Simple Sentences
Objects
1. What is a Simple Sentence?
A simple sentence is the most basic sentence that we
have in English. It has just one independent clause,
which means only one subject and one predicate. A
simple sentence is also the shortest possible sentence; it
can have as little as two words!
Overall, a simple sentence is exactly what it sounds like
—simple!
2. Examples
A simple sentence can be very short, but some are long
too, so long as they only have one subject-verb
combination. Here, the subjects are orange and
the verbs are green.
 I ate.
 I ate dinner.
 I ate dinner with my brother and sister.
 Last night, I ate dinner at a restaurant with my
brother and sister.
As you can see, even though some of these sentences
are long, each only has one subject and one verb
(one clause).
3. Parts of Simple Sentences
All sentences have one main important part: an
independent clause. Sometimes, they also include other
words, like objects and/or modifiers.
a. Independent Clause
An independent clause has a subject and a predicate
and makes sense on its own as a complete sentence. In
fact, an independent clause itself is a simple sentence!
Here are a few:
 The cat ate.
 He ate ice cream.
 He went to the beach.
 The wolf ate steak at the zoo.
So, you can see that all of the clauses above work as
sentences. All sentences have an independent clause,
but all simple sentences have ONE independent clause.
B.
An object is the word affected by the verb or preposition
in a sentence. Objects are usually nouns or pronouns
that answer questions like “who,” “what,” “where,” and
“when?” Here, the objects are purple.
 The dog ate bacon. What did the dog eat?
 The dog ate bacon at the park. Where did he
eat it?
 I took my dog to the park. Who did you take
there?
 We went to the park yesterday. When did you
go?
So, you can see that the highlighted objects answer the
questions above. They make the sentences more
informational than they would be without objects.
c. Modifiers
A modifier is an adjective or adverb that “modifies”
other words in a sentence to make it more descriptive.
They help give a clearer idea about the things in the
sentence. Here, the modifiers are gray. Let’s start
with a simple sentence:
The panda ate corn.
Now, let’s add modifiers:
The fat panda quickly ate the buttery corn.
Modifiers make the sentence more detailed. We now
know that the panda was fat, that he ate quickly, and
that the corn was buttery! Modifiers can make sentences
much more interesting.
4. Types of Simple Sentences
There aren’t exactly different “types” of simple
sentences, but they can be written in different ways. As
mentioned, sometimes they are very short, or
sometimes they include modifiers or objects that make
them longer.
a. Simple Sentence with ONLY a Subject and a
Verb
As mentioned, simple sentences are the shortest
possible complete sentences. You can have a simple
sentence with only a simple subject and a predicate,
using only two or three words, like this:
 I see.
  He ran. or compound-complex sentence. BUT, a simple sentence
is just simple—one subject, one predicate.
 We looked.

 They cooked.

 The dog ate.

 The baby cried.

Though only two or three words, these are all Compound Sentence
independent clauses, so they work on their own as
1. What is a Compound Sentence?
complete sentences!
A compound sentence allows us to share a lot of
b. Simple Sentence with other Objects or
information by combining two or more related thoughts
Modifiers
into one sentence. It combines two independent
Not all simple sentences are short. So long as it only has clauses by using a conjunction like “and.” This
one subject and one predicate, a simple sentence can creates sentences that are more useful than writing
actually be pretty long. Take a look at the extra words in many sentences with separate thoughts.
these examples:
Compound sentences are important because they allow
 I see you behind the cotton candy machine! us to shorten the things we say or write. They express
 He ran to the fair as fast as possible. our thoughts in a way that allows our audience to
receive information easily and quickly. Often, everything
 We ate buttery corn at the famous farmer’s we want to say can be summarized, and it is generally
market. the best choice for communicating. So remember: more
 They prepared cotton candy in an old- words don’t necessarily mean more information.
fashioned machine. 2. Examples of Compound Sentences
So, a simple sentence can use lots of modifiers and We use compound sentences all of the time. Here are
objects to add details, while at the same time only some examples, the independent clause is green, the
describing one subject doing one thing. second is purple, and the conjunctions are orange:
5. How to Avoid Mistakes  I drove to the park, and then I walked to
The most important thing to remember about simple the beach.
sentences is that they never have more than one  Mike drove to the park, and I walked to
subject or more than one predicate. In other words, the beach.
there is only one subject doing one thing. A simple
sentence CAN have a compound subject (two people Let’s take a look at the following section to find out what
using the same verb), but that’s still just one subject. is an independent clause and a conjunction.

