7.10.D.i
The Standard
complete complex sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading · Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students draft and revise complex sentences that express complete ideas. They match each subject with the correct verb and fix fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students write complex sentences with complete independent and dependent clauses. They consistently match subjects and verbs, then repair fragments, comma splices, and run-ons with correct punctuation or conjunctions.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think any long sentence is a run-on or that a comma can join two complete thoughts. They may also match the verb with the nearest noun instead of the true subject, or mistake a dependent clause for a complete sentence.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Revise this sentence and label each change: "Although the players on the team practices daily, they still lose some games, their coach stays hopeful."
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs clause strips, conjunction cards, and punctuation cards, then have them build three correct complex sentences and repair two flawed ones.
Ask students to compare two revisions of a run-on and explain in writing which one is clearer and why.
Play an error hunt where teams identify and correct fragments, run-ons, comma splices, and agreement errors in projected sentences.
Have students edit a school announcement or email so every sentence is complete, correctly joined, and grammatically accurate.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 4.11.D.i
complete simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;
- 6.10.D.i
complete complex sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;
- 8.10.D.i
complete complex sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;
- 5.11.D.i
complete simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;
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