COMPLEX SENTENCES GRAMMAR

REVIEW: COMPOUND SENTENCES EX—Beth said hello to her mother’s friend and then she walked outside.  Each of the sentences (clauses) that is part of the compound sentence plays an equal role in the sentence; one clause is not superior to or more important than the other, in terms of the structure of the sentence.  Now lets look at some other sentence:  Harry was only fifteen when his mother sent him away to school  Mr. Edwards looked her straight in the eye although he wasn’t really sincere.  I won’t tell you the answer unless you agree to help. These sentences each contain 2 sentences, or clauses, which are combined to make a larger sentence. However, one of these sentences is more important than the other.

CLAUSES  The more important clause is called the main clause, or independent clause; the less important sentence, the one that is a subpart of the main clause, is called the dependent clause/subordinate clause, has its own subject and verb phrase.  Sentences that have a main clause and at least one dependent clause are called complex sentences.  The main clause of each of the following sentences is in bold; the dependent clause is underlined:  Harry was only fifteen when his mother sent him away to school.  Mr. Edwards looked her straight in the eye although he wasn’t really sincere.  I won’t tell you the answer unless you agree to help. NOTE: In a compound sentence, the clause are joined together by a coordinating conjunction such as and, or, and but. In a complex sentence, the dependent clause is joined to the rest of the sentence by a subordinating conjunction (connects sentences that are not of equal value).

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH  After  Although  As  As if  As though  Because  Before  Even if  Even though  How  If  In order that  once  Rather than  Since  So(that)  than  That  Though  Till  Unless  Until  What  When  Whenever  Where  Wherever  Whether  While  Which  Who  why The easiest way to identify a dependent clause is to look for a subordinating conjunction and see if its followed by as sentence. If it is, then the subordinating conjunction plus the sentence directly following it is a dependent clause.

UNDERLINE THE DEPENDENT CLAUSE. LOOK FOR THE SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTURE AND CIRCLE IT 1. His father is returning to London because the furniture is arriving. 2. Selma smiled at him although she had never felt less like smiling. 3. He felt a great affection for his guardian until he discovered the truth. 4. I am going to solve this crossword puzzle even if it takes all day. 5. James accepted the job before he checked with his wife. 6. Sammy passed the final exam even though he had not studied hard. 7. You are behaving as if you were the boss. 8. I will not speak to you unless you tell me the truth. 9. New Orleans has not been the same since it was devastated by a hurricane. 10. Al tries to speak French when he is in Montreal.