Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences Review Made Easy!

Using a combination of simple, compound and complex sentences is an essential key to quality writing. Writing becomes boring, monotonous and sounds robotic without variation in the types of sentences used. Encourage your students to improve their writing by remembering to adopt a mixture of simple, compound and complex sentences. This activity will help students review their knowledge of sentence structure.

This activity requires students to: 

• read sentences to determine if they are simple, compound or complex and sort them into the correct categories 
• use the answer key to check their answers.

By practising this skill in an engaging way, students can strengthen their ability to identify these types of sentences more quickly. This will translate into them having the confidence to use a variety of sentence types in their own writing.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource for students to work on as an English Group Activity. 

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

This activity could be simplified by limiting the sort to simple and compound sentences only. Prepare the sort ahead of time by removing the unwanted cards.

Further assist students who need help understanding the concepts by:

• providing read-aloud accommodations if needed
• partnering students together to complete the activity
• completing the activity in a small group or one-to-one session
• having students complete the sorting component only and bypass the recording sheet
• providing a Simple, Compound and Complex Sentence anchor chart for reference during completion.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

• Encourage fast finishers to change the simple sentences in the sort into compound or complex sentences.
• Have students edit or revise their own writing to include a mixture of sentence types.

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource. A recording sheet and answer key are also included with this download.

Print on thick card for added durability and longevity. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access. 

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Kiri, a Teach Starter Collaborator, created this resource. 

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:  

teaching resource Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences PowerPoint A 23 slide editable PowerPoint template which introduces the attributes of simple, compound and complex sentences. teaching resource Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences Poster Use this poster to show your students the attributes that make up simple, compound and complex sentences. teaching resource Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences Flashcards Use this set of 16 colourful flashcards to introduce students to the attributes that make up simple, compound and complex sentences.