Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

It's Mr. Chandra Parla, and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

Today, we're gonna be looking at using simple compound and complex sentences, really confidently within our writing.

I often think about these sentence structures as the basic units of descriptive writing.

And as much as people may think, "Oh, it's really boring," or, "It's really technical," I actually think that there's a real beauty to it.

To be able to do this well means that you are actually going to be really able to articulately express yourself when you get to your fantastic pieces of descriptive writing, and it's really gonna bring your work to life if you can really control your sentence structures so that you can create specific effects through them.

Let's dive in.

As ever, let's start off by just having a look at our outcome.

So today, we're gonna be looking at varying sentence structures accurately within descriptive pieces of writing.

And as ever, we have our keywords for today.

Our first one is clause.

This is a piece of terminology, which just means a group of words with a subject and a verb.

We then have our subject.

A subject is the person, place, or thing.

So the noun performing the action of the sentence.

All sentences need to have a verb.

Our verb is our doing, being, or having word.

This is the action of the sentence.

We then have the adjective, complete, which can also be a verb sometimes.

If something is complete, the adjective form, that means it has all the necessary or appropriate parts.

Finally, we have subordinate.

If something is subordinate, it means to be in a lower rank or position.

This is gonna be a really key piece of terminology that I'm gonna be using today, particularly to describe complex sentences.

So let's just have a look at our lesson outline.

We're gonna be having a look at simple sentences, compound sentences, and complex sentences today, and we're gonna start off with simple sentences.

So in this lesson, we're going to examine three different sentence types and how we can use them for effect in our descriptive writing.

The purpose of descriptive writing is to create an atmosphere and paint a picture for the reader so they can really imagine the scene that you are trying to describe.

We're gonna start off by just looking at simple sentences.

All simple sentences are sentences with one main clause.

That means they have a subject, a verb, and they express one complete thought.

For example, the blossoms wilted.

Here, we have our subject, the blossoms. We also have our verb, wilted.

Let's just pause for a second.

What effect do you think using short sentences might have on the reader? Pause the video, and you may want to jot some of your ideas down on your notepad, or if you're in a class, you may want to discuss with someone next to you.

Pause the video now, have the opportunity to talk about the effect of short sentences.

Some lovely discussion, and I was so pleased to see so many of you getting your pens out and starting to note down your ideas.

Let's see if you can add any in a different colour pen.

Some of our Oak students said, well, Lucas specifically said, "I think they would make the writing feel quite tense to the reader because it would be constantly stopping and starting quite abruptly." I think Lucas is really right there.

That feeling of creating tension is one of the things that I often tell students to think about when they're using short sentences as part of their descriptive writing.

Alternatively, Sophia thinks that they would also make the writing very easy to understand for the reader, but it might start to feel a bit repetitive quite quickly.

Sophia is absolutely right here, and it's one of the things to be actually really aware of for any of these sentence structures.

You don't want to overuse any of them because if you do, actually, their effect diminishes each time.

It gets a lot weaker over time if we just constantly use them.

So let's just check our understanding here.

Which two of the following are true of simple sentences? Is it A, they contain two main clauses.

B, they contain one main clause, or C, short sentences can be used to create tension? Pause the video now and work out which two of the following three are true of simple sentences.

I could see a lot of really good thinking happening here, and I love the fact that people had taken notes previously and were adding or having taken notes from Lucas and Sophia, were able to check back through and see what they thought.

I'm really pleased to see that so many of you were able to identify B and C.

While remembering what Lucas said, short sentences can create tension, and well done for remembering our key definition, simple sentences use one main clause.

So we're gonna practise our simple sentence work here.

All I want you to do is to look at this beautiful image given to us by Kibblywibbly, and write a short description of this image using only simple sentences.

So remember, that means it has to express a complete thought.

So your simple sentence has one main clause.

It contains a subject and a verb, and as I said, it expresses a complete idea.

Pause the video now and have a go for yourself describing that image using only simple sentences.

Don't just write one.

See if you can write a couple to get all of the beauty of that image.

