Lesson video

Hi, everybody, and welcome back to our next lesson.

we are now going to work on a skills lesson, which will be all about developing our knowledge of complex sentences.

It is really important for us to be able to write complex sentences, because they really vary our writing.

And we can get some really high quality ambitious sentences, when we understand how to structure them properly.

So, the learning that we do today, will be so important and so helpful for us, through the rest of this writing unit, as we work towards producing our character description.

Well done everyone, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what we produce in this lesson.

For our learning objective today, we are going to be working on a grammar focus.

Today, we are going to explore complex sentences, then we're going to use our knowledge of complex sentences in our writing.

This is number three of 10 lessons for our second writing outcome.

In this lesson, you will need your exercise book or paper, a pen or pencil and your very best learning brain.

Pause the video, if you need to go and get any of those things.

Our agenda for learning today.

Firstly, we're going to revisit word class, then, we are going to learn about main and subordinate clauses, particularly focusing on subordinate clauses.

Then we are going to practise writing as complex sentences.

For our writing warmup, we are going to be working on word class.

Can you remember the definitions? Have some thinking time? Pause the video while you do that.

Okay, everyone, hopefully we've all had a moment, to pause the video and think about what each definition is.

Now I'm going to reveal the answers.

Nouns: A noun is a PPT a person, place or thing.

Your turn, well done.

Adjectives: An adjective is a describing word.

Your turn.

Great.

Verbs: A verb is a doing or a being word.

Your turn.

Well done.

Adverbs, an adverb describes a verb.

Your turn.

Excellent.

Now we've just recapped, on what each of those definitions are.

We're going to put our knowledge into practise.

For your warm up, I would like you to label the sentence with nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Now, some words in this sentence, won't have a label and that's okay.

I only want you to label the words that you think are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Pause the video while you do that.

Okay, everybody, hopefully we've all had a go, we've paused the video and we've all labelled the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in this sentence.

Let's have a look.

Okay.

Agitated, Sherlock Holmes glared through the dusty window.

Let's read again, all together.

Agitated, comma, Sherlock Holmes glared through the dusty window, full stop.

So, that first word agitated, who is agitated? Well done.

Sherlock Holmes is agitated.

Now, Sherlock Holmes is a person, he is a noun.

Now, he's a specific type of noun.

Can you remember what type of a noun it is, when that describes a person? Excellent, it's a proper noun.

He's got two capital letters, for his first and his second name.

He is a proper noun.

So, we've described Sherlock Holmes is agitated, that means agitated is an adjective.

Because we know that an adjective describes a noun.

He glared through the dusty window, show me your worst glare.

I'm glaring right back at you, well done.

So, he glared, he was doing something.

The thing he was doing was glaring, glared is a verb.

He glared through the dusty, an adjective that describes a noun, the dusty window.

So, a window is a thing, it's a noun.

So, dusty is an adjective and window is the thing that it's describing.

It's a noun.

Well done if you've got those.

Now, we're going to work on main and subordinate clauses.

I would like you to try filling in the blanks.

Try thinking back to some of our previous learning in other lessons.

A clause is a group of words which contains a? Pause the video while you have a think.

Well done everyone, in three, two, one.

I'm going to reveal the answer.

A clause is a group of words which contains a? Verb.

Well done if you spotted that.

A verb is a? Excellent! A verb is a doing word.

If you can do it, or you are it, then the word is a verb.

So, try now filling in the blanks for this sentence.

A simple sentence consists of one? It does not contain a? Now we've seen this sentence before in one of our earlier grammar lessons on main clauses, and compound sentences.

To help you I've got a little visual.

Pause the video while you try and fill in the blanks.

Okay everyone, hopefully we've all had a go at filling in those blanks, let's reveal.

A simple sentence consists of one main clause, it does not contain a conjunction.

Excellent, well done! And here's our Mr. Main visual.

Remember, just like Batman, who flies around Gotham City solving crimes on his own, Mr. Main, as a main clause does not need any other clauses to help it make sense.

It makes sense all on its own.

A compound sentence consists of two? joined by a? Either? Or? Now, there's a lot of words there, so here's a visual to help you.

A compound sentence consists of two? Now, look at the equation here two what? Joined by what? Pause the video while you think a little deeper.

And if you find the answer, try saying your full sentence.

Okay everyone, I'm going to reveal our missing words.

A compound sentence consists of two main clauses, joined by a coordinating conjunction, either comma but, comma or, or and.

