Designed as a supplement to traditional writing texts, this workbook contains activities that allow students to form grammatically sophisticated sentences without having to study formal grammar. The 68 lessons in the workbook progress from relatively simple to complex, with each stressing a particular way of combining sentences. The various…

The present study tested four research hypotheses dealing with sentence-combining (SC) practice as a component of the language arts curriculum. It examined the progress of 100 seventh graders over a period of three months. No formal instruction in grammar was included. Four classes, controlled for ability, sex, and teacher effect, followed a…

Sentence combining can teach students one of the most difficult aspects of the writing process--how to construct effective, versatile sentences. In sentence combining exercises, students take a series of short sentences and combine them into a longer and more elaborate sentence in such a way that the important information from each short sentence…

Sentence combining is one kind of practice activity, quite specific in character, aimed at teaching syntactic fluency and judgment and the use of the devices of cohesion. Students can be led through the revision process step by step by converting the odd essay from real writing to a practice exercise, then actually providing the content needed for…

Uses Yeats's poem "Father and Child" to help high school students understand the technical elements that go into a poem and to help English methods students understand what is meant by an integrated lesson in language, literature, and composition. (HTH)

The Cooperative Principle posits four general ways in which a speaker is expected to be cooperative: (1) quantity--make a contribution no more and no less informative than is required; (2) quality--say only that which one both believes and has adequate evidence for; (3) relation--be relevant; and (4) manner--make a contribution easy to understand.…

The instructor of two twelfth grade English classes, one a composition class and the other a general English class, gave both classes some exercises in sentence combining. In the first exercise, the students were given two sentences and told to devise as many combinations as possible. While the composition class contributed more combinations than…

Sentence combining (SC) has proved to be valuable in increasing the syntactic maturity of students. However, teachers have felt uncomfortable with the arhetorical nature of SC. Little research has been done on the relation of cognitive processes and SC. SC might be more useful if account is taken of the fact that syntax is an abode for cognitive…

The authors review studies which suggest that sentence combining exercises might improve composition in ways that traditional grammar has long been alleged to do, particularly in the areas of sentence structure, usage, ideas, and style. Implications are drawn for grammar instruction in the middle school. (Author/SJL)

Sample sentence-combining lessons developed to accompany the first-year A-LM German textbook are presented. The exercises are designed for language manipulation practice; they involve breaking down more complex sentences into simpler sentences and the subsequent recombination into complex sentences. All language skills, and particularly writing,…

Describes the instructional activities involved in Student Activated Vocabulary Instruction--a method of instruction involving three phases: conceptual assimilation, lexical refinement, and expression. (HOD)

An overview of the research literature reviews studies on the effectiveness of sentence-combining (SC) exercises in helping English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students integrate their knowledge of grammar into their writing. In the 1960s, Kellog Hunt published a series of articles that explored the relationship between SC and writing skills.…

A study investigated the effect of Frank O'Hare's "Sentencecraft" sentence combining program on the written syntactic skills, reading comprehension level, and speed of average ability ninth-grade students. The sample consisted of 75 experimental group students and 68 control group students. Following a pretest, the experimental group…

The use of microcomputers as word processors for writing papers is commonplace in English departments, but there are many less well-known uses that English teachers can make of the computer. For example, word processing programs can be used to teach sentence combining. Moving text on the screen is very easy, so it is possible to rearrange words or…

Sentence combining is a powerful tool for structuring information and can be used effectively throughout the composing process. The teaching of composition can integrate into the composing process a number of concepts, including the use of heuristics, intellectual strategies, organizing principles, and sentence combining. A useful model for the…