Above, high in the sky, floated a hot air balloon. Fearfully, one of the occupants was wondering what might happen if there were a storm. He searched for land. Waiting, he listened to Eminem on his MP3. Bradley,, who was on his first flight, suddenly needed the toilet. Desperate and anxious, he searched around for a hole in the bottom of the basket.

In weaker writing, sentences mostly begin with a noun, or the definite article (The); verbs are also often connected by and, then, or so. Use A CARP PIE to gain more marks by making your sentences more interesting – either by varying the way you begin the sentence, or by using punctuation or a relative pronoun to change the middle of the sentence.

A is for adverbs 

An adverb is a word which describes a verb (eg fast, slowly, well) It usually describes how or when the verb is being done. 

Teacher’s example: Greedily, Jake ate the jelly baby.

 

C is for connectives (conjunctions) 

Use words/phrases such as While, As, During, Before, After, Although, As if, As long as, As though, Because, If, In case, Once, Since, Though, Until, Unless, When, Whenever, Where, Wherever, While to begin sentences. 

Teacher’s example: Although Geoffrey jumped carefully, he failed to land on Mr Curley’s car.

 

A is for adjectives 

Pair two adjectives together at the start of a sentence, usually linked by ‘and’ or ‘but’. 

Teacher’s example: Weary and anxious, Michael trudged off the pitch.

 

R is for relative pronouns 

The main relative pronouns are who, which and that.

• Who is used for people.
• Which and that are used for animals and things. 

Teacher’s example: Alistair, who was complaining bitterly, came last.

 

P is for prepositions 

A preposition is a word or group of words linking a noun to the rest of the sentence, often indicating place or position.

Teacher’s example: Behind the door lurked a large jelly baby.

 

P is for powerful verbs 

A powerful verb is a verb which gives more information that a standard verb, i.e. 'gobbled' rather than 'ate'

Teacher’s example: Greg gobbled the jelly babies.

 

I is for –ing words 

The –ing word must be a verb; it is called a present participle. 

Teacher’s example: Uncaring, Greg started to lob jelly babies at the girl’s window.

 

E is for –ed words. 

Teacher’s example: Flabbergasted, Johnny watched helplessly as Steve ate a jelly baby from the legs up.