Communication

When we talk about ‘sentence structure,’ we discuss what the sentence consists of. For example, you already know that you will always find a subject (who or what does something) and a verb (the action they do) in the sentence. You must have seen before Sbj+V symbols to describe the basic sentence structure. In the sentence “I love ice cream,” you will say that “I” is a subject and “love” is a verb that the subject performs. In this case, we say that “ice cream” would be an object (something or someone to whom the action is addressed). When a subject and a verb meet together, they form a clause. Clauses are the building blocks of sentences. There are two different types of clauses – dependent and independent. 

In a nutshell, clauses are parts of a sentence containing a verb. An independent clause can stand by itself as a complete sentence. It expresses a complete thought or idea and includes a subject and a verb. Dependent clauses (sometimes they are called “subordinate”), on the other hand, are not complete sentences and cannot stand by themselves. They do not express a complete idea. To become complete, they must be attached to an independent clause. Dependent clauses are also known as subordinate clauses. An excellent way to illustrate the difference between the two is by providing an example that contains both. For example: 

Even though I am tired, I am going to work tonight. 

As the first part of the sentence doesn’t work as a sentence on its own, it is a dependent clause. The second part of the sentence could be a sentence on its own; therefore, it is an independent clause. Consider the sentences below and identify dependent and independent clauses:

1. 1. The son went to play, so the father started working.
   2. He lost his money, but he did not lose his patience.
   3. Roses are beautiful flowers even though they have thorns.
   4. We stopped by the roadside because we were hungry and wanted to have a bite.
   5. The sun rose, and the sky got cleared.
   6. She wrote a best-selling novel when she divorced her husband.
   7. The students solve the questions quickly.
   8. He is not harmful if you don’t try to wake him up.
   9. I am sure that you will learn these sentences.
   10. Nobody goes where demons live.

Now, when we’ve got clauses out of the way, we’re ready to take a look at each type of sentence in turn. There are three most common types of sentences that you should know: simple, compound, and complex. 

Simple Sentences

Simple sentences are the easiest type of sentence to grasp and construct. The subject of the sentence will be the noun that begins the sentence. It may be a person, place, or thing, but, most importantly, it is the doer of the action in the sentence. The activity is expressed with a verb, which is the action word that describes what the doer does. The object of the sentence follows the verb and refers to something that receives the action. Take a look at the simple sentence below:

Tom ate many cookies. 

In this easy example, the doer of the action is Tom, the action is ate, and the receiver of the action is the many cookies. Therefore, Subject (Tom) + Verb = (ate) + Object (many cookies). Notice that there are some variations of a simple sentence with two subjects or two verbs, but NOT two Sbj+V structures!

Compound Sentences

While simple sentences consist of one clause with a subject and a verb, compound sentences combine at least two independent clauses that are joined together. We use FANBOYS and coordinating adverbs to connect them. In compound sentences, you will always see a comma between two independent clauses (notice three possible ways of combining two simple sentences into a compound):

Tom ate many cookies, but he could sleep just fine.

Tom ate many cookies; however, he could sleep just fine.

Tom ate many cookies; this didn’t affect his sleep.

Complex Sentences

 A complex sentence is a sentence that contains an independent clause (Sbj+V) and one or more dependent clauses (subordinator+Sbj+V). An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, but a dependent clause, even though it has a subject and a verb, cannot stand alone because it sounds like an unfinished thought. Complex sentences have particular words, such as the word when, which are called subordinators. When you see a subordinator in a sentence, know that this sentence is complex. Some of the most common subordinators are:

Remember that the clause that has a subordinator will be dependent. It is essential to know which clause is which to write coherent sentences. The general punctuation rule for complex sentences is the following: no comma is required if an independent clause stands first. If the sentence begins with a subordinator (the word from the list above), you need a comma to separate the two clauses.