Pause the video now, have a go for yourselves.

Oh, loved some of the ideas you were coming up with.

Let's take some feedback.

So if we're reflecting on our piece of descriptive writing, we need to consider, if someone else read our description, do you think they would form a complete image in their mind? Have they managed to imagine the path leading gently towards the door or the arch of the door, or even the sort of cascading green ivy all across the wall? Maybe you were thinking about the pink flowers and the rainbow that seemed to be littering the ground, but have you done that as one single idea? Have you managed to form that complete image in their mind? Do you think you have used only simple sentences? That's the big thing I'm looking for.

Have you only used simple sentences to write descriptively? Pause the video now.

Check your work or check your partner's work, and I'm gonna really push you to make sure that you're changing your ideas or editing in a different colour pen.

Pause the video now.

Let's do that editing.

Some fantastic work there, everyone, really pleased to see such attentive writers amongst us.

With that done, given that we're feeling really confident with simple sentences, let's have a look at compound sentences.

Compound sentences join together two main clauses to form one complete sentence.

The two main clauses are typically joined together using a coordinating conjunction, such as and, for, but, so, yet, nor, or or.

For example, the blossoms wilted, but the new buds were ready to spring from the ground.

Well, we have our first main clause.

It's a complete sentence on its own.

It contains a subject, the blossoms, the verb, wilted, and expresses a complete thought.

Then we have the coordinating conjunction, the but that joins the two sentences together.

We then have our second main clause, the new buds were ready to spring from the ground.

Here, the second main clause makes sense on its own since it has a subject, the new buds, it has a verb, were ready to spring, and it expresses a complete thought.

So let's just check our understanding here.

Which two of the following are true of compound sentences? So I need you to pick two out of the three.

Is it option A, they have one main clause and one subordinate clause? B, they have two main clauses? Or C, they can be joined together by a coordinating conjunction? Pause the video now.

Check your notes from previously.

Have a think and pick two out of the three.

Oh, I was trying to trick you, guys.

There was some, I've laced in my misconception, but well done if you said B and C.

A does talk about the subordinate clause, but remember, compound sentences will have two main clauses.

Well done to those of you who spotted that for B and said that it also has a coordinating conjunction.

Remember, compound sentences don't have subordinate clauses, but we're gonna get onto why not later.

So in order to punctuate a compound sentence correctly, there are two rules we need to be aware of.

If you're using coordinating conjunction to join together the two main clauses, then you need a comma before the conjunction, such as the trees towered above me, yet I felt a sense of peace.

And if you're not using a coordinating conjunction, then you can use a semicolon to join together the two main clauses.

So here, we have the trees towered above me, semicolon, I felt a sense of looming tension.

I think about the semicolon as all working as a conjunction.

It's like replacing the conjunction there, and it's because it's linking those two main clauses together.

I wouldn't be able to do it if they were about completely separate things, but because they're about an, or expressing ideas that are connected, I can use the semicolon.

So which of the following compound sentences is punctuated correctly? Is it option A, the vines twisted around the structure so, the bridge felt smaller? Is option B, the petals were vibrant red, but the stems were a dull green? Or is it C, the sky was crystal clear but I could see clouds in the distance? Pause the video, think about what we've just talked about, and restart when you're ready.

Well done to those of you who said B.

Remember what I said, before our coordinating conjunction, we need a comma.

Option A therefore is wrong because the comma comes after the coordinating conjunction, and option C doesn't have the comma, so it's not gonna be correct.

Well done to those of you who spotted that I was trying to trick you.

So what effect do you think using compound sentences might have on the reader? Pause the video again.

Have a chat with the person next to you or mind map your own ideas for your notes, and afterwards, we'll have a look at what some of our Oak students said.

Some lovely discussions there and some great note-taking.

Let's see if we can add to what you've already said.

Aisha says, "Since compound sentences join two ideas together, they might help the reader have a better idea of how the image you are describing works as a whole." It's a really lovely idea from Aisha.

It allows us to get a more complete sense of the entire image.

