A second-grade teacher reviews a student's writing sample. The mermaid wanted legs so badly... On which of the following skills should the teacher provide instruction to this student?

• A. The use of transition words to develop a sequence
• B. The use of conjunctions to combine sentences
• C. The use of prepositional phrases to add color and depth to the sentences
• D. The use of elaborated noun and verb phrases to expand sentences

Answer: (B)

Using conjunctions to join sentences helps students create smoother, more complete thoughts. When a writing sample shows a single idea that feels choppy, teaching how to connect a related idea with a coordinating conjunction turns two simple statements into one fluent sentence. For example: The mermaid wanted legs so badly, and she began to dream of a way to grow them. Here, and links the two ideas to tighten the writing. Another good example is: The mermaid wanted legs badly, so she searched for a way to grow them. The key is choosing a conjunction that matches the relationship—adding, showing cause and effect, or contrasting—and using a comma before the conjunction when joining two independent clauses. This helps students vary sentence structure and express more meaning in a single sentence.

Adding other features like prepositional phrases or elaborated noun and verb phrases can enrich writing, but they don’t address the need to connect related ideas into one flowing sentence the way conjunctions do. Transition words for sequence are helpful for ordering steps, not for linking related thoughts in one sentence.