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Every sentence in English (except interjections) has a subject and a verb. The subject is
either a noun or a pronoun. The verb is either an action verb or a helping verb.
Basic Sentences
SUBJECT PREDICATE
Noun/Pronoun Verb
Michelle swims.
They are laughing.
We play.
Noun/Pronoun Verb Noun/Pronoun
I am going to the market
Their teacher is holding a book.
Renukha is eating ice cream.
Michelle swims in the pool.
They are laughing in the class.
We play in the field.
We play with Ahmad.
Noun/Pronoun Verb Adjective
Mary is smart
He is quite tall.
Abu and Ali are hardworking.
We read quietly.
Noun/Pronoun Verb Prepositional Phrase
Ahmad studied for the SPM test.
The dog waited for its owner yesterday.
Raju worked for his family.
The cat ran after the rat yesterday.
We came to school last week.
We played in the stadium yesterday.
Noun/Pronoun Verb Adverb
Ali swims daily
We are walking slowly
They are dancing gracefully.
John runs fast.
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He sleeps soundly.
I talk softly
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SIMPLE, COMPOUND
Experienced writers useAND
a COMPLEX
variety ofSENTENCES
sentences to
make their writing interesting and lively. Too many
simple sentences, for example, will sound choppy and
immature while too many long sentences will be
difficult to read and hard to understand.
This page contains definitions of simple, compound,
and complex sentences with many simple examples.
The purpose of these examples is to help the ESL/EFL
learner to identify sentence basics including
identification of sentences in the short quizzes that
follow. After that, it will be possible to analyze more
complex sentences varieties.
SIMPLE SENTENCE
A simple sentence, also called an independent clause,
contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a
complete thought. In the following simple sentences,
subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.
A. Some students like to study in the mornings.
B. John and Ahmad play football every afternoon.
C. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.
FANBOYS.)
Simple Sentence -> ComplexExcept Sentence for very short sentences,
coordinators are always preceded by a comma. In the
Example: Tom is a boy. He is eight years old. He goes to school in Philadelphia.
following compound sentences, subjects are in yellow,
verbs are in green, and the coordinators and the
Complex Sentence: -> Tom is an eight-year old boy who goes to school in Philadelphia.
commas
Here are some that precede
simple rules to remember them aresimple
when combining in sentences
red. into complex sentences:
A. I ••tried
Change to
wordsspeak
if necessarySpanish, and my friend tried to
Don't repeat words
speak English.
• Add words to connect ideas
B. Complex
AlexSentence
played football, so Maria went shopping.
Exercise
C. Combine
Alextheplayed football, for Maria went shopping.
following sentences into complex sentences. Remember that a number of answers may
be correct. Click on the following page to compare your answers following page to compare your
The above three sentences are compound sentences.
answers with two possible paragraphs.
Each sentence
His name is Peter. contains two independent clauses, and
they are player.
joined by a coordinator with a comma
He's a famous professional athlete.
He's a baseball
preceding it. Note how the conscious use of
He has a large house in Miami.
coordinators
The house is beautiful.can change the relationship between the
clauses. Sentences
He often travels around the US. B and C, for example, are identical
except for the coordinators. In sentence B, which
He plays away games in different cities in the US.
He travels by airplane.
action occurred first? Obviously, "Alejandro played
He usually sleeps on the plane.
football"
He stays up latefirst,
after games.and as a consequence, "Maria went
shopping. In sentence C,
He is an excellent pitcher.
Fans love his abilities.
"Maria went shopping" first. In sentence C, "Alejandro
Coaches love his abilities.
answer key-
Here are two possible paragraph answers to this exercise. Compare your answer with these examples.
Remember that there is more than one possible correct answer for each sentence.
