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Expand, Combine and Reduce is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on reshaping sentences for meaning and interest, aligned to Common Core standard L.5.3. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Expand, Combine and Reduce

L.5.3

NameDate

Circle the right answer.

1.Combine: "The fox was hungry. The fox looked for food." Which is best?
  • A.The fox looked. Hungry for food.
  • B.The hungry fox looked for food.
  • C.The fox was hungry and the fox looked and looked for food.
2.Expand "The ship sailed." to tell when and where. Which is best?
  • A.At dawn, the ship sailed out of the bay.
  • B.The ship sailed and sailed.
  • C.The ship, a ship, sailed.
3.Why combine two short sentences into one?
  • A.To make the writing longer
  • B.Because short sentences are always wrong
  • C.To show how the ideas relate rather than just listing them
4.Expand "The dog barked." to tell why. Which is best?
  • A.The dog barked because a stranger was at the gate.
  • B.The dog, a dog, barked.
  • C.The dog barked and barked.
5.When is a short sentence the better choice?
  • A.When you want the statement to land hard
  • B.Never
  • C.Only at the start of a paragraph
6.Reduce: "The reason why we were late was because the bus was late." Which is best?
  • A.The reason why we were late was the reason the bus was late.
  • B.We were late because the bus was late.
  • C.We were late. Because the bus. It was late.
7.Which sentence is expanded most usefully?
  • A.The mill, which was a mill, closed.
  • B.The mill, which had run since 1868, closed on Friday.
  • C.The mill closed on Friday, and it was a Friday.
8.Reduce: "The big, large, huge elephant walked slowly and not fast." Which is best?
  • A.The huge elephant walked slowly.
  • B.The elephant, which was huge and large, walked slowly and not fast.
  • C.The big large elephant walked.

LessonPrint · L.5.3 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Expand, Combine and Reduce

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The hungry fox looked for food.
  2. 2.At dawn, the ship sailed out of the bay.
  3. 3.To show how the ideas relate rather than just listing them
  4. 4.The dog barked because a stranger was at the gate.
  5. 5.When you want the statement to land hard
  6. 6.We were late because the bus was late.
  7. 7.The mill, which had run since 1868, closed on Friday.
  8. 8.The huge elephant walked slowly.

More practice for L.5.3

Expand and combine sentences for meaning, and compare varieties of English.

Teaching this next? Combining Sentences for Style is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to L.5.3 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.