English Sentence Structure

The following statements are true about sentences in English:

 A new sentence begins with a capital letter.

o He obtained his degree.

 A sentence ends with punctuation (a period, a question mark, or an exclamation

point).
o He obtained his degree.

 A sentence contains a subject that is only given once.

o Smith he obtained his degree.

 A sentence contains a verb or a verb phrase.

o He obtained his degree.

 A sentence follows Subject + Verb + Object word order.

o He (subject) obtained (verb) his degree (object).

 A sentence must have a complete idea that stands alone. This is also called an
independent clause.
o He obtained his degree.

Simple Sentences
A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an object and
modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause.
Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular
font =prepositional phrase
Here are a few examples:

 She read.
 She completed her literature review.
 He organized his sources by theme.
 They studied APA rules for many hours.

Compound Sentences
A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses. These two
independent clauses can be combined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction or
with a semicolon.
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma or semicolon = pink, regular font;
coordinating conjunction = green, underlined
Here are a few examples:

 She completed her literature review, and she created her reference list.
 He organized his sources by theme; then, he updated his reference list.
 They studied APA rules for many hours, but they realized there was still
much to learn.

Using some compound sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.
Complex Sentences
A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and at
least one dependent clause. Dependent clauses can refer to the subject (who, which)
the sequence/time (since, while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the
independent clause.
If a sentence begins with a dependent clause, note the comma after this clause. If, on
the other hand, the sentence begins with an independent clause, there is not a comma
separating the two clauses.
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma = pink, regular font; dependent clause
= blue, italics
Here are a few examples:

 Although she completed her literature review, she still needed to work on her
methods section.
o Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent
clause.

 Because he organized his sources by theme, it was easier for his readers to
follow.
o Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent
clause.

 They studied APA rules for many hours as they were so interesting.
o Note that there is no comma in this sentence because it begins with an
independent clause.

 Using some complex sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.

Compound-Complex Sentences
Sentence types can also be combined. A compound-complex sentence contains at
least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma or semicolon = pink, regular font;
coordinating conjunction = green, underlined; dependent clause = blue, italics

 She completed her literature review, but she still needs to work on her
methods section even though she finished her methods course last semester.
 Although he organized his sources by theme, he decided to arrange them
chronologically, and he carefully followed the MEAL plan for organization.
 With pizza and soda at hand, they studied APA rules for many
hours, and they decided that writing in APA made sense because it was
clear, concise, and objective.

 Using some complex-compound sentences in writing allows for more sentence

variety.
 Pay close attention to comma usage in complex-compound sentences so that the
reader is easily able to follow the intended meaning.
 ACTIVITY

But now it's time to see what's what, who's who, and where you're at with this sentence
stuff. To do so, label each of the following sentences as simple, compound, complex, or
compound-complex.

 ____ 1. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
 ____ 2. The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
 ____ 3. You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
 ____ 4. It takes about half a gallon of water to cook spaghetti, and about a gallon of
water to clean the pot.
 ____ 5. Monday is an awful way to spend one-seventh of your life.
 ____ 6. Genetics explains why you look like your father and if you don't, why you
should.
 ____ 7. To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
 ____ 8. Two wrongs are only the beginning.
 ____ 9. When oxygen is combined with anything, heat is given off, a process known as
“constipation.”
 ____ 10. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

Answers
1. complex 6.compound-complex
2. simple 7. complex
3. complex 8. simple
4. compound 9.compound complex
5. simple 10.compound

4. Types of Sentence Structures

As mentioned, there are four main types of sentence structures: simple, compound,
complex, and compound-complex. To begin, here is a simple chart that outlines the
patterns of each type.
a. Simple sentence
A simple sentence has only one subject and one predicate—one independent
clause. In fact, an independent clause itself is a simple sentence. Here are some
examples:
 She jumped.
 The cheetah ran.
 He ran to the gas station.
 He ate dinner.
Simple sentences don’t have many details and they don’t really combine multiple
ideas—they are simple!

b. Compound sentence
A compound sentence has at least two independent clauses. It uses a conjunction like
“and” to connect the ideas. Here are some examples:
 The dog ate pizza but the cat drank apple juice.
 The dog ate pizza but the cat drank apple juice and the fish had eggs.
As you can see, a compound sentence allows us to share a lot of information by
combining two or more complete thoughts into one sentence.

c. Complex sentence
A complex sentence has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
It sometimes uses conjunctions and other words to combine all of the clauses together.

 When he was on the airplane, the man bought cookies.

 When he was on the airplane, the man bought cookies, but not brownies.
A great way to make a sentence more detailed is by adding dependent clauses (which
couldn’t be sentences on their own). So, complex sentences let us add information to
simple sentences.

d. Compound-complex sentence
A compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses and at least
one dependent clause—so, it uses conjunction(s) to combine two complete sentences
and at least one incomplete sentence. Here is an example:
The girl smelled cookies, which were baking at home, so, she ran all the way
there.
The result of combining the three clauses and the conjunction is a compound-complex
sentence that is both informational and easy to understand. The independent clauses
give the main information, and the dependent clause(s) give the details.