Writing in complete sentences?

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Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Writing in complete sentences?

Post by Manana »

Would I be correct in assuming (there is a voice in my head saying "never assume anything!") that answers to comprehension questions must be written in complete sentences and not beginning 'because...'? Do children nowadays lose marks for this? What about not writing using capitals/full stops/correct spelling?

Obviously I would never teach my child to ignore any of these basic sentence requirements, but I just wondered how strict the marking was and how much it took into account such things?
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Writing in complete sentences?

Post by yoyo123 »

it depends.

unfortunately the SATs papers only require an answer eg because he was too scared... this has had 'old school' teachers twirling in their graves or at least gnashing their teeth..

Other work may require a complete sentence, usually there will be some indication of what sort of answer is required.

personally , although at times they can be good, I blame the ubiquitous worksheet
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Writing in complete sentences?

Post by mystery »

I also blame the way homework and classwork is marked and returned in some schools. Teachers tend to value verbal feedback more than written feedback now - they think that children take more heed of it.

If we had answered questions that should have been responded to in full sentences incompletely we would have receive less than half marks (which we cared about), a short note at the bottom saying "write in full sentences" and been required to do our corrections - i.e. complete it again in full sentences in our own time.

Clearly if you can't write in full sentences this is a different matter.

It therefore was not worth our while saving time by not writing in full sentences as in the end you had to take more time to do the piece of work if you didn't - first time round, plus second time doing it all again in full sentences.

Also we did our homework in the same exercise books that we had in the classroom. So our parents could easily see if they chose to what our classwork and homework was like. Mine was generally of a very high standard, but I am sure that the parents who cared would have taken a good luck and reinforced the messages from the teachers. If your parents cannot see the teacher's marking of classwork and homework, this a powerful communication tool (for no extra teacher time) that is lost. I really don't understand now why seeing children's primary school exercise books is limited to a five minute flash at 2 parents' evenings per year in some primary schools.
mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Writing in complete sentences?

Post by mystery »

Sorry I meant to say a good "look" not a good luck ...... not sure what happened to the fingers there.
TJL
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:33 pm

Re: Writing in complete sentences?

Post by TJL »

Teachermum76 wrote:Would I be correct in assuming ... that answers to comprehension questions must be written in complete sentences and not beginning 'because...'? Do children nowadays lose marks for this?
This is exactly the question I came to the forum to ask. On some answer sheets for English test papers, the answers start 'because...' and the space given for the answer doesn't really allow for the answer in a 'full sentence'. Does anyone know whether the Essex English 11+ exam requires 'because' type or full sentence type answers (or where I can find out)?
TJL
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