Sentence Structure: Sentence Types

Sentence Structure:Sentence Types

A Sentence...

• MUST have a subject and a verb (predicate)

• MUST have a complete thoughtAlso...• Begins with a capital letter• Ends with punctuation

Sentence Types

• Simple• Compound• Complex• Compound-Complex

Basic Elements of Every Sentence

SUBJECT PREDICATE

Basic Elements

Mary plays tennis.

SUBJECT PREDICATE

Simple Sentence

Types of Sentence StructureSimple sentence = ONE independent clauseMay have a compound subject or compound verb, but still only one main clause and no dependent clauses; may have phrases included, but still only one independent, main clause Examples:Brian ran down the field.(1 subject and 1 verb) Hope and Kelsie talked and laughed all night.(compound subject and compound verb) 

Simple Sentence

We went to San Juan yesterday.

Observe how a simple sentence is constructed:

Simple Sentence

We went to San Juan .

Pronoun Verb

Simple subject Complete predicate

Prepositional phrase

SIMPLE SENTENCE

Mary plays tennis.

SUBJECT PREDICATE

one subject one predicate

Simple Sentence

play tennis.Tom and Mary

Compound Subject

&

Simple Sentence

play tennis and swim.Tom and Mary

Compound Subject Compound Predicate

& &

SIMPLE SENTENCEwith compound subject

Tom and Mary play tennis.

SIMPLE SENTENCEwith compound subject

andcompound predicate

Tom and Mary play tennis and swim.

Compound Sentence

Types of Sentence StructureCompound Sentence - = A compound sentence has 2 or more parts that can stand alone (independent clauses)

Can be joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS), CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS or by a semicolon Examples:Hannah likes to read, but she likes to watch movies, too. Hunter wants to play baseball, or he might go out for golf, but he will always play football. Ryan plays the trumpet well; he practices every day of the week.    

Compound Sentence

We went to San Juan, and

most of us danced all night.

Compound Sentence

We went to San Juan,

and most of us danced all night .

Subject Verb

CoordinatingConjunction

Predicate

Verb

Prepositional phrase

Modifying phraseSubject

Compound Sentence

Use of Coordinating Conjunctions

SUBJECT PREDICATE

SUBJECT PREDICATE

and

Compound SentenceTom swims,

Mary plays tennis.

and

COMPOUND SENTENCE:COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

FORANDNORBUTORYETSO

Tom swims, and Mary plays tennis.

Clause 1 Clause 2

Independent Independent

COMPOUND SENTENCE:COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

Tom swims, and Mary plays tennis.

Comma before “and” in compound

sentences!

COMPOUND SENTENCE:COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

COMPOUND SENTENCE:CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS

MOREOVERHOWEVEROTHERWISETHEREFORE

Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.

Clause 1 Clause 2

Independent Independent

COMPOUND SENTENCE:CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS

Note: Semicolon before conjunctiveadverb and comma

after conjunctive adverb!

Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.

COMPOUND SENTENCE:CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS

Conjunctive Adverbs “float”

• Conjunctive adverbs are sometimes called “floating” adverbs because they can be positioned at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a clause.

CONJUNCTIVE ADVERB:AT THE BEGINNING, IN THE MIDDLE,AT THE END

Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.Bob is handsome; he is, moreover, rich. Bob is handsome; he is rich, moreover.

Semicolons

• “If the relation between the ideas expressed in the main clauses is very close and obvious without a conjunction, you can separate the clauses with a semicolon” (Little, Brown Handbook, 9th Edition, p. 361).

COMPOUND SENTENCE:SEMICOLON

Tom has benefited from his exercise program; he is slim and energetic.

Sentence Structure Practice:Identify these sentences as Simple or Compound.

 1. You and I need piano lessons.2. I planned to go to the hockey game, but I couldn’t get tickets.3. Bridget ran the first part of the race, and Tara biked the second part.4. The bell rang.5. Dorothy likes white water rafting, but she also enjoys kayaking.6. The skier turned and jumped.7. Ella hoped to win the contest and get a prize.8. Jonathan saw the opportunity, and he drew back the bow.9. Jack and Dustin scored well on the test in their math classes.10. Kelly bought some new shoes, and she wore them to a party.11. My horse loves to run and buck in the sunshine.12. Kevin wanted to stay home, so Sandy went shopping.13. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.14. John and Mark played football and baseball in high school.15. Kim decided she did want to go on the trip, yet she still had to raise the money

to go.

Answers 1. Simple2. Compound3. Compound4. Simple5. Compound 6. Simple 7. Simple8. Compound9. Simple10. Compound11. Simple12. Compound13. Simple14. Simple15. Compound

THE END…FOR NOW…

Complex Sentence

Complex Sentence = 1 independent clause and 1 or more dependent clauses 

• A complex sentence has at least two parts: one that can stand alone and another one that cannot

• The part that cannot stand alone is linked to the rest of the sentence by a subordinating conjunction

Complex Sentence

• Examples:• When it started to snow, the children

all cheered. • I will grade all of the tests after I

finish my lunch.

• Before he started playing in the band, Josh wondered what he would do with all of his spare time.

Complex Sentence

Since my boyfriend and I wanted to have

fun, we went to San Juan yesterday.

Complex Sentence

Since we wanted to have fun,

we went to San Juan yesterday.

PredicateSubject

SubordinatingConjunction

Part that cannot stand alone

Complex Sentence

SUBJECT PREDICATE

SUBJECT PREDICATE

even though

Complex Sentence

Bob is popular

he is ugly.

even though

COMPLEX SENTENCE:SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

The most common subordinating conjunctions are "after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how,"

"if," "once," "since," "than," "that," though," "till," "until,"

"when," "where," "whether,” and while."

Bob is popular even though he is ugly.

Clause 1 Clause 2Independent Dependent

COMPLEX SENTENCE:SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

Even though Bob is ugly, he is popular.

Clause 1 Clause 2

Dependent Independent

COMPLEX SENTENCE:SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

Compound-Complex Sentence

Compound-Complex Sentences = at least 2 independent clauses (compound) and at least 1 dependent clause (complex)

Examples:• When I realized I was wrong, I

apologized, but I still felt bad about it.

• Katie wanted a new puppy, and she asked her mom after she had cleaned her room thoroughly.

• This type of sentence has more than one part that can stand alone, and at least one that cannot.

• Conjunctions link the different parts of this sentence.

Compound-Complex Sentence

Compound-Complex Sentence

Since we wanted to have fun,my boyfriend and I went to San Juan yesterday,and we danced all night.

Since we wanted to have fun,

my boyfriend and I went to San Juan,

and we danced all night.

Subject Predicate

SubordinatingConjunction

CoordinatingConjunction

Part that cannot stand alone

Compound-Complex Sentence

Compound-Complex Sentence

Mike is popular

he is good looking,

because

he is not very happy.

but

1. Michael always dresses nicely for school because he likes to be neat.2. He stands at the bottom of the cliff while the climber moves up the

rock.3. Since he studied hard, Nate passed the test, and he graduated with

honors.4. Because Kayla has so much climbing experience, we asked her to lead

our group.5. I must stay home until the man comes to repair the washing machine.6. There are many problems to solve before this program can be used,

but engineers believe that they will be able to solve them soon.7. I wrote Jane a letter while she was away at camp.8. When the rain began, we were playing tennis.9. When Tyler looks out his window, he sees the beautiful day waiting,

and he longs to be outside playing.10. In the late afternoon sunshine, Paige looked beautiful on her horse.

Sentence Structure Practice:Identify these sentences as Complex (CX) or Compound-Complex

(CD-CX).

Answers1. Complex2. Complex3. Compound-complex4. Complex5. Complex6. Compound-complex7. Complex8. Complex9. Compound-complex10.Complex

The Four Sentence Structures

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

INDEPENDENT CLAUSES

DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Simple 1 0

Compound 2 or more 0

Complex 1 1 or more

Compound-Complex 2 or more 1 or more

The End