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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 8 of 15

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 3.11(D) · 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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 8 of 15 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Word Pairs and before ABC Order & Dictionary.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    What kind of sentence is this?

    The bus was a little late today.

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

  2. Question 2

    Which is NOT a complete sentence?

    • Raced up the tree.
    • Grandma knitted a warm scarf.
    • A gentle rain fell all night.

  3. Question 3

    Which is NOT a complete sentence?

    • The kettle whistled loudly.
    • The ducks across the pond.
    • Leo built a sandcastle.

  4. Question 4

    What kind of sentence is this?

    Please hang up your coat.

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

  5. Question 5

    Which is a complete sentence?

    • The puppy chewed on a bone.
    • The puppy on a bone.
    • Chewed on a bone.

  6. Question 6

    What kind of sentence is this?

    How many legs does a crab have?

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

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