Virginia SOL 11.LU.1.A
The Standard
Use verbal phrases to achieve sentence conciseness and variety in speaking and writing.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Grammar
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use gerund, participial, and infinitive phrases to combine ideas and remove repeated words. They vary sentence openings and place each phrase near the word it modifies.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students combine related ideas without losing meaning or emphasis. They use gerund, participial, and infinitive phrases correctly, and they avoid dangling or misplaced modifiers.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse a verbal with the sentence’s main verb. They may create dangling phrases, repeat the subject unnecessarily, or shorten a sentence until its meaning becomes unclear.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Revise “Lena wanted to finish before noon. Lena skipped her break” using an infinitive phrase, then explain what changed.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips with repeated subjects; students combine each pair using participial, gerund, or infinitive phrases, then compare choices.
Write three versions of one sentence, each using a different verbal phrase, and discuss how each version changes rhythm or emphasis.
Play Sentence Surgery: teams revise wordy sentences on task cards, earning points for clarity, concision, and correct phrase placement.
Give students a wordy school announcement and ask them to revise it for a brief, clear morning broadcast.
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Printable 11.LU.1.A Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 11.LU.1.A, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 8.LU.1.C
Use specific adjectives and adverbs to enhance speech and writing.
- 5.LU.1.A
Expand, combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style.
- 6.LU.1.A
Construct simple, compound, and complex sentences to communicate ideas clearly and add variety to writing.
- 9.LU.1.D
Use appositives and main and subordinate clauses to convey and clarify a message when speaking and writing.
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