Sentence Expansion
Directions: Expand these short sentences into longer ones or several by providing answers to the questions when? with whom? how? why? how much? what or whom? and what they do.
Every question doesn’t have to be answered and you may work in any order when providing answers to the questions. Use your imagination. Make them interesting and fun to read.
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1. Dragons are scary.
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2. Parents are no fun.
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3. Teachers get me mad.
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4. Birthdays are special.
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Expressing an Opinion
Expansion Sheet
Opening Statement: ____________________
Keeping your topic in mind, expand each of the reasons in your paragraph by answering the questions, where, when, how, why, with whom, how much, how often, how many, what kind, which one, what you, it, or they do. Each of your expanded sentences can become new paragraphs. Work in any order. Use as many as you can.
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Sentence 1. ____________________
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Sentence 2. ____________________
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Sentence 3. ____________________
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Sentence 4. ____________________
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Sentence 5. ____________________
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Closing Sentence ____________________
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Expressing an Opinion
Recognizing Both Sides
Model 5
Read the following paragraph. Notice the pattern the author has used.
The statement “teenagers are good for nothing” is untrue.
For one reason
, all teenagers cannot act in the same way because they all have different personalities and have been raised differently.
For another reason
, most teenagers are hard-working and sincere young adults. Most study hard, respect adults, and grow into useful and responsible adults.
Admittedly
, there are those who do get involved in crime, take drugs, and disrupt schools.
But
this is only a very small percentage. To consider all teenagers “good for nothing” because of these kids is wrong.
The organization is the same as all those we have looked at or written so far. However, sometimes when expressing an opinion, it’s a good idea to consider both sides of an issue when coming to a conclusion. By considering both sides, the writer here has presented a much stronger argument.
Notice the arrangement of the transitional words:
For one reason,
For another,
Admittedly,
But,
(“Expressing an Opinion Plan Sheet 1” can be used for an assignment of this type. Similar Transitions may be substituted.)
Expository Paragraphs
Teacher’s Note
: Before introducing students to Expository Writing, a short unit in using resource materials could be taught. For the first assignment in this section, my students were asked to consider a place they would like to visit. For the initial assignment, this opening sentence was provided:
If I could visit any place in the world . . .
Rather than use opinions and unconvincing reasons, students were directed to encyclopedias, atlases, travel brochures, and similar materials to find out about the places of interest, cultures, and traditions, to include in the composition. Pertinent facts were picked from these materials to defend their thesis. As a follow up activity, a letter-writing unit was taught in the traditional way, in which students wrote to embassies, the United Nations, and state capitals to request pictures and additional information about the place they wrote.
This worked quite well and all my students enjoyed sharing their mail with the other members of the class. Finally, all the compositions, pictures, brochures, and maps were put on display under the heading of “The Room Ill Travel Agency.”
Until students master the
correct
use of resource materials, it is suggested that open-ended topic sentences be provided which will lend themselves easily to research. Obviously, the ability of the class should dictate the level of difficulty for the assignments.