cat ___________________ chased 

the dog up the road. 

4 Maggie _____________________ goes 

to a different school. 

5 I rang up George ________________. 

15 

Finally, rewrite the following sentences, 

adding clauses to describe the ‘do-ers’. 

Remember, a clause is a group of words 

with its own verb that you add to the 

main idea in a sentence. 

Example: 

The man who was wearing a bow tie 

looked like a spy. 

1 The girl _______________ was waiting 

at the bus stop. 

2 He finally bought the computer game 

__________________. 

3 The car ________________ was parked 

outside the school gate. 

4 The strange sounds ________________ 

went on all night. 

5 Cheryl ___________________ was late 

again this morning.

.PHRASES WITH -ING. 

One way of making sentences more 

interesting is to add phrases which use 

verbs ending in ‘-ing’. These are called 

participle phrases. Here are some 

examples. 

walking down the road 

thinking about something else 

watching a video 

On their own, these phrases are not 

complete sentences. To turn them into 

sentences we have to add some words 

that tell us who is doing what and when. 

We could, for example, say: 

Walking down the road, he bumped 

into a lamp post. 

Thinking about something else, I 

suddenly realised I was lost. 

Watching a video, Tracy lost track of 

the time. 

See if you can turn the following 

participle phrases into sentences. 

1 Running along the High Street _____ 

________________________. 

2 Thinking about her problems ______ 

________________________. 

3 Leaving the classroom ____________ 

___________________. 

4 Watching TV ____________________. 

5 Turning towards her ______________. 

16 

Now rewrite and add participle phrases 

to these sentences. 

1 _________________ he walked away. 

2 _____________ Donna thought about 

what her mum would say. 

3 _________________ they decided to 

drop the plan. 

4 ___________ Gary was nearly run over. 

5 _________________ I didn’t hear the 

doorbell ring.

.WHO DOES WHAT?. 

Participle phrases can be tricky – 

phrases which use the ‘-ing’ form of a 

verb. You have to make sure that it’s 

clear who is doing the walking, 

thinking, looking or other action in the 

sentence. Can you see what’s wrong 

with this sentence? 

Walking down the road, the bus 

nearly hit Tom. 

What this sentence says is that the bus 

was walking down the road when it 

nearly hit Tom! It should have said: 

Walking down the road, Tom was 

nearly hit by the bus. 

See if you can change the following 

sentences so that it’s quite clear who is 

doing what in each of them. 

1 Walking down the High Street, a car 

nearly ran Jenny over. 

2 Sleeping heavily, the loud noise did 

not wake him. 

3 Feeling very hungry, the sandwich did 

not satisfy her. 

4 Thinking about his homework, the 

dog greeted Tony. 

5 Losing our way in the town, a 

policeman gave us directions. 

17 


adding phrases with ‘-ing’ verbs in them. 

Make sure it is clear who these phrases 

are about. 

1 ________________ the car swerved to 

avoid Mohammed. 

2 ____________ the alarm clock did not 

wake her. 

3 ____________ she ate six sandwiches. 

4 __________ the dog bounded up to him. 

5 __________ I noticed the new building.


Can you tell which of the following are 

complete sentences and which are just 

phrases? Put an S next to each sentence 

and a P next to each phrase. 

1 Sitting down to lunch ____ 

2 John yawned ____ 

3 Abid tucked into his pudding ____ 

4 Mr Best looked at his watch ____ 

5 Watching an exciting film ____ 

18 

Now rewrite the following phrases, 

turning them into sentences by saying 

who is doing what and when. 

1 Swimming five lengths a day _______ 

___________________. 

2 Smiling at him ___________________. 

3 Walking home last night __________ 

___________________. 

4 Finding a spider in the bath ________ 

___________________. 

5 Looking really angry ______________. 

Finally, rewrite these sentences, adding 

phrases with ‘-ing’ in them. Make sure it 

is clear who the phrases are about. 

1 _______________ Steve saw his friends. 

2 ______________________ we watched 

the end of the film. 

3 _____________________ I finished my 

food before anyone else. 

4 ____________________ the cat purred 

contentedly. 

5 ________________________ he nearly 

bumped into the tree.

.ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER. 

When you are writing you often need to 

show that something happens before or 

after something else. To do this, you can 

start off a sentence with a clause 

beginning with when, before or after. 

Here are some examples. 

When he had finished his tea, Dad 

turned the TV on. 

Before they left the house, they tidied 

up. 

After I’ve watched this programme, I’ll 

do the washing up. 

19 

Rewrite the following sentences, adding 

complete clauses. 

1 After _________ the cat ate the budgie. 

2 Before ________________ he bought a 

return ticket. 

3 When _________________ she did her 

homework. 

4 After _____________ he baked a cake. 

5 Before ____________ my headteacher 

heard what I had to say. 

Rewrite the following sentences to 

include clauses beginning with when, 

before or after. 

1 __________________ Fred went off to 

work. 

2 ____________________ he made sure 

the lights were turned off. 

