Where?

Written Expression
Lesson 3: Where?

In lesson 2, I mentioned that there are four mountain peaks that will help us make our sentence richer and more complex. Peak one tells us where the action is taking place:

Here is an activity to get started with the where position words. Click on the Theory tab at the top of the activity page. The program will show you several words describing where something is in the picture of the room.

By adding where, our sentence frame now looks like this:

Whenever you see one of the where position words, pay close attention to what follows. You may discover a clue to where the action of the subject is taking place!

Where Position Words:
aboard        above      across       after    against     along     amid     among     around     at     before   behind  below     beneath     beside     between     beyond     by    down     during     in     inside     into    near     off     on     onto     opposite     outside     over     past     round     through     to     toward     under     underneath     up     upon    with     within     without

Example Sentence:

John screamed on the playground.

What our sentence frame looks like using the example:

The following are questions to ask ourselves to make sure our sentence makes sense and that we understand what information the sentence is giving us. It is important to answer the question in a complete sentence.

Subject: Who screamed? John screamed. 
Action: What did John do? He screamed.
Where did the action take place? The action took place on the playground.

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.