Sentence Types: Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex

1.      Simple Sentences
A simple sentence is a basic sentence that expresses a complete thought. It contains:

·         Simple sentence has one independent clause

·         A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb.

·         It expresses a single complete thought that can stand on its own.

Independent clause is a clause that can stand alone as a sentence because the idea in that clause is complete, don’t  need to add anything else to it (i.e., it expresses a complete thought).

Examples:

a.      David studied English

There is a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.

     

b.      Professor Tono’s intelligent students completed and turned in their homework.

 A simple sentence does not necessarily have to be short. It can have adjectives. In this case, there are two verbs “completed” and “turned in.” However, the sentence expresses one complete thought and therefore is a simple sentence.

c.       Leo and Roy ate too much and felt sick.

Although there are two subjects and two verbs, it is still a simple sentence because both verbs share the same subjects and express one complete thought.

2.       Compound Sentences

·         A compound sentence has two independent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence that can stand alone because it contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

·         Basically, a compound contains two simple sentences.

·         These independent clauses are joined by a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Examples:

                                                                                                                           

a.      I arrived at the class at 9 o'clock and my friends come 10 minutes later

Both sides of the conjunction “and” are complete sentences. “I arrived at the class at 9 o'clock” can stand alone and so can “my friends come 10 minutes later.” Therefore, this is a compound sentence.

b.      They spoke to him in Bahasa, but he responded in English.

This is also a compound sentence that uses a conjunction to separate two individual clauses.

c.        I don’t want to eat, and I don’t want to drink.

d.       I didn’t do my homework, so my Teacher punished me.

3.       Complex Sentences

·         A complex sentence is an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A dependent clause either lacks a subject or a verb or has both a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought.

·         A complex sentence always has a subordinator (as, because, since, after, although, when) or relative pronouns (who, whom, that, which, whose).

Examples:

a.      After eating lunch at The home, Tim went to the gym to exercise.

The independent clause is ‘Tim went to the gym to exercise.” The subordinating clause before it is dependent on the main, independent clause. If one were to say “after eating lunch at The home,” it would be an incomplete thought.

b.      Opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies that privilege male

accomplishments.

The subject is “opinionated women” and the verb is “are given.” The first part of the sentence “opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies” is an independent clause that expresses a complete thought. The following “that privilege male accomplishments” is a relative clause that describes which types of societies.

c.       The Man who taught English was fired for stealing school supplies.

The dependent clause in this sentence is “who taught English” because if removed, the rest of the sentence would stand as an independent clause. “Who taught English” is an adjective clause that provides necessary details about the subject, Man.

4.      Compound-Complex Sentences

·         A compound-complex sentence has two independent clauses, joined By conjunction and one or more Dependent Clause, we can add as many complements , or basically extras as we want

Examples:

a.      After the two soccer players lost their game, they joined their other teammates for lunch, and they went to the movies.

If we remove the dependent clause “after the two soccer players lost their game,” we have a compound sentence. The dependent clause makes this sentence compound-complex.

b.      I can start a conversation that makes people interested, but it’s hard to keep it going because I often run out of things to say.

·         dependent clause (adjective clause) = that makes people interested

·         depedent clause (adverbial clause) = because I often run out of things to say

·         independent clause = (1) I can start a conversation. (2) it’s hard to keep it going.

·         subordinate conjunction = because

c.       Andy, who works out three times a week, feels good about her body; therefore he is happy all the time.

·         dependent clause (adjective clause) = who works out three times a week

·         independent clause = (1) Andy feels good about her body. (2) He is happy all the time.

• subjunctive adverb = therefore