COMPLEX SENTENCE
Complex Sentence - Possible Paragraph 1
A complex
Peter is a famous sentence
baseball player. He has
lives in an independent
a beautiful clause
house in Miami. He often joined
flies around the
United States to play away games. Both fans and coaches love his excellent pitching abilities. Every
byweek
one or home
he plays more games dependent
in Glover Stadium which clauses.
is usually sold A
out.complex
Glover Stadium is an old
stadium without enough seats for all the fans. Fans wait in line to buy the tickets which often cost
sentence
more than $60.always has
Even though the a unhappy
fans are subordinator
about ticket prices,such
they loveas
Peter.because,
since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun
Complex Sentence - Possible Paragraph 2
such as that, who, or which. In the following complex
sentences, subjects
Peter is a famous baseball player whoarelives inin yellow,
a beautiful house inverbs arefliesinto different
Miami. He often green,
cities around the United States to play away games. His excellent pitching is loved by both fans and
and theOldsubordinators
coaches. Glover Stadium doesn't have and
enoughtheir commas
seats for the fans who want (when
to come to home
games. Even though they are unhappy about ticket prices, the wait in line and pay more than $60 to
required)
see Peter play. are in red.
COMPLEX SENTENCES
When you make / ADJECTIVE
a compound sentence you are joining twoCLAUSES
or more simple sentences
together with a conjunction and a comma. If you took the conjunction away, the
Finally, sentences containing adjective clauses (or
sentences would be complete and they would still make sense. Look at this example:
marked thesentence:
Compound same Ias
smooth pavement best.
like in the
to ride previous
my bike sentences,
everywhere, but I like to ride onand in
A. These
Theconjunctions
womanare who(m) my inmom
used most often complextalked
sentences:to sells
cosmetics.
after, although, because, before, until, since, when, whenever, while
B. The book that Jonathan read is on the shelf.
C. The house which Abraham Lincoln was born in
What is a clause? A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
is still standing
Sometimes . complete short sentences, but in a complex sentence at least
clauses are
D. one
The
the townaway,
conjunction where I grew
the sentence won'tup
divideisinto
incomplete
the United
of them will depend on the conjunction for its meaning. This means if you take
units that make sense
States.
by themselves. Look at these examples:
Complex sentence: Whenever I have time, I ride on the bike trail in the
park.
Changing sentences
Can you join these sentences with an interesting connective and then change it around
using a different one? Write both sentences in your book.
Examples:
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4. Dad lit the fire.
5. We walked down the road.
Task 2: Use the following words to give more information about someone or something:
Examples:
The girl walked into the classroom.
The girl, who had long red hair, walked swiftly into the classroom.
The girl, whose red hair sparkled as the light caught it, walked slowly and confidently into the
classroom.
The girl walked into the classroom, which by now was filled with children.
The girl, who was now feeling extremely nervous, walked steadily into the classroom, which by now
was filled with people, who were busily getting ready for the start of the day.
The girl walked into the classroom that had been allocated to her on arrival at the school earlier this
morning.
SENTENCE COMBINING
Let's consider an example. Start by looking at this list of eight short (and repetitive) sentences:
Now try combining those sentences into three, two, or even just one clear and coherent sentence: in
the process of combining, omit repetitive words and phrases (such as "She was") but keep all of the
original details.
• Our Latin teacher in high school was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and birdlike. She had
dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.
• When we were in high school, our Latin teacher was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and
birdlike, with dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.
• Our high school Latin teacher was a swarthy, birdlike woman. She was tiny, with dark,
sparkling eyes and graying hair.
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• Our Latin teacher in high school was a birdlike woman, tiny and swarthy, with graying hair
and dark, sparkling eyes.
TASK 1: Combine the following sentences into a single clear sentence using one adjective or adverb.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 1: It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was high. The trees waved and
crashed against the barn. I looked around me and saw that I wasn’t alone. A man stood
behind me. He was tall. He was mean. He had a knife. It was shining in the moonlight. It
was long and slender. He reached back. He stabbed with it. I jumped out of the way. I ran
away.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Use the joining words to match the beginning and end of the sentence together. Write the sentences
into your books. You can only use each word once. Remember that there is a capital letter at the
beginning and a full stop at the end.
