Types of Sentences
When learning how to write, it’s important to understand how many different types of sentences there are in the English language. Writers vary their usages of each type of sentence to keep their audience intrigued and their writing style lively and thrilling. It’s also important to think of the audience and to use sentence structures and vocabulary terms that can be easily comprehended by them. There are four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
Simple
A simple sentence contains only one independent clause. An independent clause is a subject and a verb that comprise a full sentence. Simple sentences can also contain adjectives and adverbs, in addition to having one or more parts of the sentence being compound. An example of a simple sentence is: “Molly ate an apple.” There is one subject (Molly) and one verb (ate).
Compound
A compound sentence is comprised of two or more independent clauses, which are connected by a conjunction (such as: for, and, or) or by a semicolon. An example of a compound sentence is: “Molly ate an apple and she didn’t eat cake.” In this sentence, “Molly ate an apple” is still an independent clause, but it is joined by the other thought of “she didn’t eat cake” with “and.” In this case, “she” is the subject (referring to Molly in the first independent clause, which is why these two clauses can be tied together), and “eat” is the verb.
Complex
A complex sentence is comprised of one independent clause and one dependent clause. A dependent clause is a phrase that has a subject and a verb, but cannot stand alone as a sentence. The independent clause is referred to as the “main clause” and is joined to the dependent clause by a subordinating conjunction. A subordinating conjunction is a word that connects the main cause and the dependent clause, such as: after, although, before, until, or while. An example of a complex sentence is “I went to the mall before it closed.” In this sentence, “I went to the mall” is the independent clause, “before” is the subordinating conjunction, and “before it closed” is the dependent clause.
Compound/Complex
A compound/complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. An example of this would be “I went to the mall and I purchased a shirt before it closed.” In this sentence, “I went to the mall,” and “I purchased a shirt” are the two independent clauses. “Before it closed” is still the dependent clause, and is still connected to the other two clauses by “before.”