Teaching page · Grade 2 · Lesson 14

Expand with WHY

A sentence gets longer and truer by answering WHY.

What it is

The plant died. tells your reader what happened but not what caused it. A reader almost always wants to know why. The word because is how you answer that question inside the same sentence.

Watch it built

1
Start with the sentence you have.
The plant died.
2
Ask yourself: why?
Why did it die? It had no water.
3
Join the answer on with because.
The plant died because it had no water.

One more

We stayed inside.
↓
We stayed inside because the wind was strong.
Remember
Ask why? and join the answer with because.
Ask yourself: “Does my sentence say why?”

Remember

Why? Add the reason.

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