Simple, Complex and Compound sentences

Session 1

Simple, Complex and

Compound sentences

LO – Use simple, complex and compound sentences in my writing and

evaluate why and how they are effective.

The bottom line…

• Experienced writers use a variety of

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.

Simple Sentences are…SIMPLE!

You all use simple sentences in your writing. For example ‘The sand was golden.’ Or ‘The sun was hot.’

If you only use simple sentences your reader will

not be very

interested

Compound Sentences are…A little less simple.

When you have two or more short, independent, simple sentences which are of equal weight you can join them together using CONJUNCTIONS.

For example:

The sea was rough.

The sun was shining.

These are both boring simple sentences. You can put these together to make one longer, more interesting compound sentence using a conjunction.

For example: The sea was rough but the sun was shining.

The most common conjunctions are: and, as, but, or, so

Remember: JUNCTIONS join roads together, so

CONJUNCTIONS join sentences together!

Simple Sentences – Contain a subject and a

verb.

The sun shines brightly.

The children play football on the beach.

Compound Sentences – Contain a subject, a

verb and a conjunction.

The sun was shining, so the people got burnt.

The seagulls sang as the sea came in.

So far we have learnt….

Another note: Try not to use the same conjunction over and

over again. Vary them to make it more interesting!

Complex sentences are…

The hardest of all! So listen carefully…

The Small Print…

When you make a compound sentence you are joining two or more simple sentences together with a conjunction. If you took the conjunction away, the sentences would be complete and they would still make sense.

This isn't the same for complex sentences. Complex sentences don't just divide into neat, complete, simple sentences if you take out the conjunctions. In complex sentences the conjunction is used to join together clauses. A clause is a group of words that contains a subjectand a verb. Some of these clauses might be complete short sentences, but in a complex sentence at least one of them will depend on the conjunction for its meaning.

In other words, if you take the conjunction away, the sentence won't divide into complete units that make sense by themselves!

Thailand flourishes in March, although it

rains in August.

Thailand flourishes in March – Main clause (complete, short sentence)

Although – Conjunction

It rains in August – Subordinate clause (Called this because it doesn’t

really make sense on its own!)

While the breeze blew, people flew colourful

kites.

While – Conjunction (Yes, they can be at the beginning of sentences

too!)

The breeze blew – Subordinate clause

People flew colourful kites – Main clause (complete, short sentence)

Notice that only 1 of the 2 clauses in these sentences makes sense on its own!

I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak French.

When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.

Some students like to study in the mornings.

Alicia goes to the library to study everyday.

Mark played football, so Maria went shopping.

Kelly and Beth went to the movies after they finished studying

COMPOUND

COMPLEX

SIMPLE

SIMPLE

COMPOUND

COMPLEX

Write a variety of these sentence types in

one of your writing tasks and label which

type each sentence is.

Task

Session 2

The subjunctive form.

The what?

The subjunctive form sounds scarier than it

actually is.

The subjunctive form is mostly used in

formal language

(if you were the queen for example).

It can be used to give advice of talk about

unreal situations.

Advice Unreal situations

• Advise

• Ask

• Command

• Demand

• Insist

• Propose

• Recommend

• Request

• Desire

• Wish

• Hope

• Dream

To advise

Noun/Pronou

n

Verb

(can change

for tense etc)

That Noun/Pronoun Infinitive verb

(must always be in root

form for the subjunctive

to be grammatically

correct)

I propose that dad listen

She demanded that he be

We command that she write

Sarah insist that John have

Mr Jones ask that the school team attend

• Advise

• Ask

• Command

• Demand

• Insist

• Propose

• Recommend

• Request

Unreal situations

If Noun/pronoun were situation

If I were rich

If I were famous

If he were to attend they party

If they were going to book the holiday

• Desire

• Wish

• Hope

• Dream

Which is written in the subjunctive?

• If I were chosen, I would do my best.

Or

• If you choose me, I would do my best.


• If I were chosen, I would do my best.

Or

• If you choose me, I would do my best.


• We ask that the match be postponed due to the rain.

Or

• We have asked for the match to be postponed due to the rain.


• We ask that the match be postponed due to the rain.

Or

• We have asked for the match to be postponed due to the rain.


• Honesty is part of our school rules.

Or

• Our school rules require that all children be honest.


• Honesty is part of our school rules.

Or

• Our school rules require that all children be honest.


• It is essential that the game begin at once.

Or

• The game needs to start now.


• It is essential that the game begin at once.

Or

• The game needs to start now.


• Please can Matthew come home at lunchtime?

Or

• I request that Matthew be allowed to come home.


• Please can Matthew come home at lunchtime?

Or

• I request that Matthew be allowed to come home.

TASKS: WRITE 5 SENTENCES IN THE

SUBJUNCTIVE FORM

THEN CREATE A LEAFLET OR HOW TO

GUIDE TO EXPLAIN TO ANOTHER CHILD IN

YEAR 6 WHAT THE SUBJUNCTIVE IS AND

HOW TO USE IT.

Session 3

Change these conversations

into direct speech using all

speech punctuation correctly

• Jack’s mum: Beans? What are we going to do with

those?

• Jack: They are magic beans mum.

• Jack’s mum: Sure they are. I can’t believe you have sold

our only chance of money for some silly beans!

• Jack: But mum, the man said…

• Jack’s mum: I don’t care what the man said Jack. That’s

it. They’ve gone!

• Jack: Gone? Gone where?

• Jack’s mum: I threw them out of the window.

Documents

Simple, Complex and Compound sentences