Writing complex sentences requires students to take two complete ideas and subordinate one to the other based on the logical relationship between them. When students begin writing sentences that include multiple clauses, they need to be aware of the various ways to properly connect logically related ideas. For example, students should be able to recognize comma splices (e.g., Tuvo una educación limitada, fue una persona muy sabia). Students can often correct a comma splice by adding a subordinating conjunction to the beginning of the sentence (Aunque tuvo una educación limitada, fue una persona muy sabia). This eliminates the comma splice and reinforces the relationship between the ideas. Students should also be mindful that a subordinate clause cannot stand on its own without creating a sentence fragment. Aunque tuvo una educación limitada is not a complete thought.

Students should be able to write sentences that have two ideas (clauses) joined by a subordinating conjunction, making one idea dependent on the other. Students should understand that in complex sentences, the dependent clause (the idea that contains the subordinating conjunction) can come before or after the independent clause. For example, Debido a que el pronóstico del tiempo era lluvioso, tomé el paragüas and Tomé el paragüas debido a que el pronóstico del tiempo era lluvioso are both acceptable ways to write this complex sentence.

a sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause (e.g., Me fui a bañar cuando los invitados se fueron)

During the editing stage of the writing process, students further improve their draft and often prepare it for publishing by correcting convention errors. Ensuring that the standard rules of the Spanish language have been applied correctly helps the audience to more easily comprehend the information because they are not having to interrupt their thinking to determine what the writer intended to say.

an incorrect sentence structure that occurs when a sentence is incomplete because it is missing a subject or predicate (e.g., Cuando amanece cada mañana)

a grammatically incorrect sentence structure that occurs when two or more independent clauses are joined without any punctuation (e.g., Nos fuimos a dormir temprano estábamos fatigados)

a grammatically incorrect sentence structure that occurs when a comma is used without a conjunction to join two independent clauses (e.g., Mi familia plantará rosales en el jardín, los regaré todos los días); commonly referred to as a “comma splice”

standard rules of the Spanish 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

the grammatical state of a sentence when the subject and verb match in number (singular or plural) and/or person (first person, second person, or third person)