Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences

Week 5 // March 24 – 28, 2014

BUT FIRST: Your essays!

• Perceive• Hot debate• Beginning sentences with “and”• Organization and support

What should be fixed here?

First of all, it’s a waste of money. I quite disagree with that people think wearing uniforms is a kind of savings because students do not need to spend extra money to buy their daily clothing. However, the fact is quite a bit different. Pursuing beauty is everyone’s nature. When students are bound by uniforms they would like to find out some other ways to make up for it. So they will buy clothes as soon as they have a chance. While they don’t have much chance to wear clothes they bought except when out of school. So for individuals, it is a kind of waste of money; for society, it is a kind of a waste of resources.

Does this belong in a persuasive essay? Why or why not?

The development of science and technology also can bring disasters, therefore, our brilliant ancestors invented seat belts. As early as 1885, they are pervasively used in carriages in order to prevent passengers from falling down from the carriage. In 1902s, a car race was held in NY, a racing driver used some straps to tie himself on the car to avoid hurting by high speed. Since seat belts came into being, the length of the seat belts for up to 10 million kilometers and used into more than 1 billion cars. It is the most important that seat belts saved countless lives in 40 years, proved the importance of seat belts.

Simple SentencesA simple sentence consists of an independent clause, so it

contains a subject and a verb. It does NOT contain either a dependent clause or another

simple sentence.

Examples of simple sentences – short simple sentence: The dog barked. long simple sentence: Leaning first this way and then that,

the large tan dog with a wide black collar barked loudly at the full moon last night from under the lilac bush in the shadow of the north side of the house.

Simple Sentences

The simple sentence may have a compound subject: The dog and the cat howled.

It may have a compound verb: The dog howled and barked.

It may have a compound subject and a compound verb: The dog and the cat howled and yowled,

respectively.

Simple Sentences

Which one contains a compound subject? A compound verb?

• Some students like to study in the mornings.• Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.• Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.

Further Simple ExamplesExamples of simple sentences include the following:

Joe waited for the train."Joe" = subject, "waited" = verb

The train was late."The train" = subject, "was" = verb

Mary and Samantha took the bus."Mary and Samantha" = compound subject, "took" = verb

I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station."I" = subject, "looked" = verb

Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived."Mary and Samantha" = compound subject, "arrived" and "left" = compound verb

A Note on Simple Sentences

• The use of compound subjects, compound verbs, prepositional phrases (such as "at the bus station"), and other elements help lengthen simple sentences, but simple sentences often are short. The use of too many simple sentences can make writing "choppy" and can prevent the writing from flowing smoothly.

• A simple sentence can also be referred to as an independent clause. It is referred to as "independent" because, while it might be part of a compound or complex sentence, it can also stand by itself as a complete sentence.

What is this?

FANBOYS

FANBOYS

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

Compound Sentences

A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences joined by

a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so): The dog barked, and the cat yowled.

a semicolon: The dog barked; the cat yowled.

a comma, but ONLY when the simple sentences are being treated as items in a series: The dog barked, the cat yowled, and the rabbit chewed

Examples of Compound Sentences

Examples of compound sentences include the following:

• Joe waited for the train, but the train was late.

• I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station, but they arrived at the station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived.

• Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived.

• Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I arrived, so I did not see them at the bus station.

A Note on Compound Sentences

• Coordinating conjunctions are useful for connecting sentences, but compound sentences often are overused. While coordinating conjunctions can indicate some type of relationship between the two independent clauses in the sentence, they sometimes do not indicate much of a relationship. The word "and," for example, only adds one independent clause to another, without indicating how the two parts of a sentence are logically related. Too many compound sentences that use "and" can weaken writing.

• Clearer and more specific relationships can be established through the use of complex sentences.

Complex Sentences A complex sentence consists of a combination of an

independent clause and a dependent clause. – An example with a relative clause as the dependent clause:

The dog that was in the street howled loudly. A student who is hungry would never pass up a hamburger.

An example with a subordinating conjunction creating the dependent clause (note the various positions of the dependent clause): End: The dog howled although he was well fed. Front: Because the dog howled so loudly, the student couldn't eat his

hamburger. Middle: The dog, although he was well fed, howled loudly

Examples of Dependent Clauses

Examples of dependent clauses include the following:– because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus

station before noon– while he waited at the train station– after they left on the bus

Dependent clauses such as those above cannot stand alone as a sentence, but they can be added to an independent clause to form a

complex sentence.

Dependent ClausesDependent clauses begin with subordinating

conjunctions. Below are some of the most common subordinating conjunctions:

afteralthoughasbecausebeforeeven thoughifsincethoughunless

untilwhenwheneverwhereaswhereverwhile

Examples of Complex Sentences

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

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

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

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

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

Complex Sentences

The dependent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the independent clause, as in the following:– Because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station

before noon, I did not see them at the station.– While he waited at the train station, Joe realized that

the train was late.– After they left on the bus, Mary and Samantha realized

that Joe was waiting at the train station.(Tip: When the dependent clause comes first, a comma should be used

to separate the two clauses.)

Complex Sentences

Conversely, the independent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the dependent clause, as in the following:– I did not see them at the station because Mary and

Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon.– Joe realized that the train was late while he waited at

the train station.– Mary and Samantha realized that Joe was waiting at the

train station after they left on the bus.(Tip: When the independent clause comes first, a comma should not be

used to separate the two clauses.)

A Note on Complex Sentences

• Complex sentences are often more effective than compound sentences because a complex sentence indicates clearer and more specific relationships between the main parts of the sentence. The word "before," for instance, tells readers that one thing occurs before another. A word such as "although" conveys a more complex relationship than a word such as "and" conveys.