TYPES OF SENTENCES

There are three main types of sentence. A simple sentence. A compound sentence. A complex sentence.

Clauses A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb You stink. Sally is talking. Most clauses have further information after the verb Subject Verb I hate grammar Sally is talking loudly

Two Types of Clauses Independent clause (Main clause) Can stand alone as a sentence Can be joined to another clause Fred filled a cardboard tube with gunpowder. Dependent clause (Subordinate clause) Cannot stand alone as a sentence Must be joined to an independent clause Because he wanted to make his own firecrackers. A word that joins clauses is a conjunction

The cat pounced. The mouse ran away. Simple sentence – one action. It contains a subject and a verb. It expresses a complete thought. The cat pounced. The mouse ran away.

SIMPLE SENTENCE: A simple sentence is also called an independent clause because it contains a subject and a verb, and it can stand alone as a sentence. Examples: Some students prefer to study in the mornings. Gerard and Michael play football every afternoon. Jiro goes to the library and studies every day.

The cat pounced but the mouse ran away. Compound sentence – usually more than one action going on. Two simple sentences, joined by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS). The cat pounced but the mouse ran away.

COMPOUND SENTENCE A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a conjunction. You must use a comma two separate two independent clauses. I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.  Jared played football, so his mom went shopping.  Miles played basketball, yet he finished his homework.

Although the cat pounced, the mouse ran away. Complex sentence – a simple sentence plus a dependent clause which adds information to the sentence. A dependent clause has a subject and verb but can’t stand on its own as a sentence. Although the cat pounced, the mouse ran away.

COMPLEX SENTENCE 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 or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. Page 60 lists all the subordinators

COMPLEX SENTENCE Examples: with subordinators When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.  The teacher returned the homework after she had noticed the error.  The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow. After they had finished studying, Kristine and Chiara went to the movies.  Jana and Aninna went to the movies after they had finished studying.

COMPLEX SENTENCE Examples: with relative pronouns The woman who my mom talked to sells cosmetics. The book that Andrea read is on the shelf. The house which Jose Rizal was born in is still standing. The town where I grew up is in the province.

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