Sentences Simple, Compound, and Complex

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 sentences 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.

A. Some students like to study in the mornings.

B. Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.

C. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.

The three examples above are all simple sentences. Note that sentence B contains a compound subject, and sentence C contains a compound verb. Simple sentences, therefore, contain a subject and verb and express a complete thought, but they can also contain a compound subjects or verbs.

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.

A. I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.

B. Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping.

C. Alejandro played football, for Maria went shopping.

The above three sentences are compound sentences. Each sentence contains two independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinator with a comma preceding it. Note how the conscious use of coordinators can change the relationship between the clauses. Sentences B and C, for example, are identical except for the coordinators. In sentence B, which action occurred first? Obviously, "Alejandro played football" first, and as a consequence, "Maria went shopping. In sentence C, "Maria went shopping" first. In sentence C, "Alejandro played football" because, possibly, he didn't have anything else to do, for or because "Maria went shopping." How can the use of other coordinators change the relationship between the two clauses? What implications would the use of "yet" or "but" have on the meaning of the sentence?

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. In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the subordinators and their commas (when required) are in red.

A. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.

B. The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error.

C. The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.

D. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the movies.

E. Juan and Maria went to the movies after they finished studying.

When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A and D, a comma is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the independent clause begins the sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences B, C, and E, no comma is required. If a comma is placed before the subordinators in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong.

Note that sentences D and E are the same except sentence D begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence E begins with the independent clause which contains no comma. The comma after the dependent clause in sentence D is required, and experienced listeners of English will often hear a slight pause there. In sentence E, 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.

A. The woman who(m) my mom talked to sells cosmetics.

B. The book that Jonathan read is on the shelf.

C. The house which AbrahAM Lincoln was born in is still standing.

D. The town where I grew up is in the United States.

Adjective Clauses are studied in this site separately, but for now it is important to know that sentences containing adjective clauses are complex.

CONCLUSION

Are sure you now know the differences between simple, compound, and complex sentences? Click QUICK QUIZ to find out. This quiz is just six sentences. The key is to look for the subjects and verbs first.

Another quiz, this one about Helen Keller contains ten sentences.

These quiz sentences based on the short story, The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen, by Bruno Lessing.

Quick Quiz: Shadrach

After each quiz, click GRADE QUIZ to see your score immediately.

Remember that with the skill to write good simple, compound, and complex sentences, you will have the flexibility to (1) convey your ideas precisely and (2) entertain with sentence variety at the same time! Good luck with these exercises!

compound-complex sentence

Definition:

A sentence with two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Examples:

"Those are my principles, and if you d

on't like them . . . well, I have others."

(Groucho Marx)

"In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards."

(Bertrand Russell)

"Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law."

(James Baldwin)

"The Druids used mistletoe in ceremonies of human sacrifice, but most of all the evergreen became a symbol of fertility because it flourished in winter when other plants withered."

(Sian Ellis, "England's Ancient 'Special Twig,'" British Heritage, January 2001)

"For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged."

(Alice Walker)

"We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better system, except possibly flipping a coin."

(Dave Barry)

"I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

(Steve Martin)

periodic sentence

Definition:

A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax. Contrast with loose sentence.

Etymology:

From the Greek, "going around, circuit"

Examples and Observations:

"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

(The King James Bible, I Corinthians 13)

"Democracy is that system of government under which people, having 60,000,000 native-born adults to choose from, including thousands who are handsome and many who are wise, pick out a Coolidge to be head of state. It is as if a hungry man, set before a banquet prepared by master cooks and covering a table an acre in area, should turn his back upon the feast and stay his stomach by catching and eating flies."

(H. L. Mencken, "The Comedian")

"Years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there were wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harp-shaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all night and day in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in damp front farmhouse parlors, and we chased, with the jawbones of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced horse, when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback, it snowed and it snowed."

(Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales)

"The proper place in the sentence for the word or group of words that the writer desires to make most prominent is usually the end."

(William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, The Elements of Style)

Also Known As: a period, a suspended sentence, hirmus

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

(Theodor Geisel)

loose sentence

Definition:

A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by subordinate phrases and clauses. Contrast with periodic sentence. See also: Running Style.

Examples and Observations:

"At its simplest the loose sentence contains a main clause plus a subordinate construction:

We must be wary of conclusions drawn from the ways of the social insects, since their evolutionary track lies so far from ours. (Robert Ardrey)

The number of ideas in loose sentences is easily increased by adding phrases and clauses, related either to the main constructions or to a preceding subordinate one:

I found a large hall, obviously a former garage, dimly lit, and packed with cots. (Eric Hoffer)

I knew I had found a friend in the woman, who herself was a lonely soul, never having known the love of man or child. (Emma Goldman)

As the number of subordinate constructions increases, the loose sentence approaches the cumulative style."

(Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing. Oxford Univ. Press, 1988)

"A loose sentence makes its major point at the beginning and then adds subordinate phrases and clauses that develop or modify the point. A loose sentence could end at one or more points before it actually does, as the periods in brackets illustrate in the following example:

It went up[.], a great ball of fire about a mile in diameter[.], an elemental force freed from its bonds[.] after being chained for billions of years.

A periodic sentence delays its main idea until the end by presenting modifiers or subordinate ideas first, thus holding the readers' interest until the end."

(Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu, The Business Writer's Companion. Macmillan, 2007)