Alternatively, Jacob points out that compound sentences might create a faster pace to our writing since the reader wouldn't be pausing as much if it were all simple sentences.

I really like this idea from Jacob, and he's really right.

It does create that faster pace, and it seems like we're almost chugging along really nicely.

We're not having to break all the time for full stops as we wouldn't in simple sentences.

So we're gonna practise our compound sentences.

We're again going back to Kibblywibbly's work.

This time, I want you to write a description of this image using a mixture of simple and compound sentences.

You're going to want to consider, a simple sentence is one main clause with a subject and a verb, and a compound sentence is two main clauses joined together with a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.

Pause the video now, have a go at writing that description.

Remember, you can be inspired by your initial work for that first practise task, but we need to bring in our compound sentences as well.

Don't just put in one.

Show me that you can vary your work.

Show me that you can have loads of them.

Try using different coordinating conjunctions or even a semicolon.

Pause the video, have a go now.

We've got some really bright people here.

I'm so pleased to see some of you working with different coordinating conjunctions, using the but, the or, the so, and I was so impressed that some of you were actually revisiting your previous pieces of work and actually seeing, "What ideas could I link together with a semicolon?" Incredible.

Let's take some feedback.

You might have written something like this.

The stones of the path crunched under my boots.

I lifted my gaze and a small door nestled in the stone wall caught my eye.

Notice that and acting as a coordinating conjunction for a compound sentence.

I was curious.

Gorgeous flowers of blushing pinks, dazzling yellows, and vibrant blues lined the path, yet the place was deserted.

Oh, I love that final sentence, that comma before the coordinating conjunction, yet there, is so lovely because it creates this contrast.

The fact that even though it's beautiful, the fact that there's an almost eerie nature to it because the place is deserted.

I'm getting shivers.

Have a moment now and see if you can edit your work so that you can create a really clear atmosphere through your sentence control.

Some lovely work there.

So pleased to see so many of you actively editing your work.

Great work, everyone.

We're now onto the final stage of our work today.

We're looking at complex sentences.

So complex sentences are made up of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

Remember, subordinate means of a lower rank.

A main clause is a complete thought and makes sense on its own.

So for example, the purple flowers jostled together.

A subordinate clause is a group of words that add extra information to compliment the main clause.

So they're working with the main clause, but they don't make sense on their own.

So for example, swaying in the wind, that's a sentence fragment by itself.

It needs to be put in relation to a main clause to make sense.

So we can link this main clause and the subordinate clause together to form a complex sentence.

So I could say, swaying in the wind, notice my subordinate clause there, the purple flowers jostled together.

So I've got my subordinate clause at the start, and then the purple flowers jostled together acts as my main clause to end the sentence.

In order to join the main clause and the subordinate clause together, the sentence will often use subordinating conjunction, such as since, because, until, or if.

For example, because there was a breeze, the purple flowers jostled together.

Here, we have the subordinate clause with the subordinating conjunction.

The subordinating conjunction here is because.

We then have our main clause, the purple flowers jostled together.

That main clause is still expressing a complete thought by itself unlike a subordinate clause, which doesn't express a complete thought by itself.

It almost trails off without the bit coming after it.

To construct your complex sentence, the subordinate clause can go at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the sentence.

The possibilities are endless.

If the subordinate clause goes at the beginning of the sentence, you need a comma after the subordinate clause.

So here, we have a comma after breeze because breeze is the final word of our subordinate clause.

We have the subordinate clauses, we have our comma, and then we have our main clause.

If the subordinate clause goes in the middle of the sentence, then we need commas, dashes, or brackets around it.

So for example, the purple flowers blowing in the breeze jostled together.

Here, I've embedded my subordinate clause in the middle of my sentence using commas around it.

If the subordinate clause goes at the end of the sentence, then you don't need a comma before it, just the subordinating conjunction.

Here, the purple flowers jostled together because there was a breeze.

Well, you know what? I don't need the comma because, is my subordinate clause, sorry, because is my subordinating conjunction, which introduces my subordinate clause, so I don't need that comma.