 (WRONG) Maria went to the market 3. Parts of Compound Sentences

and bought an apple. One subject, two verbs A compound sentence has at least two independent
 (WRONG) Sandy drove to the market and the clauses and always includes a conjunction.
dog went with her. Two subjects, two verbs a. Independent Clause
 (CORRECT) Jose went to the market. One An independent clause has a subject and
subject, one verb a predicate and makes sense on its own as a complete
 (CORRECT) Maria and Jose went to the sentence. Here are a few:
market. One compound subject, one verb  The parrot ate popcorn.
When you start adding more independent or dependent  The wolf ran quickly.
clauses to a sentence, you get a compound, complex,
 He ate candy apples.
  He went to the mall.
So, you can see that all of the clauses above are
working sentences. All sentences have an independent
clause, but all compound sentences have at least two
independent clauses.
b. Conjunction
A conjunction is a word in a sentence that connects
other words, phrases and clauses. The most common
conjunction that you know is “and.” Other common
conjunctions are for, but, or, yet,  and  so.  A compound
sentence needs at least one conjunction to connect two
or more complete sentences.
Conjunctions are important because they let us combine
information, but still keep ideas separate so that they
are easy to understand. A compound sentence without a
conjunction would be a run-on sentence, and would
sound very confusing! Here are two sentences, with and
without conjunctions:
The boy ran to the park then he ate a hotdog.
The boy ran to the park,  and then he ate a hotdog.
So, you can see that we need a conjunction to for the
sentence to be clear!
It is important to know that the word “then” is NOT a
conjunction—it’s an adverb. So, when you are writing a
compound sentence and want to use “then”, you still
need a conjunction, for example, “so then,” “but
then,” or “and then.”
4. Types of Compound Sentences
As mentioned, a compound sentence combines two
independent clauses. Some common formats for
compound sentences are:
 one subject performing two different actions
 two completely different subjects doing
performing actions
a. When one subject does more than one thing:
Example 1:
The boy ran to the park.
The boy ate a hotdog there.
These sentences have the same subject, “boy,” but two
verbs, “ran” and “ate.” Since both sentences are about
what the boy does at the park, we can combine them:
The boy ran to the park,  and he ate a hotdog there.
This compound sentence is the best way to share the
information from the two original sentences. Even
though the boy does two different things, we can
explain them in one sentence because they are related
to each other.
Remember not to confuse this with a compound
predicate. We can also say:
The boy  ran to the park and ate a hotdog there.
In this example, we don’t mention the boy twice, so we
don’t have two separate sentences. Ate a hotdog  is
only a verb phrase, so we don’t need a comma.
Let’s try another example, again starting with two
sentences.
Example 2:
Every morning, Shelly eats breakfast.
After breakfast, Shelly works in her garden.
Both of these sentences describe what the subject,
Shelly, does every morning. Why not say this in one
sentence?
Every morning, Shelly eats breakfast, and  then she
works in her garden.
In this example, we have two complete sentences joined
by a coordinating conjunction, so we use a comma.
But, if we eliminate the subject, we can write a sentence
with a compound predicate:
Every morning,  Shelly eats breakfast  and then
works in her garden.
In this example, we have two complete verb phrases, so
we don’t use a comma.
Either way, the compound sentence is much stronger
than two separate sentences.
b. When multiple subjects do the same thing:
Example 1:
Yesterday  the lion went to the candy store.
The zebra also went to the candy store yesterday.
Both subjects, “the lion” and “the zebra,” went to the
candy store yesterday. So, let’s combine these things:
Yesterday, the lion went to the candy
store, and  the zebra went, too.
Also, you should know that in contrast, combining the
subjects makes a compound subject, but NOT a
compound sentence:
The lion went to the candy store, and  the zebra went
too.       Compound sentence
The lion and the zebra went to the candy
store.                       Compound subject
c. When multiple subjects do multiple things:
Example 1:
The girl ate cake at the party.                    Subject
“girl,” verb “ate”
The cat drank soda at the party.          Subject “cat,”
verb “drank”
Even though these two sentences are about two
different subjects doing two different things, they both
share the phrase “at the party.” Since they have this
information in common, we can combine them:
At the party, the girl ate cake but  the cat drank
soda.
5. How to Write a Compound Sentence and Avoid
Mistakes
Compound sentences are a great tool in writing, and
come naturally in speaking. As mentioned, they exist to
help you unite multiple related ideas into one strong
sentence. For example, here are three simple sentences:
 The cheetah ran fast.
 She ran all the way to the movies.
 There, she ate a hot pretzel.
We really don’t need three separate sentences to share
this information, because it’s all about the same subject.