So, along the bottom I've added my visual here is my BOA.

Remember my boa represents coordinating conjunctions.

They are the conjunctions we find in compound sentences.

There are three BOA conjunctions, but, or, and.

Well done if you spotted those missing words.

So, now I would like you to have a go at matching the sentence types to the pictures.

Which image represents a simple sentence, and which image represents a compound sentence? Have some thinking time? Okay, I'm going to reveal the answer in three, two, one.

Here is a simple sentence, how many main clauses are in a simple sentence? Show me on your fingers.

Well done.

There's one main clause in a simple sentence.

How many main clauses are in a compound sentence? Use a visual to help you.

Excellent.

There are two main clauses in a compound sentence.

Fantastic.

So, now that we have recapped what main clauses are, we're going to take a deeper look at subordinate clauses.

My turn, subordinate clauses, your turn.

Well done.

A complex sentence contains a main clause and a subordinate clause.

Now, I'm going to use these actions when we discuss these.

A main clause and a subordinate clause.

So, the main clause goes on top, because it is the main clause, and a subordinate clause goes below.

It needs the main clause to make sense, whereas a main clause can be all on its own.

A subordinate clause does not make sense on its own.

Let's say that again, all together.

A subordinate clause does not make sense on it's own.

Now, you say on your own.

Three, two, one.

Excellent.

It's really important that we keep that in our minds, as we move through this lesson.

So, here's Mr. Subordinate, he's the helper.

He helps to add more information to the main clause, but he still does not make sense all on his own.

So, a complex sentence has a main clause and a subordinate clause.

Sometimes, the subordinate clause will come first, and the main clause will go second, and sometimes the main clause comes first, and the subordinate clause comes second.

These form complex sentences, and I can see here my equations, which are used to explain that.

So, here are my visuals to represent that.

Sometimes Mr. Main comes first, and Robin the subordinate, he comes second, sometimes, Mr. Subordinate comes first, followed by Mr. Main.

So, a main clause plus a subordinate clause, makes a complex sentence.

The first word of a subordinate clause, is a subordinating conjunction.

Let's say that again.

The first word of a subordinate clause, is the subordinating conjunction.

It gets tagged on to the top front of the subordinate clause.

So, you can always spot a subordinate clause, by looking for a subordinate conjunction, and that's the first word of a subordinate clause.

So, let's talk a little bit about subordinating conjunctions.

There are lots of subordinating conjunctions.

So, coordinating conjunctions we only have BOA, but, or, and, there's only three.

But subordinating conjunctions, there are plenty of them.

So, today we're only going to start by looking at a few.

As, your turn.

When, your turn.

Because, your turn.

If, your turn.

Well done.

These are four subordinating conjunctions, but there are more.

But these are four very common subordinating conjunctions which we will often find in our writing.

So, subordinating conjunctions, go at the start of the subordinate clause.

They are the first word of the subordinate clause.

Now, I've made our challenge a little bit trickier.

I want you to match the sentence type to the picture.

So, which image represents a simple sentence? Which image represents a compound sentence? And which image represents a complex sentence? I would like you to pause the video while you decide.

Okay, everyone, hopefully we've all paused the video and we've spent a few minutes, working out which visual goes with which sentence type.

Now I'm going to reveal the answer.

So, here's our simple sentence, it consists of one main clause, with a capital letter and a full stop.

Next, which is the compound sentence? Have a quick look.

Well done if you spotted it.

Our compound sentence consists of two main clauses, joined together in the middle with BOA, but, or, and, those coordinating conjunctions.

And finally, our complex sentence.

This is made of a main clause and a subordinate clause.

And at the very start of the subordinate clause, we have a subordinating conjunction.

We could also write a complex sentence, by putting the subordinate clause first, and the main clause second.

So now, we're going to have a practise of identifying main and subordinate clauses.

We're going to have a little quiz.

Are you ready? Get that brain fired up.

Okay, here we go.

As he scowled through the dirty window.

Main clause or subordinate clause? Pause the video while you have a think.

Okay, if you're not sure, a top tip, if you look at the very first word of the clause, is it a subordinate conjunction? If it is, that means it's a subordinate clause.

If it's not a subordinate conjunction, then it's a main clause.

Okay, going to reveal the answer in three, two, one.

It says subordinate clause.

What's the subordinating conjunction? Shout out to me.

Excellent! As.

As is a subordinating conjunction.