3 _______________ I’ll clean my room. 

4 _____________ we’ll go to the disco. 

5 ________________ they decided they 

could not afford a holiday.

.IF AND UNLESS. 

One useful way of building up 

sentences is to add clauses beginning 

with if or unless. You can use these 

clauses when you are talking about 

things which might happen in the future. 

If my toothache doesn’t go away 

soon, I’ll have to see the dentist. 

Unless you pay attention, you won’t 

know how to play this game. 

20 

Rewrite the following sentences, adding 

clauses beginning with if or unless. 

(Remember, a clause is a group of words 

with a verb that you add to the main 

idea of a sentence.) 

1 ____________________ you will have 

an accident. 

2 _______________________ I will take 

my noisy neighbour to court. 

3 ______________________ Lyn should 

see her doctor. 

4 _______________________ they will 

ban mountain bikes from the park. 

5 _______________________ I will go to 

the match with Jeff. 

Clauses with if or unless can be added to 

the beginning or end of a sentence. 

If it stops raining, I’ll go out shopping. 

I’ll go out shopping, if it stops raining. 

Now add clauses with if or unless to 

these sentences. Write each sentence out 

twice, first with the clause at the 

beginning and then at the end of the 

sentence. 

1 Steve will get into trouble. 

2 She will never come back. 

3 I will help you with your homework. 

4 They will shut the disco down. 

5 Michelle won’t go to his party.


Add clauses with when, before, after, if 

or unless to these sentences. Write each 

sentence out twice, first with the clause 

at the beginning and then at the end of 

the sentence. 

Example: 

He will get into trouble. 

Unless he stops being so rude, he will 

get into trouble. 

He will get into trouble unless he 

stops being so rude. 

1 He will have an accident. 

2 They put the money in a safe place. 

3 My mum went off to work. 

4 She thought carefully about going out 

with him. 

5 Mrs Smart gave him a grade A. 

Now rewrite this passage. Use clauses 

with when, before, after, if or unless to 

fill the gaps. 

Jake and Rob planned their escape. 

_______________, they decided to dig a 

tunnel. They knew the plan would only 

work ___________. Every day they dug a 

few metres ___________. They never 

went into the exercise yard with the 

other prisoners __________. __________, 

they finally finished the tunnel. ________, 

they found themselves in the middle of 

the prison governor’s office! 

21

.SO, AS AND BECAUSE. 

Short, simple sentences tell you who has 

done what and when. If you want to say 

why something has happened, you need 

to write longer, more complicated 

sentences. One way of doing this is to 

use the words so, as or because to link 

two short sentences. Here are some 

examples. 

Kate was working in the library. 

She wanted some peace and quiet. 

Kate was working in the library 

because she wanted some peace and 

quiet. 

Gary sold his old skate board. 

He could then buy a new one. 

Gary sold his old skate board so he 

could buy a new one. 

You can use so, as or because at the 

beginning of a sentence as well as in the 

middle. For example: 

It was hot. I went swimming. 

As it was hot, I went swimming. 

Try linking each of the following pairs of 

sentences with the words so, as or 

because. 

1 Sadia saved up her pocket money. 

She wanted to go on holiday. 

2 Bruno barked at the new postman. 

He does not like strangers. 

3 It’s cold today. 

I am wearing six layers of clothes. 

4 Wayne overslept this morning. 

He was late for school. 

5 The teacher was angry. 

His pupils were making too much 

noise. 

22

.BUILDING SENTENCES. 

Short, simple sentences can be useful, but 

for more complicated ideas, you need to 

use longer sentences. There are lots of ways 

of building up a sentence. For example: 

Jim sold the van to Fred. 

This sentence gives us the bones of a story 

but it doesn’t tell us anything about Jim, 

Fred or the van. So how can we make the 

sentence more interesting? First, we can 

add a phrase about Jim: 

Jim, a second-hand car dealer, sold the 

van to Fred. 

Then we can say something about the van: 


clapped-out old van to Fred. 

We still don’t know anything about Fred. 

An extra clause will put that right: 


clapped-out old van to Fred, who 

thought he had bought a real bargain. 

Rewrite the following sentences, making 

them more interesting by filling the gaps 

with words, phrases or clauses. 

1 Jenny _________ sold her __________ 

ice-skates to Dave ______________. 

2 Craig _______ helped Donna ________ 

with her homework __________. 

3 Mr Summs ____________ wrote the 

answers ___________ on the board. 

4 Savita ____________ used to go to my 

old school _______________. 

5 The __________ guinea-pig ate all the 

vegetables ____________. 

23 

Do the same with these sentences. 

1 Kevin _________ was always playing 

games on his __________ computer. 

2 Sharon __________ is going to Spain 

___________. 

3 The tree __________ fell down in the 

storm __________. 

4 Steve _____________ borrowed some 

money from John _______________. 

5 The thief __________ was caught redhanded 

by the store detective _____.

.MORE SENTENCE BUILDING. 

24 

Look at this short, simple sentence. 

