In this lesson you will learn how make long sentences in English.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro

After studying English for years, are you still only able to answer in short, simple sentences? Is it frustrating? Would you like to know the secret to making longer sentences in English? Well, don’t worry. Today I will teach you part one of the second English secret…

Welcome

Welcome to Speak English with Tiffani. I am Teacher Tiffani and today we are going to learn part two of the second secret to Speaking English. This secret will improve your ability to speak clearly and logically in English. Are you ready? Well then, let’s jump right in.

Introducing the problem

As an English learner, sometimes you experience difficulty finding the right words to express your ideas or opinions. But, an even greater problem is being able to completely and thoroughly express yourself in English.

Many times your answers come out in short, very simple sentences. This becomes very frustrating for you. But, you don’t have to be frustrated anymore. Why? Because there is a secret to learning how to make longer sentences in English. Here’s how it works…

Description of the process

In English, basic sentences answer at least 1 – 2 of the 5W’s. You will remember in our previous lesson that the 5W’s are – Who, When, Where, What, and Why. These 5W’s also become the foundation for a good sentence.

For example –

• “I like ice cream.” – The word “I” in the sentence represents the “Who” and the words “ice cream” in the sentence represents the “What”
• “I live in Korea.” – The word “I” in the sentence represents the “Who” and the word “Korea” in the sentence represents the “Where”
• “He is drinking.” – The word “He” in the sentence represents the “Who” and the word “drinking” in the sentence represents the “What”

So, all three of these sentences pass as basic English sentences because they each answer 1 – 2 of the 5W’s.

How to expand –

However, if we want to expand these basic English sentences, we must give more information. How is this done? Well, this is done by looking at the W’s that are already apart of the sentence.

Example

Let’s look at our first example sentence.

• “I like ice cream”
  • Now what are the two W’s for this sentence? Who and What.
  • So, let’s choose three different examples for each of the W’s.
    • For “who” let’s use…
      • Student, American, and Outgoing
    • For “what” let’s use…
      • Strawberry, Cone, and Lots of
  • These selections become the extra information that will be added to our basic sentences.
  • So the first expanded sentence is – “I am a student who likes strawberry ice cream.”
  • The second expanded sentence is – “I am an American who likes ice cream cones.”
  • The third expanded sentence is – “I am an outgoing person who likes lots of ice cream.”
  • And the final expanded sentence – including all of the examples is – “I am an outgoing American student who likes lots of strawberry ice cream cones.”
  • Our sentence went from a basic English sentence to an expanded English sentence simply by focusing on 2 of the 5W’s.
• Now let’s quickly look at the last two examples.
• “I live in Korea”
  • For “who” let’s use – English teacher, 40 years old, and American
  • For “where” let’s use – Seoul, An Apartment, A quiet neighborhood
    • So the first expanded sentence is – “I am an English teacher living in Seoul, Korea”
    • The second expanded sentence is – “I am 40 years old and I live in an apartment in Korea.”
    • The third expanded sentence is – “I am American but I live in a quiet neighborhood in Korea.”
    • And the final expanded sentence – including all of the examples is – “I am a 40 year old American English teacher living in an apartment in a quiet neighborhood in Seoul, Korea.”
• And the final example…
• “He is drinking”
  • For “who” let’s use – Young man, Korean, and tall
  • For “what” let’s use – Gatorade, big bottle, and ice cold
    • So the first expanded sentence is – “The young man is drinking a gatorade.”
    • The second expanded sentence is – “The Korean man is drinking from a big bottle.”
    • The third expanded sentence is – “The tall man is drinking an ice cold drink”
• And the final expanded sentence – including all of the examples is – “The tall old Korean man is drinking a big bottle of ice cold gatorade.”

Review the lesson one more time 

Alright amazing! Today you learned part 1 of the second secret to speaking English – “Sentence Expansion”.

We looked at three example sentences…

1 – “I like ice cream”
2 – “I live in Korea” and…
3 – “He is drinking”

NOW try to expand your own sentences at least one time today. You can do it! You can speak English!

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~Teacher Tiffani’