The building blocks of a sentence
The easiest way to
understand the various ways that sentences can be written is to construct one
from scratch. The raw material of any sentence is a selection of words and
prefabricated phrases. These can be assembled into a series of simple sentences,
or alternatively into one compound or complex sentence.
Phrase In the morning
Simple sentence It is time for work
Simple sentence George gets out of bed
Simple sentence George gets dressed
Compound sentence In the morning, George
gets out of bed and gets dressed.
Complex sentence In the morning, George
gets out of bed and gets dressed because it is time for work.
Simple sentences are short, clear and easy to understand.
However, to give the language greater interest and dramatic effect, it is
important to use a variety of sentence constructions.
Compound sentences are created by combining ‘free-standing’ clauses using
conjunctions (‘and’ and ‘because’ in the examples above).
Complex sentences are similar, but consist of one main (or
‘independent’) clause and one or more subordinate (or ‘dependent’) clauses. Hence,
in:
We will not go out because
it is raining.
‘because it is raining’ depends on the preceding clause for its
meaning.