English Language Arts and Reading.3.11.D.viii

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The student is expected to

edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:

coordinating conjunctions to form compound subjects, predicates, and sentences;

writing process TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.

Provide students with three teacher-created paragraphs containing errors with coordinating conjunctions. This can be done in three different activities: compound subjects, predicates, and sentences. Have students edit the paragraphs to reflect appropriate use of coordinating conjunctions.

Important Notes:

  • Compound subjects and predicates with a coordinating conjunction do NOT require a comma.
  • Compound sentences do require a coordinating conjunction and a comma.
     

Further Explanation

This SE requires students to demonstrate their understanding of how coordinating conjunctions establish the relationship among words, phrases, or independent clauses in a sentence by correctly editing a piece of writing.

The subject of a sentence can carry out two or more actions in the predicate (the part of the sentence containing the verb). The verbs expressing these actions will be joined by a coordinating conjunction. For example, in the sentence “Mason tried to clean his room but forgot to look under the bed,” the subject Mason both tried and forgot. The conjunction but indicates a contrast or conflict between something intended and the outcome.
Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) can be placed between two independent clauses to create a compound sentence. The coordinating conjunction appears between the two independent clauses and should be preceded by a comma. When the two clauses have a clear relationship that can be conveyed by a conjunction, students may choose to combine clauses that could otherwise make sense on their own (e.g., “I wanted to play with my friends at recess, but my ankle was hurting.”)
Sentences can have two or more subjects that have the same syntactical value in a sentence and share the same verb/predicate. These subjects will be joined by a coordinating conjunction to indicate their relationship. For example, in the sentence “My brother and sister enjoyed the surprise party,” the conjunction and indicates that the brother and sister (subjects in the sentence) equally enjoyed (shared verb) the party.
Students are expected to use coordinating conjunctions in their writing to establish the relationship between words, phrases, or independent clauses in a sentence. This link will indicate a relationship based on cause and effect, opposition, alternatives, or the addition or negation of equally important ideas or details. For example, in the sentence “I want to have ice cream for dinner, but my mom will not let me,” the coordinating conjunction but makes it clear to the reader that the mother and the speaker’s intentions are in opposition. Note: of the seven coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) used in the English language, one conjunction, so, can also be used as a subordinating conjunction when it links unequal clauses in the sense of so that (e.g., “I am eating my vegetables so I can have dessert later!”).
During the editing stage of the writing process, students further improve their drafts and often prepare for publication by correcting conventions errors. Ensuring that the standards of the English language have been applied correctly helps the audience more easily comprehend the information because they do not have to interrupt their thinking to determine what the writer intended to say.
standard rules of the English language, including written mechanics such as punctuation, capitalization, spelling, paragraphing, etc. and written/oral grammar such as parts of speech, word order, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure