Written Expression

Have you ever wondered how to write well? Or what makes writing good? Well, the mystery has been solved by Project Read's Written Expression! The Written Expression program takes us from the very beginnings of the writing process to rich, complex sentences.

Lesson 1: "What is a sentence?"

"A sentence frames a thought." The sentence frame looks like this:

The upside down V reminds us that a sentence starts with a capital and the box at the end reminds us that we need a stop sign (i.e. period, question mark, or exclamation point). When we see the sentence frame we say, "A sentence frames a thought. It starts with a capital and ends with a stop sign."

Lesson 2: The Barebone Sentence

A sentence has two parts: the subject and the predicate.

Subjects name a person/animal, place, thing, or idea (i.e. love).

Predicates give us information about the subject.

A barebone sentence has only two words: a subject and an action.

Then we say, "a subject + the action of the subject = a complete thought." The subject is represented by a straight line. The action is represented by four mountain peaks. These mountain peaks will help us add to our sentence later on to make it richer and more complex.

Examples of barebone sentences:

Flamingos fandango.
Henry talks.
Schools jostle.
Waterfalls roar.
Love wins.