Sentences : simple, compound, complex (1960)

John Anderson won the race. Our team is ahead. We make understandable statements by means of sentences. Let's look at the top sentence and see how the statement is made. The words John Anderson are the complete subject. And the words won the race are the complete predicate. We know that a sentence with only one complete subject and one complete predicate is called a simple sentence. It is a direct way of expressing a single idea. In speaking, we indicate the end of each sentence by lowering the voice pitch and pausing. Listen. John Anderson won the race. In writing, we signal the end of a sentence by using a period. A set of ideas can be expressed by using several simple sentences. The people watched from the sidewalk. They waited in suspense. The man rescued the frightened cat. These three simple sentences describe a set of related ideas. When simple sentences are related, they can be combined into a different kind of sentence. To see how, let's go back to the two sentences about the race. John Anderson won the race. Our team is ahead. Now, listen to this sentence. John Anderson won the race and our team is ahead. The two simple sentences we heard earlier have been combined into a single sentence by making use of the coordinating conjunction and. In speaking this sentence, there is a slight pause and change in voice pitch just before and. Listen. John Anderson won the race and our team is ahead. In writing, a comma signals this pause and pitch change. The new sentence has two complete subjects and two complete predicates and expresses two complete and related ideas. This type of sentence is called a compound sentence. This compound sentence is made of two clauses, each a group of words containing a subject and a predicate. Because these clauses can stand alone as sentences, they are said to be independent clauses. But together with the coordinating conjunction and, which connects sentence parts of equal grammatical structure, the two clauses form a compound sentence. Let's return to the rescue scene and the three simple sentences we used to describe it. These simple sentences can also be combined into a compound sentence by using coordinating conjunctions. The people watched from the sidewalk and they waited in suspense. But the man rescued the frightened cat. Now, the three simple sentences have become three independent clauses of a compound sentence joined by coordinating conjunctions. Let's try another compound sentence. The diver was an expert and he had won many awards. This compound sentence uses a comma and a coordinating conjunction. But it could also be written correctly without them with a semicolon in their place. The diver was an expert. He had won many awards. The semicolon indicates a brief pause and drop in voice pitch between the two clauses of the sentence. In this form, the sentence is still compound. Let's go back to the race to see a third type of sentence in use. Because John Anderson won the race, our team is ahead. This sentence is quite similar to the compound sentence we heard earlier. But this new sentence is called a complex sentence. Although it is composed of two clauses, both are not independent. The clause our team is ahead could stand alone as a sentence, but the other clause could not. Listen to the way it sounds. Because John Anderson won the race, you see, the thought is not complete. This clause, which is introduced by the subordinating conjunction because, is a subordinate or dependent clause. It depends on the independent clause to complete its meaning. A sentence with one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses is called a complex sentence. Let's look again at the rescue scene, recalling what happened. Here are the sentences that were used to describe the action. These three sentences can be combined. We can make the sentence we want to emphasize most the main clause and make the other two sentences subordinate clauses of a single complex sentence. The three might be put together this way. While the people who watched from the sidewalk waited in suspense, the man rescued the frightened cat. We have made the final clause the main one and the other two the subordinate clauses. In complex sentences, the subordinate clauses function as parts of speech. For example, the subordinate clause while the people waited in suspense functions as an adverb. It modifies the verb rescued. The clause gives a time indication to rescued telling when. The subordinate clause who watched from the sidewalk functions as an adjective. This clause modifies the noun people describing it as an adjective would. We can use a complex sentence to describe this action. When Alice showed her new driver's license, Bill, who had doubted her, knew that she had told the truth. This clause functions as an adverb. It modifies the verb knew. This clause functions as an adjective. It modifies the noun Bill. But what about this clause? It is the object of the verb knew. This clause functions as a noun and so is called a noun clause. A noun clause, like a noun, can be the object of a verb in a sentence. We can use this same noun clause in another way. That she had told the truth was clear. In this sentence, the noun clause that she had told the truth is the subject of the sentence. So you can see that subordinate clauses in complex sentences can function as adverbs, adjectives, or nouns. We have seen examples of the three main types of sentences, simple, compound, and complex. Use of the three types helps add variety and interest to writing. About this diver, we could write the diver was an expert. He had won many awards. He executed the jackknife. It was a perfect dive. These four simple sentences sound somewhat monotonous, but the same ideas can be expressed in more interesting ways, perhaps as two compound sentences. Two of the independent clauses have been joined by a semicolon to make one compound sentence. The other two have been joined by means of a comma and a coordinating conjunction to make a second compound sentence. If we wish, we may use complex sentences. In the first sentence, there is a main clause and a subordinate clause, which is used as an adjective. It is introduced by the subordinating word who. In the second sentence, this is the main clause and this the subordinate adverbial clause. This clause is introduced by the subordinating conjunction when. There is another way we might vary the sentence structure. These two complex sentences could be combined in this way. The diver, who was an expert, had won many awards and when he executed the jackknife, it was a perfect dive. And is a coordinating conjunction, the type used to form compound sentences. This kind of sentence, which is a combination of two sentence types is usually called a compound-complex sentence. We've seen that we can express ourselves in simple sentences which contain one main idea, in compound sentences which contain two or more independent clauses, and in complex sentences which contain one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. We use a variety of simple, compound, and complex sentences to make what we say and write both clearer and more interesting.