Complex Sentences

How do you vary sentence structure?

You will want to use a variety of sentence structures in your writing. There are three types of sentences.

1. Simple Sentence

2. Compound Sentence

3. Complex Sentence

Independent and Dependent Clauses A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a

verb. There are two kinds of clauses in English:

1. An independent Clause has a subject-verb pair and expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a sentence. It is another name for a simple sentence: John walked down the dusty road. Paris has excellent art museums. We finished our homework.

Independent and Dependent Clauses2. A dependent Clause it cannot be a sentence because it does not express a complete thought. It can NOT stand alone as a sentence. It MUST be joined to an independent clause.

It begins with a subordinating word, such as since, after, when, while, as soon as, although, before, because, until, whenever, etc.

While we were watching the film As soon as Ahmed arrived After she finished her homework Because it was cold and rainy

after

as soon as

before

since until

when whenever

while

I will go straight to bed after I finish writing this paragraph.She felt better as soon as she took the medicine.Wait for a green light before you cross a street.It has been a year since I left home.We can't leave the room until everyone finishes the test.Where were you when I called?Whenever I don't sleep well, I feel sick the next day.My neighbors were having a party while I was trying to sleep.

Time Subordinators

because

since

As

Jack excels at sports because he trains hard.

Since she works out daily, Jill is in great condition.As they want to compete in a marathon, they run every day.

Reason Subordinators

Place Subordinators where

wherever

I can never remember where I put my house keys.

A baby animal follows its mother wherever she goes.

Activity 1: Decide if the following is independent or dependent clause:

3. The exercise wakes up my body and clears my mind

4. It's hard to do this in the winter

5. When I go to work

6. It is still dark

7. After I get home from work

8. It is dark again9. I can always take a walk on weekends, even in the winter

10. When it is raining, of course

11. I never go out

12. On rainy days, as soon as the alarm clock rings

13. I turn over and go back to sleep

John cannot focus on his study

because there is so much noise outside.

Complex Sentences

A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and one (or more) dependent clause.

Independent Clause

Dependent ClauseSubordinating Conjunction

She will go to college in the city

after she finds a job.

Independent Clause

Dependent ClauseSubordinating Conjunction

Complex Sentences

When I first moved to the city,

I was afraid to drive in the crowded narrow streets.

When the dependent clause comes first, use a comma.

Subordinating Conjunction

Independent Clause

Complex Sentences

1. Because it was raining, the game was called off.

2. When I feel sick, I do not go to school.

3. Mark is not going since I never invited him.

4. If you want a pizza, you need to order it now.

5. The students worked on the test problems until the teacher told them to stop.

6. As soon as the teacher told them to stop writing they put down their pencils.

7. Since noise can change the heart rate and increase blood pressure, it is harmful to the body.

Activity 2: Identify the dependent clause in each COMPLEX sentence.

1. Jim ran all the way to school. Jim was late this morning.

2. We won’t be able to play. The crowd stops shouting.

3. The men always have to wait in a line. The line is long.

4. I think about my third grade teacher. I have a warm feeling inside.

5. The milk spoiled. It was two weeks old.6. He was upset about his toy. It was broken.

Activity 3: Join the following sentences to form complex sentences:

7. The play started. We were not allowed to talk.8. Loud noise is especially harmful. It damages the ear drums.9. He handed in his homework. He forgot to hand the teacher the last page.10. The teacher returned the homework. She noticed the error.11. They finished studying. Jack and Maria went to the movies.12. The students were silent. The teacher handed out the test.

[because – after – as – when – since – once – whenever] 1. __________________________, you can go to the movies on Saturday.2. We talked on the phone for hours______________ 3. We had a hard time finding our way home_______ __________________________________________.4. _____________________________, I asked my teacher to check it for mistakes. 5. ________________________________, we had to be home before midnight.6. The police searched every house ________________________________________________________.

Activity 4: Write a dependent clause that turns the simple sentence into a complex sentence:

Write three complex sentences using time and reason subordinators

I’m Sorry!

These sentence do not read as smoothly. These sentences contain no sentence variety.

Simple Sentences

I love living in the city. I have a wonderful view of the entire city. I have an apartment. I can see the Golden Gate Bridge. I can see many cargo ships pass under the bridge each day. I like the restaurants in San Francisco. I can find wonderful food from just about every country. I don’t like the traffic in the city.

Correct!Excellent! This sentence reads more smoothlybecause it has more sentence structure variety.

I love living in the city of San Francisco. I have a wonderful view of the entire city from my apartment window. In addition, I can see the Golden Gate Bridge under which many cargo ships pass each day. I also like San Francisco because I can find wonderful restaurants with food from just about every country; however, I don’t like the traffic in the city.

Simple Sentences

Compound/Complex Sentence

Complex Sentence

The music star was young. He was dressed in a red shirt and blue jeans. Everyone looked at him. He knew they were looking at him. He smiled shyly. He grasped the microphone. He sang two songs. He wrote these songs himself. His fans were delighted. They greeted him with cheers and screams.

1- Rewrite the following paragraph by joining simple sentences into complex and compound ones:

Everyone looked at the young music star who was dressed in a red shirt and blue jeans. He knew they were looking at him, so he smiled shyly. When he grasped the microphone, he sang two songs. He wrote these songs himself. His fans were delighted, so they greeted him with cheers and screams.

Complex Sentence

Compound sentenceCompound

sentence

It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was high. The trees waved and crashed against the caravan. I looked around me. I 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. He reached back. He stabbed with it.  I jumped out of the way.  I ran away.