During my years teaching basic English at Columbus State Community College, I often felt bewildered by the inability of some students to write even one simple sentence. They would write fragments or run-ons, or worse, just string a series of words together that — to them — made sense but not to anyone else. As I tried to help these students, I was mindful that there are things other people can do that I cannot do. Playing any kind of musical instrument would be one of those things. Understanding and applying algebra would be another. So, I was not disdainful of the students struggling to write coherent sentences. At the same time, I realized that just red-marking their papers wasn’t going to solve their sentence-writing deficiency.

I eventually put together a four-step process that was intended to guide students on a logical path, enabling them to write simple but correct sentences at the beginning and then more complex — but still correct sentences — later. A passage from an essay about the early life of comedian Dick Gregory illustrated how each step could be implemented.

Here is a slightly revised version of this 4-step process.

STEP 1: WRITE SIMPLE SENTENCES THAT HAVE A CLEAR SUBJECT AND VERB

Dick Gregory had a tough life.  His family was poor.  Dick didn’t get enough to eat before school.  His teachers didn’t care. The teachers thought Dick was a troublemaker. They mostly ignored him. One teacher put Dick in the idiot’s seat.  One teacher embarrassed Dick. Dick tried to make people think he had a father.  The teacher said he didn’t have a father.

STEP 2: CONNECT SENTENCES USING COORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS

Dick Gregory had a tough life.  His family was poor, and Dick didn’t get enough to eat before school.  His teachers didn’t care. The teachers thought Dick was a troublemaker, so they mostly ignored him. One teacher put Dick in the idiot’s seat.  One teacher embarrassed Dick. Dick tried to make people think he had a father, but the teacher said he didn’t have a father. 

STEP 3: CHANGE SOME NOUNS TO PRONOUNS/ADD EXTRA DETAILS *

Dick Gregory had a tough life. His family was poor, and he didn’t get enough to eat before school. Unfortunately, his teachers didn’t care. They thought Dick was a troublemaker, so they mostly ignored him. One teacher put Dick in the idiot’s seat. She also embarrassed him in front of the whole class. He tried to make people think he had a father, but the teacher said he didn’t have one. 

STEP 4: MAKE SOME PARTS OF THE SENTENCE LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHER PARTS. (THIS MAY REQUIRE REMOVING WORDS ADDED IN STEP 2.)

Dick Gregory had a tough life. Because his family was poor, he didn’t get enough to eat before school. Unfortunately, his teachers didn’t care. They thought Dick was a troublemaker, so they mostly ignored him. One teacher put Dick in the idiot’s seat. She also embarrassed him in front of the whole class. When he tried to make people think he had a father, the teacher said he did not have one. 

* It’s okay if you already have some pronouns, if the reader will know which nouns they replace.

The strength of this process lay in the fact that it allowed students to write correct sentences at a simpler step before moving to a more-challenging one. Ideally, a student would gain confidence as the class progressed and feel confident enough to move beyond Step 1. But even if the student never acquired that confidence, he or she could still write correct sentences by following the guidance for Step 1. I never penalized a student who didn’t advance beyond Step 1, even though writing at this level is usually choppy and lethargic. Even choppy and lethargic writing can still carry a powerful message.