So, let’s combine all three of the sentences above to
make one compound sentence:
The cheetah ran fast; she ran all the way to the
movies,  and there she ate a hot pretzel.
The compound sentence still has the subject “ cheetah,”
but it now shares both of the things she did at the
county fair, “ran” and “ate.”
Finally, it’s important to remember that compound
sentences combine related information. Even if you
follow the proper grammar pattern, it doesn’t mean you
can combine any old thing with another. You don’t want
to make the mistake of putting things together that
have nothing to do with each other, like this:
Mary went to the market yesterday and she gardens
every morning.
In this sentence, the first point is that Mary went to the
market yesterday, and the second is that she gardens
every morning. But, these things are not related to
each other, even though they are both about Mary. It
seems like they came from two different stories. So,
while there is nothing wrong with the grammar, this is
not a proper compound sentence because the ideas are
unrelated.
Complex Sentence
1. What is a Complex Sentence?
A complex sentence is a sentence with
an independent clause and a dependent clause. It is one
of the four main types of sentence structures. In a
complex sentence, the independent clause shares the
main information, and the dependent clause(s) provide
details. Complex sentences let us share lots of
information with just one sentence.
2. Examples of Complex Sentences
In the examples below, independent clauses are
orange and dependent clauses are green.
 When the dog went to the county fair, he ate
popcorn.
 If the dog goes to the county fair,  he will eat
popcorn.
 The dog went to the county fair after he
smelled popcorn.
 The dog went to the county fair when he
smelled the popcorn.
As you can see, sometimes the independent clause
comes first, and sometimes the dependent clause comes
first.
3. Parts of Complex Sentences
All complex sentences have one independent
clause and one or more dependent clauses. They
often also include dependent “marker” words or
coordinating conjunctions.
a. Independent Clause
An independent clause is a clause that can exist as a
sentence on its own. It has a subject and
a predicate and makes sense as a complete sentence.
As mentioned, the independent clause shares the main
information of a complex sentence.
 The dog ate popcorn.
 The dog ran quickly.
 He ate popcorn.
 He went to the county fair.
So, you can see that all of the clauses above are
working sentences. All complex sentences have ONLY
one independent clause.
b. Dependent (Subordinate) Clause
A dependent clause has a subject and a predicate;
BUT, it can’t be a sentence. It provides extra details
about the independent clause, and it doesn’t make
sense on its own, like these:
 After he went to the fair
 Though he ate popcorn
 While he was at the county fair
 When the dog smelled popcorn
Though all of the examples above contain subjects and
predicates, none of them make sense. Each leaves an
unanswered question. By itself, a dependent clause is
just a fragment (an incomplete sentence). So, it needs
to be combined with an independent clause to be a
sentence.
Complex sentences have at least one dependent clause,
but they can have two or more.
c. Dependent “Marker” Words/Subordinating
Conjunctions
A dependent marker word (also called
a subordinating conjunction) goes at the beginning
of an independent clause. It turns an independent
clause into a dependent clause by adding details like
time or context. Common dependent marker words
include after, although, as, because, before, even if,
even though, if, since, though, unless, until, whatever,
when, whenever, whether,  and  while. Let’s start with an
independent clause:
He was at the county fair = Independent clause
Now, add a dependent marker word, like “when”:
When  he was at the county fair = Dependent clause
Here are some complex sentences with the marker
words underlined:
 When  he was at the county fair,  the dog ate
popcorn.
 Though  he likes cotton candy,  the dog loves
popcorn.
 The dog gets a stomachache  if  he eats
popcorn.
 The dog went to the county fair  when  he
smelled the popcorn.
Notice that when the sentence starts with a
subordinating conjunction, there is a comma at the end
of the dependent clause. When the subordinating
conjunction is in the middle of the sentence, there is no
comma.
This is different from what you’ve learned with
compound sentences! So, remember when there is a
subordinating conjunction in the middle of a sentence
you don’t need a comma.
4. How to Write a Complex Sentence
Complex sentences are very common and pretty easy to
write, as long as you remember their rules. When
writing a complex sentence, you should follow these
important guidelines:
1. All complex sentences have an independent
clause and a dependent clause.
2. Complex sentences can have more than one
dependent clause.
3. To connect independent and dependent clauses,
you need dependent marker words and/or
subordinating conjunctions.
4. Dependent marker words come at the beginning
of a complex sentence.
5. When a dependent marker word comes at the
beginning of a sentence, you need a comma at
the end of the dependent clause.
6. When a dependent marker word comes in the
middle of the sentence, you do not need a
comma.

