Transcript Compound and complex sentence

Sentence Types
Li Zhang
Granville TAFE
I. Simple Sentence
 A simple sentence, also called an
independent clause, contains a subject and
a verb, and it expresses a complete thought.
Simple
 A. Some students like to study in the
mornings.
 B. Juan and Arturo play football every
afternoon.
 C. Alicia comes to Granville TAFE and
studies English 3 days a week.
Simple
 The three examples above are all simple
sentences.
 Note that sentence B contains a compound
subject, and sentence C contains a compound
verb.
 Simple sentences, therefore, contain a subject and
verb and express a complete thought. They can
also contain a compound subjects or verbs.
More examples
 John likes to play computer games.
 My class went on a whale watching trip.
 Her dog loves to play fetch.
 I like to study in the morning.
 I am a morning person.
Simple question sentence
 Is it going to rain today?
 Who am I speaking to?
II. Compound Sentence
 A compound sentence contains two independent
clauses joined by a coordinator. The coordinators
are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
 Except for very short sentences, coordinators are
always preceded by a comma.
Coordination and subordination
1. Coordination: being of equal importance - Coordination
connects two or more sentence elements (words,
phrases, and clauses) that have the same grammatical
function.
2. Subordination: being of less importance
Compound with coordinators
 John bought a new shirt, and he wore it to a party last
night.
 My friend invited me to her birthday party, and I accepted
her invitation.
 Lydia liked her new house, but she didn't like the front yard.
 I love Mexican food, but my stomach dislikes it.
 We can go see a movie, or we can get something to eat in
the city.
Note
Notice that in each example, there is a subject and a verb in
each independent clause. These sentences can be
changed by removing the subject:
 John bought a new shirt and wore it to a party last night.
 Lydia liked her new house but not the front yard.
 We can go see a movie or get something to eat in the city.
These are still standard sentences, but by removing the
subject from one part of them, they are no longer
compound sentences.
Compound with subordinators
 Subordination puts less important ideas in a
dependent clause or phrase and the more
important idea in an independent clause.
Compound with a conditional clause
 A. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the






teacher the last page.
B. The teacher made no correction although she noticed the
errors in John’s essay.
C. The students are busy studying because they have a test
tomorrow.
D. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the
movies.
E. Juan and Maria went to the movies after they finished
studying.
F. I was scared, but I didn't run away.
G. Mary was too tried to cook, so she decided to eat out.
Compound & punctuation
 When a complex sentence begins with a
conditional clause such as sentences A and D, a
comma is required at the end of the dependent
clause.
 When the independent clause begins the sentence
with subordinators in the middle as in sentences
B, C, and E, no comma is required. If a comma is
placed before the subordinators in sentences B, C,
and E, it is wrong.
Compound with punctuation
 Note that sentences D and E are the same except
sentence D begins with the dependent clause
which is followed by a comma, and sentence E
begins with the independent clause which contains
no comma.
 The comma after the dependent clause in
sentence D is required, and experienced listeners
of English will often hear a slight pause there. In
sentence E, however, there will be no pause when
the independent clause begins the sentence.
Misuse of Coordination and
Subordination
(1) Illogical coordination
Illogical: Alice Adams has published four novels, and she
lives in San Francisco.
Revised: Alice Adams, who lives in San Francisco, has
published four novels. [Dependent clause]
Alice Adams, from San Francisco, has published
four novels. [Modifying phrase]
(2) Illogical subordination
Illogical: Because he was deaf when he wrote them,
Beethoven’s final symphonies were masterpieces.
Revised: Although Beethoven was deaf when he
wrote his final symphonies, they are musical
masterpieces.
Common dependent words
Time
Added Detail
Logical Connection
When
how
if
after
who
since
until
what
even though
where
so that
Which
unless
Why
III. Complex Sentence
 In grammar, a complex sentence is a
sentence with one independent clause and
at least one adjective clause.
Complex sentences are often formed by putting these words
at the beginning of the dependent clause: as, as if, before,
after, because, though, even though, while, when,
whenever, if, during, as soon as, as long as, since, until,
unless, where, and wherever.
Complex
 "I enjoyed the apple pie that you bought for
me." Here, "I enjoyed the apple pie" is an
independent clause and "that you bought for
me" is a relative clause.
Complex
 A. This is the place where I would like to live after




