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SIMPLE, COMPOUND, COMPLEX SENTENCES - with Examples, Exercises - Sentence Clause Structure - Grammar - YouTube
Channel: Learn English Lab
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Hey there, and welcome back.
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In this lesson, we're going to learn all about
simple, compound and complex sentences.
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Many of you have asked me to do a lesson on
this topic, so here we are.
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Now, in this video, I'll show you the differences
between these three types of sentences, and
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there are exercises within the lesson for
you to practice what you learn.
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So, let's begin.
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So, what is a simple sentence?
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A simple sentence is just a sentence that
contains a subject and a verb.
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For example, I am a teacher.
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Here, the subject is “I” and the verb
is “am.”
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Here's another one: She took a cab to the
airport.
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Can you identify the subject and the verb
here?
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The subject is “she” and the verb is “took.”
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One more example: We're having pizza for dinner
tonight.
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In this sentence, the subject is “we,”
and the verb is actually the phrase “are
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having.”
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It has two words: first, the auxiliary or
the helping verb “are” and then the main
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verb “having,” but still, “are having”
is a phrase that acts as a single verb.
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So, in all of these sentences you see that
they have a subject and a verb, so these are
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simple sentences.
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Now, there's another name for a simple sentence,
and that is an independent clause.
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This means more or less the same thing as
a simple sentence, but just remember that
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it's another name for a simple sentence.
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So, what's a compound sentence then?
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Well, a compound sentence is just a sentence
that has two independent clauses.
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We saw that a simple sentence has just one
clause, but a compound sentence has two (or
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sometimes more) independent clauses.
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Take a look at this example: I am a teacher.
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My wife is a lawyer.
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What we have here is two separate independent
clauses or simple sentences, and the problem
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with this is that it sounds choppy and disconnected
when we say it like that: I am a teacher.
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My wife is a lawyer.
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Instead, we can combine them like this: I
am a teacher, and my wife is a lawyer.
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This sounds much better, and now we have one
compound sentence with the two independent
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clauses connected by the conjunction “and.”
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Here's another example: She tried to lift
the suitcase.
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The suitcase was too heavy.
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We can combine these clauses using “but”:
She tried to lift the suitcase, but it was
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too heavy.
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Notice that we have the word “it” in the
second part.
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Now, “it” is a pronoun that just refers
to the suitcase.
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It makes the sentence sound better by avoiding
repetition.
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Next example: He didn't have enough cash.
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He paid by credit card.
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We can connect these clauses using “so”:
He didn't have enough cash, so he paid by
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credit card.
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One last example: We can take a bus to the
museum.
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We can just walk there.
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What we see here is two options; two different
ways to get to the museum.
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We can connect these using “or”: We can
take a bus to the museum, or we can just walk
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there.
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Now, the connecting words that you see in
these examples, “and,” “but,” “so,”
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“or,” etc.
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These words are called coordinating conjunctions.
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That's a fancy word, but it just means that
these are connecting words that connect two
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independent clauses.
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And there's another important point here:
you see that in all of the examples, when
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we connect the two independent clauses, we
put a comma after the first clause.
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Now, this is the proper form: you write the
first independent clause, then you put a comma
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after it, and then a conjunction, and then
you write the second clause.
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Remember this rule.
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OK, we're going to practice this now.
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You see five items on the screen.
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In each one, I want you to combine the simple
sentences into one compound sentence.
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Use a coordinating conjunction like “and,”
“but,” “or,” or “so” to make the
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compound sentence.
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Stop the video now, try the exercise, and
then play the video again and check.
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OK, let's discuss them.
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Number one: She dropped her phone on the floor,
and it broke.
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Number two: I'm not very hungry, so I'll just
have an orange juice.
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Three: You should study harder, or you'll
fail the exam.
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Four: We'd like to buy a car, but we can't
afford one right now.
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And number five is a little tricky because
there are three simple sentences or three
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independent clauses.
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But we can connect them using coordinating
conjunctions.
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I told my roommate to turn down the TV, but
he didn't, so I got up and left.
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How many did you get right?
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Alright, let's now move on and talk about
complex sentences.
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Here's a clause first: When I got home from
work yesterday.
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What do you notice about it?
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Well, it has a subject “I” and a verb
“got,” but this clause is just not a complete
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sentence.
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And that's because if I say to you, “When
I got home from work,” yesterday you will
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ask, “OK, what happened?
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What did you do?
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So, you see this thought is not complete,
so this is not an independent clause.
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This type of clause is called a dependent
clause.
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To make it a complete sentence, you have to
add an independent clause.
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For example, When I got home from work yesterday,
I watched TV for an hour.
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So, you see that there is a dependent clause
and an independent clause, and now it's a
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complete sentence.
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And this type of sentence is called a complex
sentence.
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Here are some more examples, but before I
talk about them, in each one, I want you to
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identify the dependent clause and the independent
clause.
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Stop the video and try the exercise, then
play the video again and continue.
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Alright, in number two, “I love to travel”
is the independent clause and “because I
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get to meet a lot of interesting people”
is the dependent clause.
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Now, in sentence number one, we saw that the
dependent clause came first, and here in number
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two, the dependent clause comes second.
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That’s OK.
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In complex sentences, you can put the clauses
in any order; that's no problem.
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Alright, number three: “Even though the
exam was quite difficult” is the dependent
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clause, and “All the students passed”
is the independent clause.
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And number four: “Let me know” is independent,
and “if you need any help” is dependent.