Compound-Complex Sentence
1. What is a Compound-Complex Sentence?
Compound-complex sentences are the most complicated
sentences, as their name implies. A compound-complex
sentence has at least two independent clauses and at
least one dependent clause. In simple terms,
an independent clause can be a sentence on its own
while a dependent clause cannot.
Compound-complex sentences help us express longer
more complicated thoughts, with more parts than other
sentences. They’re good tools for explaining complicated
ideas or describing long chains of events.
2. Examples of compound-complex sentences
Compound-complex sentences are surprisingly common.
You probably see them a lot in books that you read for
school, and even in books that you read for fun. Here
are some examples to help you understand what makes
a sentence a compound-complex sentence.
Example 1
Kate doesn’t like cartoons because they are loud,
so she doesn’t watch them.
This sentence has two independent clauses and
one dependent clause. The dependent clause “because
they are loud” cannot stand on its own as a complete
sentence; it is dependent. As you’ve probably figured
out, the independent clauses “Kate doesn’t like
cartoons” and “she doesn’t watch them” can  be
complete sentences on their own.
Example 2
The dog started barking so  the cat ran
away  and  I couldn’t keep up,  so I stopped.
Now we’re dealing with more clauses, but they still
follow the same rules. The independent clauses are
complete sentences, while the dependent clause cannot
stand on its own.
Both of these examples contain little words called
conjunctions that link up the clauses. Read on to the
next section to find out more about conjunctions and
the other parts of a compound-complex sentence.
3. Parts of a Compound-Complex Sentence
If you know how to look for the separate parts of a
complex-compound sentence, you can understand their
structure more easily. We already know the basic rules:
there must be at least two independent clauses and at
least one dependent clause. There are a few more
things to know and then you’ll be ready to write
beautiful and grammatically correct compound-complex
sentences!
a. Independent Clause
An independent clause can always stand on its own
as a complete sentence. That means it has
a subject and a predicate. The subject will be a noun-
phrase and the predicate will be a verb-phrase and
describe the subject or what the subject is doing.
The independent clauses in a compound-complex
sentence are called coordinate clauses. Because they
are coordinated (by a coordinating conjunction) to work
together on equal terms within the same sentence, such
as in: “I came, I saw, and I conquered.”
Here are a few examples of independent clauses in
compound-complex sentences, with the independent
clauses highlighted in green. You can see that they’re
related to each other, on more or less equal terms, that
they can be complete sentences, and that they are put
together using the coordinating
conjunctions but and and,  like some of the complex-
compound sentence you are reading now:
 Even though she was tired, Abby knew she
had to finish the race and she ran to meet
her team.
 Usually I take a walk every day while the
sun sets, but  it was raining today.
 She likes to sleep in but she can get up
early if she has work.
The parts of these sentences that are not green are
either dependent clauses or coordinating conjunctions.
We’ll learn more about conjunctions soon, and
dependent clauses even sooner!
b. Dependent Clause
The dependent clauses in compound-complex
sentences will not be complete sentences on their own.
They are dependent on the other clauses of the
sentence, because they don’t fully make sense without
them. Even though dependent clauses have a subject
and a predicate like independent clauses, dependent
clauses do not express a complete thought, usually
because they are introduced by words like while,
if,  and because, that don’t make sense without some
words that are not part of the dependent clause.
We’ll use the same examples from earlier to show
you dependent clauses. In general, dependent clauses
