THE COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCE

✔ The English sentence consist of words combined into phrases or

clauses.

BASIC SENTENCE

A basic sentence consists of a subject and a predicator. The subject

position is usually occupied by a nooun phrase or pronoun, and the

predicator position is always occupied by a verb phrase.

Example: The boy was happy.

Little girls love dolls.

The basic sentence can contain a noun phrase called the object, which

follows the predicator:

Example: The boy ate the sweets.

Little girls love dolls.

The basic sentence can also contain an adjunct which consists of adverb

or adverbials.

Example: the boy ate the sweets greedily.

Little girls love dolls passionately.

The adjunct can occur in different position in the basic sentence:

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 Example: in 1995 the President opened the new building with much

pleasure.

CLAUSES

When basic sentences are combined to form longer sentences, the parts

can be joined by a co-ordinating conjuntion:

Example: I saw my father but he did not see me.

MAIN CLAUSE

In a longer sentence the basic sentence is called a main (or principal)

clause. Main clauses can stand alone as sentences. They can also be

combined to form compound sentences.

PHRASE

Basic sentence can be combined by making one a main clause and the

other a phrase:

Example: My father was tired. He feel a sleep.

✔ Compound complex sentence combines elements of compound and

complex sentence.

 Understanding Clauses

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 A clause is comprised of at least one subject and one verb. There are

two types of clauses: The independent clause and the dependent

clause.

♦ Independent Clause

An independent clause make a statement or asks a question that

can act as a complete sentence. Independent clause can be call

main clause.

Example: The dog barks.

♦ Dependent Clause

A dependent clause or subordinate clause cannot act as a

complete sentence. It usually begins with a subordinating word,

such as when, because, if, whoever, etc.

Example: When the dog barks.

 Identifying Compound and Complex Sentence

• The Compound Sentence

A compund sentence is made up of two or more independent

clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, or, but,

yet, so, etc) or by semicolon alone.

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 A compound sentence is composed of at least two independent

clauses. It does not require a dependent clause. The clauses are

joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, or, but, yet, so,

etc) (with or without a comma), a correlative conjunction (with or

without a comma), or a semicolon that functions as a conjunction.

A conjunction can be used to make a compound sentence. The use

of a comma to separate two independent clauses is called a

comma splice and is generally considered an error (when used in

the English language .A sentence may be one of four kinds,

depending upon the number and type(s) of clauses it contains.

Example : The new art show opened today and the crowd was

immense.

The new art show opened today ; the crowd was

immense.

• The complex sentence

A complex sentence combines a dependent clause with an

independent clause . When the dependent clause is placed before

the independent clause, the two clauses are divided by comma

otherwise no punctuation is necessary.

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 Example:

When the new art show opened at the museum, the crowd

was immense.

The crowd was immense when the new art show at the

museum opened.

 Constructing Compound-Complex Sentences

A compound-complex sentence is comprised of at least two independent

clauses and one or mor dependent clauses.

Example: Though michell prefers watching romantic films, he rented

the latest spy thriller, and he enjoyed it very much.

Laura forgot her friend’s birthday, so she rent her a card when

she finally remembered.

EXERCISE
1. Pauline and Bruno have a big argument every summer over where they should spend their
summer vacation.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
2. Pauline loves to go to the beach and spend her days sunbathing.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

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 C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
3. Bruno, on the other hand, likes the view that he gets from the log cabin up in the
mountains, and he enjoys hiking in the forest.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
4. Pauline says there is nothing relaxing about chopping wood, swatting mosquitoes, and
cooking over a woodstove.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
5. Bruno dislikes sitting on the beach; he always gets a nasty sunburn.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
6. Bruno tends to get bored sitting on the beach, watching the waves, getting sand in his
swimsuit, and reading detective novels for a week.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence

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7. This year, after a lengthy, noisy debate, they decided to take separate vacations.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
8. Bruno went to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and Pauline went to Cape Cod.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
9. Although they are 250 miles apart, they keep in constant contact on the internet.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence
10. Bruno took the desktop computer that he uses at work, and Pauline sits on the beach
with her laptop computer, which she connects to the internet with a cellular phone.

A. Simple Sentence

B. Compound Sentence

C. Complex Sentence

D. Compound-Complex Sentence

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gatherer. The Student’s Handbook of Modern English. Edinburgh: Holmes

McDougall. 1985.

http://abd-majid.blogspot.com/2010/01/.html

http://study.ln.edu.hk/eportfolio/artefact/file/download.php?

file=2809&view=90