17 Sentence Starters

Opening sentences have many labels such as topic, thesis, lead, hook, introduction, or the beginning.  Whatever we call them, we want our students to be exposed to a variety of sentence starters.  Using different starters can engage the audience and make them want to continue reading.

These are some suggestions from other educators as well as myself to vary sentence beginnings:

1. Ask an interesting question.
2. Start with a location.
3. Use an appositive.
4. Embed figurative language (simile, metaphor, etc.).
5. Begin with a prepositional phrase.
6. Start with an interesting thought.
7. Capture your surroundings.
8. Begin with a riddle.
9. Start with a strong statement.
10. Describe a sound.
11. State a belief.
12. Use a single word.
13. Start with a fact.
14. Use a string of adjectives.
15. Start with a 4 or 5 word sentence.
16. Combine two sentences.
17. Start with an emotion.

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