You start with the most basic short sentence: A noun (person, place, or thing) and a verb (action word, physical or mental, in the present or past tense). Examples are: Fish swim. Birds fly. People think. She runs. He talks. They smiled. Paul laughed.
Knowing this base, you add words that describe or tell more about the noun or the verb. Examples are: Fish swim quickly. Birds fly high. Some people think. She runs fast. He talks quietly. They smiled often. Young Paul laughed.
In fact, you can add words that tell more about both the noun and the verb. Examples are: Small fish swim quickly. Blue birds fly high. Some people think a lot. Young Paul laughed loudly.
Words that tell more about or describe the noun are formally called adjectives. Words that tell more about or describe the verb are formally called adverbs.
To further build a sentence, you can phrases that tell when or where the action happened. Examples are: Blue birds fly high early in the morning. Young Paul laughed loudly after the joke. Small fish swim quickly when chased by a larger fish.
With this basic information, you can select one of the Build-A-Sentence Workbooks that can be found in the Teaching/ Education section of most bookstores (Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.) Check amazon.com for used books about sentence construction, basic grammar, or teaching writing to students (do a book search about sentence construction).
In closing, remember that all sentences have the same basic structure.
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