TYPES OF SENTENCES

MEANING

A sentence is nothing but a set of words that contain a subject and a predicate.

In simple words, SENTENCE= SUBJECT+PREDICATE

The subject speaks about the sentence and the topic of the sentence; whereas, the predicate says what is said about the subject.

Now that we know what a sentence is and its requirements for the formation of it, let’s look in more detail at the four types of sentence structures.

There are four types of sentence structure in total which are Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound complex.

TYPES OF SENTENCES

SIMPLE SENTENCE STRUCTURE

A simple sentence will consist of one independent clause. An Independent clause is nothing but contains a subject and a verb. It expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence will give you a clear message, there will be no question nor an exclamation nor will it be a command. It will simply just be a normal sentence. 

For eg:

1. I like tea.
2. Catherine likes coffee.
3. The planets revolve around the sun.
4. George did not go to the doctor.

COMPOUND SENTENCE STRUCTURE

A compound sentence will have two or more independent clauses that will be joined through a conjunction or a semicolon. A sentence could be formed with each of these clauses alone.

For eg:

1. I like tea and John likes coffee.
2. Cynthia went to the doctor but Dan went to the party.

Remember that, there are 7 coordinating conjunctions:

• and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so

COMPLEX SENTENCE STRUCTURE

A complex sentence structure will have an independent clause along with a dependent clause. The dependent clause starts with subordinating conjunction along with a relative pronoun. It also contains a subject and a verb but it does not express a complete thought or a message.

For eg:

1. We missed our train because we arrived late.
2. He panicked after he got a message.  
3. Do you know the woman who is meeting John?

Some of the common subordinating conjunctions are:

• after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while

5 basic relative pronouns are:

• That, which, who, whom, whose 

COMPOUND COMPLEX SENTENCE

A compound-complex sentence will consist of at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. 

For eg:

1. Henry didn’t eat because he was busy so Oscar was not happy.
2. He panicked after he received a message but got normal 5 minutes later.

Note that a dependent clause is also called a subordinate clause.

Now that we know the types of sentence structures, don’t forget to practice them all and get a hold of sentence structures.

Quiz | Types of Sentences