Joining Sentences
10
7. The whole class was in big trouble because
Answer key:
TASK 1
TASK 2
1. It was a dark and stormy night and the wind was high. The trees waved and crashed against
the barn. I looked and around me and saw that I wasn’t alone. A tall and mean man, who had a
knife stood behind me. The knife, which was shining in the moonlight, was long and slender. He
reached back and stabbed with it. I jumped out of the way and I ran away.
2. Tom prefers baseball because it seems more interesting to him. He thinks baseball is a
gentleman’s sport and more structured than basketball. Since baseball requires athletes to use
more skill than aggression when playing, he respects baseball players the most because of this.
Example:
2. Aim: Use the following words to give more information about someone or something:
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Example:
The girl walked into the classroom.
The girl, who had long red hair, walked swiftly into the classroom.
The girl, whose red hair sparkled as the light caught it, walked slowly and confidently into the
classroom.
The girl walked into the classroom, which by now was filled with children.
The girl, who was now feeling extremely nervous, walked steadily into the classroom, which by now
was filled with people, who were busily getting ready for the start of the day.
The girl walked into the classroom that had been allocated to her on arrival at the school earlier this
morning.
Aim: Use the following words to give more information about someone or something:
Example:
The girl walked into the classroom.
As the girl, with flaming red hair and freckles on her nose, walked into the classroom, all heads turned
to stare at her.
The girl, who was feeling very nervous by now, walked into the classroom, although she really felt
like bolting out of the door.
Since this was her first day at her new school, the girl thrust back her shoulders confidently and
walked into the classroom, which by now was packed with children.
Example:
The girl walked into the classroom.
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As the girl, with flaming red hair and freckles on her nose, walked into the classroom, all heads turned
to stare at her.
SENTENCE COMBINING
A.
This exercise will introduce you to sentence combining--that is, organizing sets of short, choppy
sentences into longer, more effective ones. However, the goal of sentence combining is not to produce
longer sentences but rather to develop more effective sentences--and to help you become a more
versatile writer.
Sentence combining calls on you to experiment with different methods of putting words together.
Because there are countless ways to build sentences, your goal is not to find the one "correct"
combination but to consider different arrangements before you decide which one is the most effective.
Let's consider an example. Start by looking at this list of eight short (and repetitive) sentences:
Now try combining those sentences into three, two, or even just one clear and coherent sentence: in
the process of combining, omit repetitive words and phrases (such as "She was") but keep all of the
original details.
Have you succeeded in combining the sentences? If so, compare your work with these sample
combinations:
• Our Latin teacher in high school was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and birdlike. She had
dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.
• When we were in high school, our Latin teacher was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and
birdlike, with dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.
• Our high school Latin teacher was a swarthy, birdlike woman. She was tiny, with dark,
sparkling eyes and graying hair.
• Our Latin teacher in high school was a birdlike woman, tiny and swarthy, with graying hair
and dark, sparkling eyes.
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B.
• Combine the sentences in each set into a single clear sentence containing at least one
adjective or adverb (or both). Omit words that are needlessly repeated, but don't leave out any
important details.
After you have completed the exercise, compare your new sentences with the original sentences at the
bottom of this page. Keep in mind that many combinations are possible, and in some cases you may
prefer your own sentences to the original versions.
SAMPLE COMBINATIONS:
C.
Combine the sentences in each set into a single clear sentence containing at least one prepositional
phrase. Omit words that are needlessly repeated, but don't leave out any important details. After you
have completed the exercise, compare your new sentences with the original sentences at the bottom of
this page. Keep in mind that many combinations are possible, and in some cases you may prefer your
own sentences to the original versions.
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1. A mouse darted.
It darted across the salad bar.
This happened during the luncheon.
6. Lucy played.
She was behind the sofa.
She was with her friend.
Her friend was imaginary.
They played for hours.
SAMPLE COMBINATIONS:
Improving Sentences
These sentences are really boring and need to be made more interesting!
Think about all the ways we have been learning to improve our sentences in class:
Joining Sentences
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Use the joining words to match the beginning and end of the sentence together. Write
the sentences into your books. You can only use each word once. Remember that there
is a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end.
Joining Sentences
17