The Sentence Book – Agility with Sound Ltd
Author Betsy Sewell
Changed Front Cover 2026 Old Cover same book
Overview
The Sentence Book by Betsy Sewell is a practical, no-nonsense resource designed to support students who are struggling with writing.
It is particularly well suited for:
- Older students needing writing support
- Dyslexic learners
- Students with weak sentence structure
- Parents supporting learning at home
- Teacher aides and intervention settings
This resource takes a structured approach, explicitly teaching the foundational skills needed for sentence construction and written expression.
Why This Matters (Dyslexia and Intervention)
Students who struggle with writing often have gaps in foundational skills, such as:
- Understanding sentence structure
- Using correct verb forms
- Managing punctuation and sentence boundaries
For dyslexic learners, writing can be especially challenging due to the cognitive load involved. Without explicit and systematic support, they may:
- Rush writing tasks
- Produce run-on sentences
- Avoid writing altogether
This resource helps by:
- Breaking writing into clear, manageable steps
- Providing structured, repeated practice
- Building skills from simple to more complex
This aligns strongly with a structured literacy approach, where writing is taught explicitly and systematically, with enough practice to support long-term learning.
What This Resource Covers
The book provides explicit, structured teaching of sentence-level writing skills, with clear explanations and guided practice throughout.
It includes:
- Parts of speech
Clear introduction to nouns, verbs, and other key word types, helping students understand how words function within a sentence - Subjects and verbs
Identifying the subject and verb in a sentence, and understanding how they work together - Subject–verb–object structure
Building simple sentences using this core structure before moving into more complex forms - Sentence types
Teaching different types of sentences and how they are constructed - Clauses and conjunctions
Introducing how ideas can be joined and expanded, supporting more detailed writing - Run-on sentences
Identifying and correcting run-on sentences — a common difficulty for struggling writers - Verb tense
Explicit teaching of past, present, and future tense, including a printable reference chart for ongoing support - Helping verbs
Understanding how helping verbs change meaning and support sentence structure - Direct speech and punctuation
Teaching how to correctly use punctuation, including within speech
What the Practice Looks Like
Each section includes structured activity sheets designed to build confidence and accuracy:
- Around 20 sentences per concept for practice
- Activities that involve:
- Identifying correct and incorrect sentences
- Fixing errors
- Building and writing sentences
- Clear progression from simple to more complex tasks
- Answer sheets included, supporting both marking and guided learning
How It Supports Learning
The way this practice is structured is what makes this resource particularly effective.
- The high number of examples provides the repetition many students need
- The step-by-step progression helps reduce overwhelm
- The focus on identifying and correcting errors strengthens understanding, not just task completion
- The inclusion of answer sheets supports adults to confidently guide learning
This makes it especially valuable for intervention, where students often need more time, more repetition, and more explicit support to secure skills.
How to Use This Resource
- Use alongside explicit teaching of writing skills
- Work through one concept at a time
- Provide support where needed, especially in the early stages
- Review previously learned concepts to build confidence and fluency
What I Loved
- Clear, straightforward explanations
- Practical and easy to follow
- Strong alignment with intervention needs
- Plenty of structured practice opportunities
- Answer sheets included
- Suitable for both parents and educators
Things to Be Aware Of
- This is a structured, skill-building resource — it focuses on foundations rather than creative writing
- Students will need guidance and support when working through the activities
- Best results come from consistent, ongoing use and review.
My Overall Thoughts
I don’t often make strong recommendations, but this is one I feel confident sharing. If you have an older student who is struggling with writing and you feel time is important, this is a resource worth considering.
It builds the core writing skills students need in a clear and practical way and aligns closely with the Literacy Support Guide I’ve created for parents and educators.
Reading this felt like it was written for my own children, rather than something I had to adapt to fit them. That, to me, says everything.
Availability
This book can be purchased directly from Agility with Sound:
https://agilitywithsound.co.nz/product/the-sentence-book/
Disclosure
I purchased this book myself after reconnecting with Betsy at a conference in 2025 .
Original review shared on Facebook: 21 November 2025
Transferred to the DEB website: April 2026
This review was written by Sharon Scurr, Founder of Dyslexia Evidence-Based (DEB).