retirement.
B. The book that Judy read is on the shelf.
C. The house which Abraham Lincoln was born in
is still standing.
D. Those people who were awake heard a sound
like a thunder coming from distance.
E. The person whom I met at the party is my old
friend.
More examples
 Nancy was thrilled to receive the shoes that she
ordered through the internet.
 Simple sentence: I intend to work in my garden
this afternoon.
Complex sentence: If the weather stays fine, I
intend to work in my garden this afternoon.
IV. Compound-complex sentence
 A compound-complex sentence is made
from two independent clauses and one or
more dependent clauses.
Compound-complex
 The dog that you gave me barked at me,
and it bit my hand.
Here a compound-complex sentence has two
independent clauses ("The dog barked at
me" and "It bit my hand") and one
dependent clause ["that you gave me"].
Compound and complex sentence
 Although I like to go camping, I haven't had the time to go
lately, and I haven't found anyone to go with.
- independent clause: "I haven't had the time to go lately"
- independent clause: "I haven't found anyone to go with"
- dependent clause: "Although I like to go camping... "
Compound and complex sentence
 We decided that the movie was too violent, but our
children, who like to watch scary movies, thought that we
were wrong.
- independent clause: "We decided that the movie was too
violent"
- independent clause: "(but) our children thought that we were
wrong"
- dependent clause: who like to watch scary movies
More examples
 1. Karen made a list of what was needed, and she double



checked it so she wouldn’t forget anything.
After Judy arrived to the house, she put the disc in the DVD
player and we watched a great movie.
While Sally washed the dishes, John swept the floor, and
James wiped the counter.
John, who briefly visited us last month, won the prize, and
he was very proud of his achievement.
Even though Tom prefers to eat with a fork he tried to use
chopsticks in a Chinese restaurant, and it was an easy
thing to do for him at the beginning.
More examples
 The dog that you gave me barked at me,
and it bit my hand.
 Saba could not read the time on her watch
because it had stopped, and she was
worried.
Compound vs complex
 A complex sentence is a sentence
consisting of an independent clause and a
subordinating clause. Or, to put it more
simply, complex sentences involve more
than just a straightforward noun + verb.
Complex sentences include extra phrases
added to a base sentence, but which cannot
stand alone as a sentence.
Note
 Compound-complex sentences are very common
in English, but one mistake that students often
make is to try to write them without having
mastered the simple sentences, compound
sentences and complex sentences first.
Practice - Which is which?
Lee,
If I remember it right, you told me once that when you were teaching English to
a ZuoJiaBan (class of writers) in Beijing, Mo Yan was one of your students,
speaking with a strong Shang Dong accent. He's the Nobel Prize Winner for
Literature this year (2012).
Speaking of Nobel Prize, Roger Tsien, an American Chinese scientist, won
Chemistry award several years ago, and his brother works in another team
under my boss. We're not that far away from Nobel Prize either :)
Jing
Practise: point out which sentence is a simple sentence, and which are
compound, complex and compound-complex sentences
Conclusion
 Remember that with the skill to write good
simple, compound, and complex sentences,
you will have the flexibility to (1) convey your
ideas precisely and (2) entertain with
sentence variety at the same time.
Read more

http://eslbee.com/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi?simplecompoundorcomplex

http://www.learnamericanenglishonline.com/Orange%20Level/O5%20CompoundComplex%20Sentences.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Differences_between_compound_and_complex_sentences_in
_English_language_with_example#ixzz2928DfNZ9