English Language Arts and Reading.4.11.D.viii

The student is expected to

edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:

 

coordinating conjunctions to form compound subjects, predicates, and sentences;

writing process TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.

The following is one example of how to assess proficiency of this student expectation (SE) or a portion of the SE. More examples coming soon.
 

A teacher may wish to pair SE 4.11.D.viii with SE 4.12.B and assess both SEs at the same time. With SE 4.12.B, students compose informational texts, including brief compositions that convey information about a topic, using a clear central idea and genre characteristics and craft. Have each student compose an informational piece of writing to share information regarding a current event or a topic that has been studied in a different content area such as math or social studies. Students should incorporate multiple examples of coordinating conjunctions in their writing. After students have completed their writing, have them trade with a classmate to read the other student's informational text and locate the coordinating conjunctions.

Notes:

  • Students should include coordinating conjunctions in a variety of ways such as in compound subjects, compound predicates, and compound sentences.
  • Challenge students to use all seven coordinating conjunctions (i.e.., for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so) in their writing.
     

Further Explanation

This SE requires students to understand how coordinating conjunctions serve as a tool to establish the relationship between words, phrases, or independent clauses in a sentence to indicate a relationship based on cause and effect, opposition, alternatives, or the addition or negation of equally important ideas or details. A student’s use of the same one or two conjunctions repeatedly may indicate that the student has not yet mastered this skill. The more conjunctions the student is able to use correctly and appropriately, the more comfortable the student is likely to be with the skill.

Sentences can have two (or more) subjects that have the same syntactical value in a sentence and share the same verb/predicate. These subjects will be joined by a coordinating conjunction to indicate their relationship. For example, in the sentence “My brother and sister enjoyed the surprise party,” the conjunction and indicates that the brother and sister (subjects in the sentence) both enjoyed (shared verb) the party.
Students are expected to use coordinating conjunctions in their writing as a tool to establish the relationship among words, phrases, and independent clauses in a sentence. This link will indicate a relationship based on cause and effect, opposition, alternatives, or the addition or negation of equally important ideas or details. For example, in the sentence “I want to have ice cream for dinner, but my mom will not let me,” the coordinating conjunction but makes it clear to the reader that the mother’s and the speaker’s intentions are in opposition. Note: of the seven coordinating conjunctions used in the English language, one conjunction, so, can also be used as a subordinating conjunction when it links unequal clauses in the sense of so that (e.g., “I am eating my vegetables so I can have ice cream later!”)
During the editing stage of the writing process, students further improve their drafts and often prepare them for publication by correcting conventions errors. Ensuring that the standard rules of the English language have been correctly applied helps readers more easily comprehend the information because they are not having to interrupt their thinking to determine what the writer intended to say.
The subject of a sentence can carry out two or more actions in the predicate (the part of the sentence containing the verb). The verbs expressing these actions will be joined by a coordinating conjunction. For example, in the sentence “Reggie tried to clean the yard but forgot to rake the leaves,” the subject Reggie both tried and forgot. The conjunction but indicates a contrast or conflict between something intended and the outcome.
Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) can be placed between two independent clauses to create a compound sentence. The coordinating conjunction appears between the two independent clauses and should be preceded by a comma. When the two clauses have a clear relationship that can be conveyed by a conjunction, students may choose to combine clauses that could otherwise make sense on their own (e.g., “I wanted to play with my friends at recess, but my ankle was hurting.”)
standard rules of the English language, including written mechanics such as punctuation, capitalization, spelling, paragraphing, etc. and written/oral grammar such as parts of speech, word order, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure