10 Sentence Structure Types You Should Recognize With 

Examples
1. Simple Sentence Structure:

 Definition:

 A simple sentence with just a subject and verb (independent clause)

 Examples:

 The boy is hungry.  I went to school.  The subject likes

to verb.

 How to analyze it:

 Simple sentence structure can signify a clarity of thought, an acceptance of things the
way they are, or a simplemindedness that focuses only on one specific fact

2. Periodic/Interruptive Sentence Structure:

 Definition:

 A sentence with the main point (independent clause) at the end of it, often after a
couple side points leading up to it (subordinating clauses)

 Examples:

 “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private
heart is true for all men, that is genius” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

 After shopping at the mall, walking the dogs and washing the car, I finally got to stay
in and relax.

 By the smell of barbecuing and the fireworks in the sky, I knew it was Independence
Day.

 How to analyze it:

 Periodic sentence structure often brings a dramatic tension and suspense to the
climax at the end of the sentence, stressing its importance and the many dependent
clauses that lead up to it

3. Cumulative/Loose Sentence Structure:

 Definition:

 A sentence with the main point (independent clause) at the beginning of it, followed
by some side points (subordinating clauses)

 Examples:
  Wolves are important in a habitat because they control the numbers of elk, which in
turn allows trees to mature so they can offer shelter to birds and insects.

 Lewis and Clark finally made it to the Pacific coast, after bitter winters and a close call
with the Sioux Indians.

 The subject likes to verb.

 How to analyze it:

 Cumulative sentence structure often makes a sentence more conversational and clear
instead of building up suspense, by putting the main part of the sentence at the
beginning and then providing details to add to that main idea

4. Inverted Sentence Structure:

 Definition:

 Basically a yoda-style sentence where the subject comes after the verb (even though

yoda sentences usually just flip the subject and direct object/subject complement)

 Examples:

 “To me alone there came a thought of grief” -William Wordsworth

 Down that dark path sits the haunted house.

 So high is Mount Everest that climbers can take only a couple of steps per minute as
they near the summit.

 How to analyze it:

 Inverted sentences are meant to sound weird; they can highlight a speaker’s conflict
or emphasize a thought by throwing off the reader’s rhythm

5. Parallel/Balanced Sentence Structure:

 Definition:

 Using the same pattern of words in similar, or parallel, forms

 Examples:

 Mary likes hiking, swimming, and bicycling.

 “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessing; the inherent virtue
of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” -Winston Churchill

 “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss
people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
  How to analyze it:

 Parallelism is often used when a speaker is trying to frame an argument in a balanced

and consistent structure to draw attention to it

6. Tricolon/Triadic Sentence:

 Definition:

 A specific type of parallelism/parallel structure where there are three main clauses
(tri = three)

 Examples:

 “I came; I saw; I conquered”/”Veni vidi vici” -Julius Caesar

 “You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and
chuckled at catastrophe.” -The Wizard of Oz

 “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss
people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

 How to analyze it:

 Simple sentence structure can signify a clarity of thought, an acceptance of things the
way they are, or a simplemindedness that focuses only on one specific fact

7. Anaphora:

 Definition:

 Repeating a word at the beginning of successive clauses

 Examples:

 “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right…” -Abraham
Lincoln

 “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ I have
a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons
of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I
have a dream that one day…” -Martin Luther King Jr.

 “Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much? have you reckon’d the earth much?
Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?” -Walt Whitman

 How to analyze it:

  Anaphora often is used in speeches or proclamations and can provide the same
structure and balance as parallelism, though anaphora is often accompanied by high-
minded language to bring in a greater sense of idealism

8. Rhetorical Question:

 Definition:

 A question that doesn’t expect an answer

 Examples:

 What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore — 
And then run? -Langston Hughes

 “What’s love got to do with it?” -Tina Turner

 “Who do you think you are?” -Spice Girls

 How to analyze it:

 Rhetorical questions are often used as part of an argument and to make the reader or
listener question his or her views as the speaker points out some perceived issue or
contradiction

9. Chiasmus:

 Definition:

 A sentence with an ABBA structure

 Examples:

 “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
-John F. Kennedy

 “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” -Shakespeare

 “Bad men live that they may eat and drink,whereas good men eat and drink that they
may live.” -Socrates

 How to analyze it:

 Chiasmus is used a lot in classic texts as a way to catch the reader’s attention with a
clever rephrasing of a simple statement for dramatic effect
10. Antithesis:

 Definition:

 When parallelism is used to contrast words that are opposites of each other

 Examples:

 “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” –Martin
Luther King, Jr.

 “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here.” –Abraham Lincoln

 Speech is silver, but silence is gold.

 How to analyze it:

 Antithesis can express ideas more vividly than through simple speech, using stark
contrast to examine the pros and cons of an argument and emphasize a point

Dependent or Subordinate Clauses

A dependent or subordinate clause depends on an independent clause to express its full

meaning (as in “Because I love grammar.”). These clauses begin with a dependent word,
like a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun.

Dependent clauses can function as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs:

 Noun Clause - "The boy wondered if his parents bought him what he wanted for
Christmas." A noun clause can replace any noun in a sentence, functioning as a
subject, object, or complement (see English Grammar: Basic Sentence Elements).

 Adjective Clause (or relative clause) - "I listened to the song that you told me
about." An adjective clause describes a noun just like an adjective. Which song?
The new song, the good song, the song that you told me about. Often called relative
clauses, they're either restrictive or nonrestrictive (also called defining and non-
defining, essential and nonessential, or integrated and supplementary):
o Restrictive Clause - "The building that they built in San Francisco sold for a lot
of money." A restrictive clause begins with a relative pronoun
like that or who (or sometimes which -- see Which Versus That). It specifies
or restricts the noun; in this case, it specifies which building the speaker is
referring to. Note: the relative pronoun is often omitted ("The building (that)
they built"), leaving what is called an elliptical clause or contact clause.
o Nonrestrictive Clause - "The building, which they built in San Francisco, sold
for a lot of money." A nonrestrictive clause begins with a relative pronoun
like which or who. It adds extra information about an already-specific noun;
 in this case, there's only one building to talk about, whereas the example for
the restrictive clause implies that there could be several buildings.

 Adverb Clause - "I'll do the laundry when I'm out of clothes." Like all adverbials,
adverb clauses express when, where, why, and how something occurs. A
dependent clause is an adverb clause if you can replace it with an adverb, as in "I'll
do the laundry later."

Note: appositives can include clauses, but I’ve yet to find a source mentioning an “appositive
clause.” They’re generally regarded as a type of noun phrase, even though they can be
restrictive or nonrestrictive like relative clauses.

Direct Objects
A direct object is the receiver of action within a sentence. The direct object in “He hit the ball”
is the ball. Be careful to distinguish between a direct object and an object complement. While a
direct object receives the action, a complement adds information to, or renames, the object in
question. Consider the following example:

 They named their daughter Natasha.

In the above sentence, daughter is the direct object and Natasha is the object complement,
which describes the direct object.

Indirect Objects
The indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed. The
direct object and indirect object are different people, places or things. The direct objects in the
sentences below are underlined; the indirect objects are in italics.

 The instructor gave his students A’s.

 Grandfather left Rosalita and Raoul all his money.
 Jo-Bob sold me her boat.
Incidentally, the word me (and similar object-form pronouns such as him, us, them) is not always
an indirect object; it will also serve, sometimes, as a direct object.

 Bless me/her/us!
 Call me/him/them if you have questions.