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And finally, number five: “You can't go
out and play” is the independent clause,
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and “until you finish your homework” is
the dependent clause.
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Just remember that to decide whether a clause
is dependent or independent, you ask the question,
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“Can this clause be a complete sentence
on its own?”
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If it can be a complete sentence, then it's
an independent clause, and if it cannot be
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a complete sentence, then it's a dependent
clause.
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Now in all of these examples, you see that
the dependent clauses start with a linking
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word like “when,” “because,” “even
though,” “if,” and “until.”
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These words are conjunctions, but they're
called subordinating conjunctions.
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The dependent clauses are also called subordinate
clauses; it means the same thing, so the conjunctions
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are subordinating conjunctions.
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If you remember from the previous section,
we connected the independent clauses using
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coordinating conjunctions, and here we're
using subordinating conjunctions.
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Now, there's one more thing I want you to
notice here, and that is the use of commas.
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In sentences 1 & 3, you see that there is
a comma, but in sentences 2, 4 & 5 there's
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no comma.
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And this is because in 1 & 3, the dependent
clause comes first.
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If the dependent clause comes first, we put
a comma after it, and then we write the independent
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clause.
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But in 2, 4 & 5, an independent clause comes
first.
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If that's the case, we don't put a comma after
it.
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Now, if you want to learn more about punctuation
and about the proper use of commas, I have
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a separate lesson just on that topic.
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It's called punctuation masterclass; I will
leave a link in the description.
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You can go and check it out.
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There's another type of dependent clause that
you need to know about, and that is the relative
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clause.
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A relative clause uses a relative pronoun
like “who,” “that,” “which,” etc.
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For example, I know a guy who plays guitar
in a rock band.
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This sentence is actually a combination of
two sentences: I know a guy, and He plays
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guitar in a rock band.
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Both of those are simple sentences, and we
combine them using the relative pronoun “who.”
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So, “who plays guitar in a rock band”
is a relative clause that gives us information
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about the guy.
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It tells you who that guy is.
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But, that clause is not a complete sentence,
and so, it's a dependent clause.
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And the entire sentence is a complex sentence.
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Here's another example: Synonyms are words
that have similar meanings.
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Here, “that have similar meanings” is
the relative clause.
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And one last example: The boss wants me to
give a speech at the event, which is tomorrow.
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Here, “which is tomorrow” is the relative
clause.
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Now, I'm not going to go into detail on relative
clauses here because they're a big topic,
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and we'll have to explore them in a different
lesson.
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But for now, just remember that relative clauses
can also be part of a complex sentence.
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OK, I have another exercise for you.
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You see six items on the screen.
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In each one, I want you to combine the simple
sentences into one complex sentence.
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Use the word in the parentheses to do this.
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Stop the video now, try the exercise, then
play the video again and continue.
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Now, there are different ways to rewrite each
sentence.
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I'll give you my answers.
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Here's how I wrote the first one: People eat
a lot of fast food nowadays even though they
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know it's bad for their health.
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Number two: You can't borrow any books from
the library unless you have a membership.
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Number three: She couldn't log in to her Gmail
account because she had forgotten her password.
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Four: Harvey was a vegetarian until he married
Susie.
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Now, this sentence is much shorter than the
original two sentences, but it has the same
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meaning.
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Number five: The man who lives in that house
is a millionaire.
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And finally, number six: Children shouldn't
be allowed to play video games that contain
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violence.
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Were your answers the same as mine?
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Let me know in the comments.
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Before we close this lesson, I want to tell
you about one more type of sentence: the compound-complex
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sentence.
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This is simply a sentence with more than one
independent clause (so it's a compound sentence)
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and also with one or more dependent clauses
(so it's a complex sentence).
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For example, I was crazy about heavy metal
when I was younger, but I'm more into jazz
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now.
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Heavy metal and jazz are genres or types of
music.
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We see here that the first clause is independent:
“I was crazy about heavy metal.”
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Then, there's a dependent clause: “when
I was younger,” then there's a coordinating
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conjunction “but,” and then another independent
clause: “but I'm more into jazz now.”
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So this is a compound-complex sentence.
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Here's another example: “If it rains tomorrow,
bring your umbrella, or you might catch a
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cold.”
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Can you identify the different clauses here?
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Well, the first clause is dependent: “If
it rains tomorrow,” then there's an independent
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clause: “bring your umbrella.”
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Now you might be asking, how is this an independent
clause?
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I don't see a subject here.
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Well, this type of clause is actually called
an imperative, that is a request or a command,
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and the subject is understood: it's basically
“you,” so it's like saying “You bring
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your umbrella,” but in imperatives we usually
leave out that “you.”
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Alright, then we have a coordinating conjunction
“or,” and then another independent clause:
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“you might catch a cold.”
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So, you see that compound-complex sentences
are nothing special; they're just a combination
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of a compound sentence and a complex sentence.
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OK, remember that the whole purpose of learning
about the different sentence types is to add
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variety to your own speech and writing.
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Whenever you speak, and especially whenever
you write, whether it's emails, essays, reports,
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stories, whatever it is, pay attention to
the sentence types that you use.
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Make sure to choose the best kind of sentence
that expresses your message and helps your
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writing to flow smoothly.
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Alright, if you liked this lesson, give it
a thumbs up by hitting the like button.
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Also remember to subscribe by clicking the
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right here on YouTube.
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Happy learning, and I will see you in another
lesson soon.
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