Sentences: Simple, Compound, and Complex
Experienced writers use a variety of sentences to make their writing interesting and lively. Too many simple sentences, for example, will sound choppy and immature while too many long sentences will be difficult to read and hard to understand.This page contains definitions of simple, compound, and complex sentences with many simple examples. The purpose of these examples is to help the ESL/EFL learner to identify sentence basics including identification of sentences in the short quizzes that follow. After that, it will be possible to analyze more complex sentence varieties.
Simple Sentence
A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought. In the following simple sentences, subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.
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Compound Sentence
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator. The coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (Helpful hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.) Except for very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded by a comma. In the following compound sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the coordinators and the commas that precede them are in red.
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Complex Sentence
A True Story
Some students believe it is possible to identify simple, compound, and complex sentences by looking at the complexity of the ideas in a sentence. Is the idea in the sentence simple, or is it complex? Does one idea in a sentence make it simple? Do two ideas make it compound? However, sentence identification does not work that way.
Please take the time to identify the subjects and verbs in a sentence. Then identify coordinators and subordinators when they exist. With these two steps, sentence identification not only becomes easy, but it also provides the foundation for understanding and writing all other kinds of more complicated sentences.
A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more
dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, or when (and many others) or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which.
In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are
in green, and the subordinators and their commas (when required) are in
red.Some students believe it is possible to identify simple, compound, and complex sentences by looking at the complexity of the ideas in a sentence. Is the idea in the sentence simple, or is it complex? Does one idea in a sentence make it simple? Do two ideas make it compound? However, sentence identification does not work that way.
Please take the time to identify the subjects and verbs in a sentence. Then identify coordinators and subordinators when they exist. With these two steps, sentence identification not only becomes easy, but it also provides the foundation for understanding and writing all other kinds of more complicated sentences.
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Note that sentences 4 and 5 are the same except sentence 4 begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence 5 begins with the independent clause which contains no comma. The comma after the dependent clause in sentence 4 is required, and experienced listeners of English will often hear a slight pause there. In sentence 5, however, there will be no pause when the independent clause begins the sentence.
Complex Sentences / Adjective Clauses
Finally, sentences containing adjective clauses (or dependent clauses) are also complex because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause. The subjects, verbs, and subordinators are marked the same as in the previous sentences, and in these sentences, the independent clauses are also underlined.
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