Build Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences

Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to distinguish, combine, and construct simple, compound, and introductory complex sentences.

How the lesson starts: Build Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences

Bea builds bridges
Meet Bea, a bear who builds bridges between islands. But her islands are ideas! Before Bea builds a bridge, each island must be solid. A solid island is a complete sentence. Let's check them!
Can it stand alone?
A complete sentence tells who or what, plus what happens. It's a whole thought. The otter splashed in the river. Complete! Now read this. Splashed in the river all day. Who splashed? We don't know. That's a fragment, a broken piece.
Let's test three islands
Which is a complete sentence? After the picnic by the lake. Who did what? Nobody! Fragment. Ate the berries. Who ate them? Fragment. Bea ate the berries. Who? Bea. What happened? She ate the berries. Complete!