So quick check for understanding, a complex sentence has one main clause and at least one subordinate clause.

I want you to pause the video now and tell me if that's true or false.

Could see people checking back through their work.

Let's have a look.

Well done to those of you who said it's true.

Let's justify our answer.

Is it A, the subordinate clause provides extra, complimentary information for the main clause, or the subordinate clause provide separate information to the main clause? Pause the video again, have a think, restart when you're ready.

You're getting this, you're getting this.

I can see.

Well done to those of you who said option A, the subordinate clause provides extra, complimentary information that doesn't make sense by itself, remember, but works with the main clause which does make sense by itself, so that they work together.

The main clause works by itself, the subordinate clause doesn't.

So we put those together using the subordinating conjunction to create a complex sentence.

So why might complex sentences be effective to use in the descriptive writing? Pause the video again, talk to your partner, talk in your class, or jot down some ideas to see if you can work out.

Why might we do it? I wanna hear from some more students in just a moment.

Some lovely ideas.

Let's see if we can add any to our own notes.

Laura says, "Well, since the script of writing is designed to create a detailed picture in the reader's mind of the image, then using complex sentences adds complimentary detail to our sentences, which will help the reader to picture the scene." I love this idea from Laura.

She's absolutely right to say that it adds complimentary detail, and that does help us really imagine the scene.

So we're gonna have a final bit of practise.

You're gonna write a description of this image using a mixture of simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Remember, a simple sentence is one main clause with a subject and a verb.

A compound sentence is two main clauses joined together with a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon, and a complex sentence is one main clause and at least once subordinate clause.

Pause the video now.

Use the work that you have done previously to inspire you.

Let the image help you really think about how you can challenge yourself to now include a complex sentence.

Bring ideas together previously that you hadn't brought together before to create a compound sentence, or even extend a simple sentence by adding a subordinate clause to it, making sure to punctuate it correctly.

Pause the video now and have a go for yourselves.

Oh, I think that whoever has the pleasure of reading your work is so lucky.

You've all done such great work, making sure that you're using that variation of sentences.

Well done, everyone.

Let's take some feedback.

So we're gonna reflect on our descriptive writing now.

I want you to consider as you are going through your work in a different colour pen, where did you use simple sentences? Maybe underline them.

What effect did they have on the reader? Maybe write down in the margin.

Where did you use your compound sentences? Maybe put square brackets around those.

What effect might they have had on the reader? Again, maybe get some notes for that.

And where did you use complex sentences? I'm gonna tell you to draw a circle around those or box those off.

What effect would they have had on the reader? Pause the video and annotate your work so you can reflect really proactively on what you've managed to achieve today.

You should be all so proud of what you've managed.

Finally, I want you to think about, do you think your descriptive writing is more effective with the combination of the three sentence types? I've left this question last really deliberately because it is not just about identifying whether you have them, I need you to think, "Is it all working together? Is it cohesive as a single piece? Is it coming together really nicely to create a complete atmosphere?" Pause the video now and see if you've done that.

If you haven't, maybe just edit your work.

Maybe it's a case of editing so that you've used a simple sentence towards the end to create tension, or maybe you're using a complex sentence at the end to create that tranquil space with a subordinate clause to stop.

Pause the video.

Has your descriptive writing been effective with the combination of three sentence subject? Lovely work there, everyone, so impressed.

Let's summarise our work for today when looking at using simple, compound, and complex sentences in descriptive writing.

We've understood that a simple sentence has one main clause whilst a compound sentence has two main clauses joined together with a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.

We'll remember that complex sentences are one main clause and at least one subordinating clause, and the subordinate clause can go at the beginning, middle, and at the end of a sentence.

You've all done superbly well by looking at how you can use each of these, and I've been so impressed by the dedication you've shown, looking through your work and seeing how you can edit it.

Really well done today, everyone.

You're becoming excellent descriptive writers.

I'm really looking forward to working with you again, and I hope to see you again soon.