Eddie was walking up the road. 

The sentence does not tell us anything 

about Eddie or why he was walking up 

the road. We can put that right by adding 

phrases and clauses to the sentence. 

Eddie, who should have been at 

school, was walking slowly up the 

road looking for trouble. 

Rewrite the following sentences, making 

them more interesting by filling the gaps 

with words, phrases or clauses. 

1 Ms Smith, who _______________ was 

walking to the station because 

_____________. 

2 The _____________ monster woke up 

after _________________ . 

3 Mike, who _________ sold his bicycle 

to his cousin __________. 

4 Lisa _______________ wants to be an 

engineer when _______________. 

5 Have the people who _____________ 

moved out? 

Now do the same with the gaps in this 

passage. 

___________ Mandy saw someone 

in the water. _______ she realised it was 

a little boy _________. She ______ took 

her shoes off and jumped into the river. 

She grabbed hold of the child _________ 

and carried him to the river bank 

_________. The boy __________started 

crying ______________.


Look at the following short sentences. 

They don’t give you much information. 

Rewrite them, adding words, phrases and 

clauses that say more about who or what 

the sentences are about, and why, how 

and when things are happening in them. 

1 Mr Wood _____________ threw down 

his paintbrush _____________. 

2 Sharon wished she had never met Bill 

____________. 

3 ______________ he decided to walk to 

school _____________. 

4 Anil ____________ was waiting for his 

friends _______________. 

5 Rupert ______________ loved honey. 

Now do the same with the gaps in this 

passage. 

Jim _________ sold a ________ van 

to Fred ________ . __________ he tried 

to return the van to Jim. But Jim _______ 

had gone off to London __________ and 

Fred could not find him. _____________ 

Fred had the van repaired ___________. 

25

.ENDING SENTENCES. 

How do you know when you’ve come 

to the end of a sentence? Ask yourself if 

what you have written is a complete 

idea that says who is doing what and 

when. Then put a full-stop, question 

mark or exclamation mark at the end of 

the sentence – not a comma. Look at 

these examples. 

Wrong: 

Gwen left the party, she had to be 

home by 11. 

Right: 

Gwen left the party. She had to be 

home by 11. 

26 

Put full stops where they are needed in 

these sentences. 

1 I saw that woman again, she was 

dressed like Father Christmas. 

2 You shouldn’t talk like that, who do 

you think you are? 

3 I bought a video yesterday, it wasn’t 

worth the money. 

4 Walking through the park, Steve 

found a pound coin. 

5 Please return trays to the counter, do 

not leave them on the tables. 

Now rewrite this passage, filling in the 

gaps with full stops or commas, and 

putting capital letters at the beginning 

of each sentence. 

Jake Warble is the lead singer of The 

Bluechips__ he also plays keyboards__ 

Jake’s hobbies are skydiving and 

knitting__ his favourite colour is blue__ 

being so famous__ Jake likes to relax on 

his secret island hideaway where none 

of his fans can find him__


People often get full stops and commas 

muddled up. Remember, you use a 

comma when there is a pause in a 

sentence but a full stop to show that the 

sentence has ended. 

Look at the sentences in this list. Put a 

cross next to the ones with commas 

where there should be full stops, and a 

tick next to the ones that are written 

correctly. 

1 She rushed out, she didn’t 

want to miss the last bus. ___ 

2 Listening to the radio, I fell 

asleep. ___ 

3 The gates opened, the fans 

rushed in. ___ 

4 The door opened. The headteacher 

walked in. ___ 

5 The sun shone, the birds sang, 

I felt happy. ___ 

Now put commas, full stops and capital 

letters where they are needed in the 

following passage. 

Using a computer is easy first you 

have to switch it on then you have to 

put a program disk into your disk drive 

unless you have a program on your hard 

disk once you are into the program you 

can use your mouse to call up the help 

menu it will tell you what to do next 

27

.SPOT THE SENTENCE. 

A sentence can be long or short but it is 

always a complete idea. Look at this 

group of words. 

Falling asleep in class. 

This is not a sentence because it doesn’t 

tell us who is or was falling asleep in 

class. To turn this phrase into a 

sentence, we have to add some words. 

For example: 

Falling asleep in class, Michelle did 

not hear about the school trip to 

France. 

Can you spot the sentences in the 

following list? Put an S next to the 

complete sentences and an N next to 

groups of words that are not sentences. 

1 Trying to keep from giggling ___ 

2 With reference to your letter 

of 5th November ___ 

3 I refer to your letter of 

5th November ___ 

4 Waking up suddenly after a 

late night on the town ___ 

5 I woke up with a start ___ 

6 Standing on the corner, 

watching all the people go 

by carrying their shopping ___ 

7 Gerry smiled ___ 

8 To boldly go where no woman 

has gone before ___ 

28 

Now rewrite all the phrases you have 

spotted, turning them into complete 

sentences.

LITERACY BASICS: SENTENCE WORKSHEETS ANAT ARKIN ...

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