Sentence Fluency Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: L.3.3.a

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

When we hear a sequence of words lopped together and they almost bring a sense of harmony it is music to our hears. Sometimes how the words are arranged in a sentence can feel like nails scratching across a chalkboard. How we gauge the sequence and flow of language across a series of patterns in a sentence is identified as sentence fluency. The true test is how does it sound when it is read verbally aloud. If there is a complete lack of awkwardness and everything swirls in a free sense, sentence fluency is achieved. This is truly a difficult skill for most writers to achieve. It goes much deeper than just making sure that your grammar and syntax are in check. The best way to prepare to write in this manner consistently is to read the work of other authors that have already mastered this art. The worksheets that you will find in this section will work with students on building a sense of fluidity in the sentences that they compose.

Sentence Fluency Worksheets To Print:

Get It Flowing - Rewrite each sentence, adding a preposition. Choose from the word box. You may need to add, remove, or reorder some words to make the sentence flow smoothly.

Joining Sentences - Practice using a conjunction to join shorter sentence together to form a single, longer sentence.

Subordinating Conjunctions - Practice using a subordinating conjunction.

Sync Your Thoughts - Write a paragraph that describes the picture. Write at least six sentences.

Second Opinions - Sometimes it is hard to see where your own work can be improved. Getting an objective opinion on your work before you hand it in will give you the opportunity to see where what you have written may be unclear or where your writing may not flow well.

Checklist - Use the checklist below to critique your own writing, or trade papers with another student.

More Practice - Rewrite the paragraph so that it is easy to read, more interesting, and flows better. Feel free to add additional details.

Jazz It Up! - There is never just one way to structure a sentence. As long as it is clear and easy to understand, it can take any number of forms.

Four Ways - Practice by rewriting each sentence below in four different ways.

Three Ways - Make three rewrites of each series that you are given.

The Beginning - Start all of these off the right way.

Describe Them - We want you to express the actions in a picture using multiple statements.

Prepositional Phrases - Add a prepositional phrase of your choice to the beginning of each of these.

Transitions - Get some work on using transitions properly in your writing.

Full Review - Practice everything that you have learned to get it going.

How to Improve Student Sentence Fluency

Achieving a high level of sentence fluency in your writing can be much more pleasurable for your readers and capture their attention and imaginations. Some of the changes you will begin to make will center around the length of sentences and the phrases that you use in them. Changing up how you start or finish off sentences in paragraphs will adjust. You will also start to use a varied series of transition words and phrases. Many people consider this to be something that just comes with experience, which is true, but there is a process that can help you get there in a more direct way.


The course of learning to excel in this writing trait is a process that all begins with reading the work of others and understanding that in which we read. It starts at the sentence level and understanding the difference between all the forms (simple, compound, and complex). When then focus on understanding the variations that occur between sentences. This includes things like how they start off, how long are they, how the end, and the forms of punctuation that we habitually use. We then get into the more technical aspect of literary devices that are used by authors. We begin by noticing and understanding the use of figurative language and what it adds to the work. We finish off by having students focus on word patterns used by some of the great author in history and we help them become familiar with the concept of alliteration.


Once you can hear or sense the use of fluency it is time to begin using it in our own writing. At first, we do not expect students to just be writing with this heightened sense of fluency, but we do expect them to be able to start to revise their own work and add this in as they make revisions. This is not something that you should expect in their first draft, but it is something you should see after the final revision. Students often will just begin replacing weaker words for more substantial synonyms. This usually does not cut the mustard. There are four surefire techniques that we suggest that you use with students:


Combining Sentences- Our first task should be to remove repetitive or unnecessary words. You can easily achieve most of this clipping by just using connector words (and, but, or) to rid yourself of many unnecessary terms in your writing.


Use Appositives- When you have two short sentences, appositives can come handy to place key terms or phrases inside just one of the sentences.


Sentence Padding- By simply adding a phrase to the beginning of a sentence you can really share a great deal more information (when, where, why) about the subject.


Sentence Flipping- By just adjusting the order in which sentences are presented you can make a work much more dynamic. In most cases you will not need to add or remove anything, you can add finesse by reordering the way in which you presented the sentences.