are a good way to add more information to any
sentence.
Example 1
Even though she was tired, Abby knew she had to finish
the race and she ran to meet her team.
In this sentence, the dependent clause “Even though
she was tired” tells us why  Abby was having trouble
finishing the race. It doesn’t make sense without the
independent clause it depends on. The clause is also
introduced by “Even though,” which is a subordinating
conjunction (you’ll learn about this in the next section).
For now, let’s take a closer look at the second example
sentence to see how dependent clauses give us more
information.
Example 2
Usually I take a walk every day while the sun sets,
but  it was raining today.
As before, the independent clauses are green and
the dependent clause is orange. If we take out “while
the sun sets” we can see that it isn’t a complete
sentence. But it does give us some interesting
information about when I take walks! It answers the
question of when, and it is introduced by the
subordinating word “while.” Even though we could take
out the whole phrase and still have a correct sentence,
we would have less information and a less interesting
sentence.
c. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are those little connecting words that
can put different phrases and clauses together in to
larger more complex sentences. In compound-complex
sentences, we use conjunctions to string together most
of our independent and dependent clauses. The most
common conjunctions are and, or, and but.
There are different types of conjunctions that do
different things, and there are more kinds of
conjunctions than those covered here, but these are the
important ones for compound-complex sentences.
Coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions connect independent clauses
and other short phrases. There are seven coordinating
conjunctions, and you can remember them using the
acronym FANBOYS.
F – for
A – and
N – nor
B – but
O – or
Y – yet
S – so
Simple enough, right? You’ll use the FANBOYS to
connect two or more independent clauses in compound-
complex sentences. Here’s an example from our earlier
sentences.
Example 1
She likes to sleep in  but she can get up early  if
she has work.
We’ve got a big, purple but  in there: that’s our
conjunction! It links the two independent clauses in
green so that we know they’re coordinate clauses and
belong in the same sentence.
Subordinating conjunction
A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent
clause, so you can see how these would be useful in
compound-complex sentences. There are a lot of
subordinating conjunctions, but some common ones
are if, while, and though. Let’s use the same example as
above.
Example 1
She likes to sleep in but she can get up early  if  she has
work.
In this example our conjunction is if. It introduces the
dependent clause if she has work and it is part of the
clause too. It subordinates the clause making it
dependent.  The point being that it establishes a
relationship in which the meaning of the dependent
clause depends on an independent clause, in this
case, she can get up early.
4. How to Write Compound-Complex Sentences
So now you’re familiar with the parts of compound-
complex sentences, and it’s time to start putting them
together. This is as easy as coming up with two
sentences and one extra bit of information, and then
using conjunctions to link them all up. Let’s create a
brand new sentence to show how they’re made.
Step 1: Independent clause
The first independent clause of your compound-complex
sentence should have a strong main idea because it will
remain one of the main points of your sentence no
matter what you add to it. Let’s say I want to write a
sentence about a cat. My independent clause might look
like this:
The cat jumped onto the couch.
This is a complete sentence all on its own, which is how
we know it’s a good independent clause for our
complex-compound sentence.
Step 2: Related independent clause
Now we need another independent clause that is related
to the first independent clause. Often this means that
the two independent clauses will have the same subject,
