Experienced Writers Use a Variety of Sentences to Make Their Writing Interesting and Lively

TYPES OF SENTENCES

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SIMPLE SENTENCE (also called an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE)

A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a predicate, and it expresses a complete thought.

A. Some students liketo study in the mornings.
B. Juan and Arturo play soccer every afternoon.
C. Alicia called her mother last night.

COMPOUND SENTENCE– FANBOYS!

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 in very short sentences, coordinators always have a comma before them.

A. Some students like to study in the mornings, but others prefer evenings.
B.Juan and Arturo play soccer every afternoon, so they are tired at night.
C. Alicia called her mother last night, and they talked for three hours.

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.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses (a dependent clause cannot stand by itself). 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, the subordinators are underlined.

A. When he turned in his homework, he forgot to put his name on it.
B. After they finished studying, they went to the movies.
C. The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.
D. Because they have a test tomorrow, the students are studying.

When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A, B and D, a comma is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the subordinator is in the middle of the sentence, no comma is necessary, as in sentence C.

Note that sentences C and D are the same except sentence D begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence C begins with the independent clause which contains no comma.

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.In the sentences below, the independent clause containing the subject and predicate is underlined.

A. The womanwho(m)my mom talked to sells cosmetics.
B. The bookthatJonathan read is on the shelf.
C. The housewhichAbraham Lincoln was born in is still standing.
D. The townwhereI grew up is in the United States.