Making Sentences Clear

Choose different sentences from students' writing, or generate your own list of unclear sentences. Put them on the overhead. After reading each sentence aloud, have the students identify the true meaning buried in the unclear form. The students then rewrite the sentences so that their intended meaning is clear.

Have students orally paraphrase a paragraph of a story that they have written. Another student should read the paragraph. If it is different in any way, the reader should point it out to the one who is paraphrasing. The student who paraphrased can then make any changes to the paragraph he or she would like.