4 Types of Sentences Amy Keesling English 121

1 st Sentence Type

 AKA: Independent Clause  A Complete Thought with one main idea.  Analogy: An adult who lives alone and pays its own bills.  Usually short sentences, but can be long

The dog barked.

The beautiful Golden Retriever barked ferociously at the little brown squirrel placidly sitting on the fence in the back yard.

2 nd Sentence Type

 Independent Clause + Independent Clause  Two main ideas that are equal to each other  Analogy: a marriage—two adults that choose to come together and be one.  Two ways to do this correctly, and two ways to do it incorrectly.

 1. The dog barked.  2. I let him go outside.

 Run-on sentence: The dog barked I let him go outside.  Comma splice: The dog barked, I let him go outside.

The dog barked; I let him go outside.

The dog barked; therefore, I let him go outside.  Consequently  Finally  For instance  Hence  However  Moreover  Nevertheless  Still  Therefore  Then  Thus  In addition

The dog barked, so I let him go outside.  F=for  A=and  N=nor  B=but  O=or  Y=yet  S=so

3 rd Sentence Type

 Independent Clause + Dependent Clause  Analogy: An adult and a child  Dominant idea and subordinate idea  A dependent clause must begin with a subordinating conjunction.

 After  Although  As/as if  As long as  As much as  As soon as  As though  Because  Before  Even if  Even though  How  If  In order that  Now that  Since  So that  Though  Unless  Until  When/whenever  Where/wherever  While

1.Start with an independent clause: The dog barked. 2. Add a subordinating conjunction: When the dog barked Add an independent clause: When the dog barked, I let him go outside.

Clause order does not matter, but punctuation does matter:  Dependent clause first: After the dog went outside, he dug a hole.  Independent clause first: The dog dug a hole after he went outside.

You can start a sentence with because when you are writing a complex sentence. Wrong: Because the dog dug a hole under the fence. Right: Because the dog dug a hole under the fence, he ran wild around the neighborhood.

4 th Sentence Type

 Independent Clause + Independent Clause + Dependent Clause  Analogy: Family of two adults and a child  Long sentences  High level of thinking

3 Simple Sentences: 1. The cat meowed. 2. He rubbed against my ankles. 3. His food dish was empty. Directions:  Combine two sentences with a semicolon or a comma + FANBOYS  Begin one sentence with a subordinating conjunction

 The cat meowed, and he rubbed against my ankles because his food dish was empty.  Because his food dish was empty, the cat meowed, and he rubbed against my ankles.  The cat meowed because his food dish was empty, and he rubbed against my ankles.

Combine these sentences: 1. I want to go to a party. 2. I have a test on Monday. 3. I have to study.