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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 8 of 13

Sentence Smarts

Kinds of sentences

What your child practices

Telling statements, questions, exclamations and commands apart, spotting incomplete sentences and joining ideas with so, but, or and because.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 3.30; 3.37 · complete sentences and kinds of sentences

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A complete sentence tells who or what, and what they do.
  2. A statement tells, a question asks, an exclamation shows strong feeling and a command tells someone to do something.
  3. Join two ideas with and, but, or, so or because.

Example: Which is a complete sentence: “Our class at a farm.” or “Our class visited a farm.”? Both tell who: our class. Only one tells what they did: visited. Answer: Our class visited a farm.

Sentence Smarts in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 8 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Word Pairs and before Grammar Gears.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which is a complete sentence?

    • Grandma knitted a warm scarf.
    • Grandma's warm scarf.
    • Knitted a warm scarf.

  2. Question 2

    What kind of sentence is this?

    Do you want to play soccer?

    • Statement (tells something)
    • Command (tells someone to do something)
    • Question (asks something)
    • Exclamation (shows strong feeling)

  3. Question 3

    What kind of sentence is this?

    Wow, we won the game!

    • Question (asks something)
    • Exclamation (shows strong feeling)
    • Command (tells someone to do something)
    • Statement (tells something)

  4. Question 4

    Which is NOT a complete sentence?

    • Whistled loudly.
    • The puppy chewed on a bone.
    • The ducks swam across the pond.

  5. Question 5

    What kind of sentence is this?

    The bus was a little late today.

    • Question (asks something)
    • Command (tells someone to do something)
    • Exclamation (shows strong feeling)
    • Statement (tells something)

  6. Question 6

    Which is a complete sentence?

    • The bright moon in the sky.
    • The bright moon lit up the sky.
    • Lit up the sky.

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