The two previous lectures namely sentences’ mood and clauses are dealt with separately in order to pave the way to the following lecture which explains to the students that a sentence can be simple if it contains only one clause and can be  compound, complex or compound complex  if it consists of more than one or more clauses.

Students should know that there are four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound complex. The number of independent and dependent clauses determines the type of sentence.

1-     Simple Sentence

A simple Sentence: contains one independent clause and no subordinate clauses.

e.g. Isabella wrote an article.

e.g. Kate went to the store.

2-     Compound Sentence

A compound Sentence: contains two independent clauses that are usually joined in one of two ways.

·        A comma and coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, yet, so)

e.g. Isabella wrote an article, and she asked her teacher to correct it.

e.g. Kate went to the supermarket, and she bought chocolate

·        A semicolon (;)

          e.g. Kate went to the supermarket; she bought chocolate.

3- Complex Sentence

         A complex Sentence: contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

e.g. Olivia went to the store because she needed bread.

 

 

4- Compound – Complex Sentence

A Compound- complex Sentence: contains two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

e.g. Olivia went to the store, and she bought some bread that she needed.

 

Exercise One:

Reminder: _ Simple Sentence (Contains one main clause only) _ Compound Sentence (Contains two main clauses and is joined by a conjunction) _ Complex Sentence (Contains one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

 

Identify whether the sentence is simple, compound or complex. Tick the box of the correct answer.

a. The passenger jet taxied to the arrival gate, where the people got off the plane.

b. Sasha walked with her mother past the lion’s cage to the zebra and giraffe enclosure.

c. The mountain goat stood upon a steep, snow covered ledge and looked down at the valley far below.

d. The penguin leapt out of the water and landed on the icy ground.

e. The pilot flipped on the switch and the mighty jet engines roared to life.

f. Katy turned on the engine and buckled her seat belt.

g. Paul watched as his teacher wrote the solution to the maths problem on the whiteboard.

h. Brendan cast his fishing line into the swiftly flowing water while on the opposite bank others fished as well.

i. Catherine waded through the chlorinated water to the deep end, where the big kids swam.

j. While Carl sat uneasily in the chair, Dr. Benson inspected his teeth.

k. Susan sat in the large audience with her friends, ate popcorn and waited for the movie to start.

l. The children played outside until the bell rang.

m. It was a warm day which caused the ice-cream to melt and drip over the cone onto Chloe’s hand.

n. The first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon.

o. The bell went and Chris walked to the school bus for the trip home.

p. The last of the sun’s rays disappeared over the horizon, as the air became cooler.

q. Carl waited until his soup was cool enough to eat.

r. Kim had a coffee in the café while she waited for the post office to open.

s. Dad put up the Christmas tree, while I draped the tree with tinsel and decorations.

t. The moon was high in the sky when Karen went swimming.

u. The milk on the stove frothed over the top of the saucepan.

v. Before Pam went to school, she put on her coat, mittens, scarf and beanie.

w. The shadows grew longer as the sun went down.

Exercise Two

 Identify each sentence below as either a simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, or compound complex sentence.

1- After the tornado hit, my house was completely destroyed.

2- John went to school today, but James remained at home.

3- This summer our vacation should be both exiting and restful.

4- I like playing basketball, and my brother likes playing tennis.

5- I'll help you if you help me.

6- Her name is Helary and she comes from England.

7- My mother cooked dinner while I was doing my home work.

8- While I was doing my homework, my father cooked the dinner and my mother was asleep in front of the television.

9-Do you want to go swimming tomorrow, or would you prefer to play volleyball?

10- I've brought my umbrella with me in case it rains.

11- I don't know why he did that.

12- My family came to Germany when I was in grade 5, but I never learned to speak German very well.

Exercise Three:

Combine each set of simple sentences below to produce the kind of sentence specified in parentheses. You will have to add, delete, change, and rearrange words.

 

1. Recycling takes time. It reduces garbage in landfills. (Compound.)

2. People begin to recycle. They generate much less trash. (Complex.)

3. White tissues and paper towels biodegrade more easily than dyed ones. People still buy dyed papers. (Complex.)

4. The cans are aluminum. They bring recyclers good money. (Simple.)

5. Environmentalists have hope. Perhaps more communities will recycle newspaper and glass. Many citizens refuse to participate. (Compound-complex.)

 

Exercise Four

Combine each set of simple sentences into a compound or a complex sentence. Write the combined sentence on your own sheet of paper.

1. Heroin is an extremely addictive drug. Thousands of heroin addicts die each year.

2. Shakespeare’s writing is still relevant today. He wrote about timeless themes. These themes include love, hate, jealousy, death, and destiny.

3. Prewriting is a vital stage of the writing process. Prewriting helps you organize your ideas. Types of prewriting include outlining, brainstorming, and idea mapping.

4. Mitch Bancroft is a famous writer. He also serves as a governor on the local school board. Mitch’s two children attend the school.