or share another word in common, but not necessarily;
the second clause should either continue describing the
action or add information of about equal importance
with the first independent clause:
The cat sat down on top of the remote control.
This is another complete sentence which continues the
action and is at least as important as the first
independent clause. Now we’re ready for a dependent
clause.
Step 3: Dependent clause
Our dependent clause will spice up the two independent
clauses that we’ve already written. It could tell us more
about the situation or explain an action, but it can’t be a
complete sentence on its own. Here’s a dependent
clause:
just when I was reaching for the remote control
Clearly, this is only part of a sentence. When we stick it
in the right place and add the right conjunctions, it’ll
make much more sense.
Step 4: Put it together with conjunctions
Let’s gather all of our clauses and decide on an order.
 The cat jumped onto the couch.
 The cat sat down on top of the remote control
 just when I was reaching for the remote control
We can easily put this one together:
The cat jumped onto the couch and (the cat) sat down
on top of the remote control just when I was reaching
for it.
We might leave out the second the cat and replace the
second remote control  with it, because the sentence
sounds repetitive otherwise, but it is grammatically
correct either way.
And there it is: a compound-complex sentence! We have
our two independent clauses, one dependent clause,
and conjunctions that link everything together. When
you’re out making your own compound-complex
sentences, you can use more clauses than this as long
as people can still follow the sentence.
That brings us to our next section about how to write
the best compound-complex sentences you can.
5. How to Avoiding Run-on Sentences and Comma
Splices
A run-on sentence has two or more independent
clauses but doesn’t use the right punctuation or linking
words to connect them. That means that even very
short sentences can be run-ons. But you’ll be in more
danger of run-ons when you write long compound-
complex sentences, so keep a sharp eye out.
Example 1
The temperature has dropped, it’s windy outside, wear
a jacket.
Even though these clauses are complete and related,
they’re not coordinated; they need a coordinator! When
independent clauses are connected only by a comma,
it’s called a comma splice. There has to be a
connecting word or different punctuation for this
sentence to be correct. See the next examples for
different ways to fix this sentence.
Example 2
The temperature has dropped and it’s windy outside, so
wear a jacket.
Now we’ve got nice connecting words and no comma
splice! The conjunction “and” connects the clauses and
makes this a proper sentence. Meanwhile, the
subordinating conjunction “so,” turns the clause “wear a
jacket” into a dependent clause and clarifies the logic of
the sentence.

Example 3

The temperature has dropped; it’s windy outside; wear

a jacket.
We can use a semicolon to connect clauses without
coordinating conjunctions and still avoid those evil,
hateful comma splices.

As you can see from Example 3, it can seem a little

awkward using the same strategy to fix every comma
splice. Better would be: The temperature has dropped
and its windy outside; wear a jacket.  In general, the art
of composing long complicated sentences that are also
clear and stylish is to vary your strategies for combining
clauses.

Compound-complex sentences will seem less

complicated as you get more practice with them, and
then they become great tools for explaining complex
ideas.

Knowing more about the different sentence types will

also help you spice up your writing and show off your
skills!

Conjunctions
There are three types of conjunctions:

1. Coordinating conjunctions – join sentence elements

that are the same. They can join words, phrases,
and clauses.
2. Subordinating conjunctions – join dependent clauses
to independent clauses
3. Correlative conjunctions – do the same thing that
coordinating conjunctions do except that they are
always used in pairs.