Sentence FluencyBy Mrs. Hares

• Sentence fluency is the rhythm and flow of the language, the sound of word patterns, the way in which the writing plays to the ear – not just the eye.

What is it?

Your Writing Should…

Be pleasant to read aloudHave variety in sentence length and structureSound naturalHave cadence (rhythm), movement

Key Question

Can you feel the words and phrases flow together as you read?

Words that describe sentence fluently

• Flowing punctuation• Exciting flows together• smooth strong • Different lengths good ideas• Music to the ears audience• Harmony fast and slow pace• Purposeful rests/stops/pauses• Balance rhythm• Comes together• tempo variety

How to Improve Sentence Fluency

1. Notice beginning words

2. Limit repetitious and extra words

3. Read aloud, read aloud, and read aloud again

4. Look for those sentences that sound better short

5. Experiment with different possibilities

6. Add suffixes

7. Add conjunctions

8. Get rid of extra punctuation

9. Determine why the sentences aren’t fluently before you begin changing them

1. Are they too choppy?

2. Does the piece “flow” when read aloud?

We went to the park. We had fun. We had a picnic. We played with a frisbee. We rode paddleboats. We went home.

Better We had an awesome time at the park on Sunday

morning! Leaves rustled as we ate our ham sandwiches, apples, and delicious blueberry pie. Yumm! It was great. We were now ready to work off that food. “Woosh,” the frisbee glided through the air as my Golden Retriever jumped to try to catch it without success. After hours of sweating in the beautiful sun, we decided it was time to cool down with a ride in the paddle boats. Boy, were we worn out. The sun was starting to set so we packed up and headed for home. It was another wonderful Sunday at the park.

Better “Yahoo!” I shouted as I chucked the bright orange

Frisbee to Daniel, my best friend. I couldn’t’ believe we were at the Jurassic Park where there are enormous, grassy fields, and that soft breeze cools us off. “Grrr,” I suddenly heard from my stomach. It was obvious that it was time to take a break, recline back on the our red, plaid picnic blanket and chow down.