Therefore, this is a subordinate clause, because it begins with as.

The frustrated detective paced the room.

Is the first word of that clause, a subordinating conjunction? Yes or no? That will help you to answer this question.

Going to reveal the answer.

Pause the video if you need some more time.

In three, two, one.

This is a main clause, the, is not a subordinate conjunction.

So, this clause is a main clause, it makes sense all on its own.

The frustrated detective paced the room, that makes sense on its own, so, it is a main clause.

Dr.

John Watson lounged in his armchair.

Look at the first word, is the word doctor a subordinating conjunction? Yes or no? If it is a subordinating conjunction, then this is a subordinate clause.

If it is not a subordinating conjunction, then it is a main clause.

Next question to ask yourself, does it make sense on its own? going to reveal the answer in three, two, one.

This is another main clause.

Dr.

John Watson lounged in his armchair, this clause makes sense on its own, so, it's a main clause.

Also, the word doctor is not a subordinating conjunction.

This is our final clause.

When the clock struck nine.

Look at the first word of the clause, when, is this a subordinate conjunction? Yes or no? If yes, then it's a subordinate clause, if no, then the clause is a main clause.

Read the clause again, does it make sense on its own, if you said it as just one stand-alone sentence? If yes, then it's a main clause, if no, it's a subordinate clause.

Going to reveal the answer in three, two, one.

This is a subordinate clause, the word when, is a subordinating conjunction.

Also, when the clock struck nine, does not make sense on its own.

If someone came to me and said, "When the clock struck nine" I'd be waiting to hear the rest of the sentence, I'd want to know what happened when the clock struck nine.

This is a subordinate clause.

Okay, the final section of our lesson today everyone, is writing complex sentences.

So, we're going to use what we now know about complex sentences, and apply our knowledge to our own writing.

So, you might remember this mind map.

We generated the show not tell mind maps, in our previous lesson.

We did one for Sherlock, and we also did one for Dr.

John Watson.

Now, I'm going to use these mind maps, to help me write a complex sentence.

Here's my example.

As Sherlock paced the room like a caged lion, comma, Dr.

John Watson carefully pored over the journals he had been reading.

Now, I have put my subordinate clause first.

Can anyone spot the subordinating conjunction in this sentence? Point too quickly on the screen, three, two, one.

Well done if you spotted that the subordinating conjunction is as.

So, as, is the first word of my subordinate clause.

And I know it's subordinate clause, because I've highlighted it in pink as well.

So, as Sherlock paced the room like a caged lion, comma, I've got to separate my subordinate clause from my main clause using a comma.

I only need to use a comma, when I put the subordinate clause first.

Because if I were to re-write my sentence, and instead put my main clause first, so, for example, if I wrote Dr.

John Watson carefully pored over the journals he had been reading, as Sherlock paced the room like a caged lion.

I don't need a comma there to show the difference between my two clauses, because I've got my as conjunction doing that job for me.

So, I don't need a comma and an as together.

If I put my subordinate clause first, I must use a comma after the subordinate clause.

If the main clause comes first, I do not need to use a comma after the main clause.

So, here's my example.

Now, I've given you the subordinate clause.

As Dr.

John Watson silently surveyed his agitated colleague, comma.

Remember, the comma come when I've used my subordinate clause first.

I want you to add a main clause to this subordinate clause, to form a full complex sentence, and pause the video while you do that.

Okay everyone, then I would like you to read the full sentence aloud.

Well done.

Here is another example.

As Dr.

John Watson silently surveyed his agitated colleague, comma, he gave a small sigh.

So, Dr.

John Watson was doing two things at the same time.

As he watched Sherlock he also sighed.

Now, I would like you to write completely on your own this time.

Your sentence is going to start with as.

So, as, is your subordinating conjunction.

And choose two things that are happening at the same time.

So, you could give one action from Sherlock, and one action from Dr.

John Watson.

Or, you could choose one character, and tell me that he's doing two things at the same time.

It's totally up to you.

But you must remember your capital letter, your comma after the subordinate clause, and your full stop at the end of the sentence.

Okay, everyone.

Make sure to pause the video while you do that, and then read your full sentence aloud, when you have finished.

And that brings us to the end of our lesson today everybody.

Well done for working so, so hard.

Remember that you can share your work with the Oak National if you would like to on social media.

And we're going to be using all of that knowledge we've worked on today, in our next writing lesson.

See you very soon.