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Simple, complex, compound sentences

Sentence types: One way to categorize sentences is by the clauses they contain. (A clause is a part of a sentence containing a subject and a predicate.) Here are the 4 sentence types:

Simple: Contains a single, independent clause.

  • The girl is learning how to drive
  • I don't like dogs.
  • Our school cricket team lost their last game of the season 2009-2010.
  • The old hotel opposite the bus station in the center of the town is probably going to be knocked down at the end of next month.

Compound: Contains two independent clauses that are joined by a coordinating conjunction. (The most common coordinating conjunctions are: but, or, and, so, For, nor, yet. Remember: FAN BOYS.)

  • I don't like dogs, and my sister doesn't like cats.
  • You can write on paper, or you can use a computer.
  • Habib waited for the train,but the train was late.
  • A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students was injured.

Complex: Contains an independent clause plus one or more dependent clauses. (A dependent clause starts with a subordinating conjunction. Examples: that, because, while, although, where, if, after,as, before, even, though, since, unless, until, when, whenever, whereas, wherever.)

  • The girl who is learning how to drive is still twelve years old.
  • She faced the whole trouble with courage and managed to solve the problem all by herself
  • I don't like dogs that bark at me when I go past.
  • She did my homework, while her father cooked dinner.
  • You can write on paper, although a computer is better if you want to correct mistakes easily.

The dependent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the independent clause, as in the following:

Remember: When the dependent clause comes first, a comma should be used to separate the two clauses.

  1. Because Chumky and Mony arrived at the bus station before noon, I did not see them at the station.
  2. While he waited at the train station, Rakib realized that the train was late.
  3. After they left on the bus, Chumky and Mony realized that Rakib was waiting at the train station.

Conversely, the independent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the dependent clause, as in the following:

Remember: When the independent clause comes first, a comma should not be used to separate the two clauses.

  1. I did not see them at the station because Chumky and Mony arrived at the bus station before noon.
  2. Rakib realized that the train was late while he waited at the train station.
  3. Chumky and Mony realized that Rakib was waiting at the train station after they left on the bus.
  • Compound-complex: Contains 3 or more clauses (of which at least two are independent and one or more dependent clauses)

    Some examples:

    1.Although I like to go camping ,I haven't had the time to go lately, and I haven't found anyone to go with.

    • independent clause:I haven't had the time to go lately.
    • independent clause: I haven't found anyone to go with
    • dependent clause:Although I like to go camping.

    2. We decided that the movie was too violent, but our children, who like to watch scary movies, thought that we were wrong.

    • independent clause:We decided that the movie was too violent.
    • independent clause:(but) our children thought that we were wrong
    • dependent clause:who like to watch scary movies

    Comments

    1. Nicki Minaz26 February 2020 at 04:17

      Very informative and well-written post! Quite an interesting and nice topic chosen for the post. You have some real writing talent. Thank you so much. I find this particular article Compound Sentences very informative. This's exactly what I was looking for. Keep up the good work .

      ReplyDelete

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