Sentence Types
Sentences: Simple, Compound, and Complex
Experienced writers use a variety of sentences to make their writing interesting and lively.
Too many simple sentences, for example, will sound choppy and immature while too many
long sentences will be difficult to read and hard to understand.
This page contains definitions of simple, compound, and complex sentences with many
simple examples. The purpose of these examples is to help the ESL/EFL learner to identify
sentence basics including identification of sentences in the short quizzes that follow. After
that, it will be possible to analyze more complex sentence varieties.
Simple Sentence
A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a verb, and it
expresses a complete thought. In the following simple sentences, subjects are in yellow, and
verbs are in green.
1. Some students like to study in the mornings.
2. Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.
3. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.
The three examples above are all simple sentences. Note that sentence 2 contains a
compound subject, and sentence 3 contains a compound verb. Simple sentences, therefore,
contain a subject and verb and express a complete thought, but they can also contain
compound subjects or verbs.
Compound Sentence
1. A compound sentence contains two independent
clauses joined by a coordinator. The coordinators are
as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (Helpful
hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators
spells FANBOYS.) Except for very short sentences,
coordinators are always preceded by a comma. In
the following compound sentences, subjects are in
yellow, verbs are in green, and the coordinators and
the commas that precede them are in red.I tried to
speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak
English.
2. Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping.
3. Alejandro played football, for Maria went shopping.
The above three sentences are compound sentences. Each sentence contains two
independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinator with a comma preceding it. Note
how the conscious use of coordinators can change the meaningof the sentences. Sentences
2 and 3, for example, are identical except for the coordinators. In sentence 2, which action
occurred first? Obviously, "Alejandro played football" first, and as a consequence, "Maria
went shopping." In sentence 3, "Maria went shopping" first. In sentence 3, "Alejandro
played football" because, possibly, he didn't have anything else to do, for or because "Maria
went shopping." How can the use of other coordinators change the relationship between the
two clauses? What implications would the use of "yet" or "but" have on the meaning of the
sentence?
Complex Sentence
A True Story
Some students believe it is possible to identify simple, compound, and complex sentences
by looking at the complexity of the ideas in a sentence. Is the idea in the sentence simple, or
is it complex? Does one idea in a sentence make it simple? Do two ideas make it
compound? However, sentence identification does not work that way.
Please take the time to identify the subjects and verbs in a sentence. Then identify
coordinators and subordinators when they exist. With these two steps, sentence
identification not only becomes easy, but it also provides the foundation for understanding
and writing all other kinds of more complicated sentences.
A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A
complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although,
or when (and many others) or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. In the
following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the
subordinators and their commas (when required) are in red.
1. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give
the teacher the last page.
2. The teacher returned the
homework after she noticed the error.
3. The students are studying because they have a test
tomorrow.
4. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to
the movies
5. Juan and Maria went to the
movies after they finished studying.
When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences 1 and 4, a comma
is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the independent clause begins the
sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences 2, 3, and 5, no comma is
required. If a comma is placed before the subordinators in sentences 2, 3, and 5, it is
wrong.
Note that sentences 4 and 5 are the same except sentence 4 begins with the dependent
clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence 5 begins with the independent clause
which contains no comma. The comma after the dependent clause in sentence 4 is
required, and experienced listeners of English will often hear a slight pause there. In
sentence 5, however, there will be no pause when the independent clause begins the
sentence.
Complex Sentences / Adjective Clauses
Finally, sentences containing adjective clauses (or dependent clauses) are also complex
because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause. The subjects, verbs,
and subordinators are marked the same as in the previous sentences, and in these
sentences, the independent clauses are also underlined.
1. The woman who called my mom sells cosmetics.
2. The book that Jonathan read is on the shelf.
3. The house which Abraham Lincoln was born
in is still standing.
4. The town where I grew up is in the United States.
Compound-Complex Sentences
A compound-complex sentence is made from two
independent clauses and one or more dependent
clauses.
Some examples:
1. Although I like to go camping, I haven't had the
time to go lately, and I haven't found anyone to go
with.

independent clause: "I haven't had the time to
go lately"

independent clause: "I haven't found anyone to
go with"
dependent clause: "Although I like to go
camping... "

2. We decided that the movie was too violent, but
our children, who like to watch scary movies,
thought that we were wrong.



independent clause: "We decided that the
movie was too violent"
independent clause: "(but) our children thought
that we were wrong"
dependent clause: who like to watch scary
movies
Compound-complex sentences are very common in
English, but one mistake that students often make is
to try to write them without having mastered
the simple sentences, compound sentences,
and complex sentences first.
Hortative sentence
adjective
1. The definition of hortative is a choice of words that encourage action.
An example of a hortative sentence is, "Just try it at least once!"
HORTATIVE
Dictionary entry overview: What does hortative mean?
• HORTATIVE (adjective)
The adjective HORTATIVE has 1 sense:
1. giving strong encouragement
Familiarity information: HORTATIVE used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
• HORTATIVE (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Giving strong encouragement
Synonyms:
exhortative; exhortatory; hortative; hortatory
Similar:
encouraging (giving courage or confidence or hope)
Periodic sentence n.
A sentence in which the main clause or its predicate is withheld until the end; for example,
Despite heavy winds and nearly impenetrable ground fog, the plane landed safely.
Periodic sentence (ˌpɪərɪˈɒdɪk) n
(Rhetoric) rhetoric a sentence in which the completion of the main clause is left to the end,
thus creating an effect of suspense.
Pe′ri•od′ic sen′tence (ˈpɪər iˈɒd ɪk, ˌpɪər-) n.
a sentence that, by leaving the completion of its main clause to the end, produces an effect
of suspense, as in All alone in the world, without any money, he died.
Compare loose sentence.
Loose sentence (prose style)
Definition:
A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by one or
more coordinate or subordinate phrases and clauses. Contrast with periodic sentence.
As Felicity Nussbaum points out, a writer may use loose sentences to give "the impression
of spontaneity and vernacular immediacy" (The Autobiographical Subject, 1995).
Examples and Observations:

"Use the loose sentence for its easy conversational effect."

"At its simplest the loose sentence contains a main clause plus a subordinate
construction:
We must be wary of conclusions drawn from the ways of the social insects, since their
evolutionary track lies so far from ours. (Robert Ardrey)
The number of ideas in loose sentences is easily increased by
adding phrases and clauses, related either to the main constructions or to a preceding
subordinate one:


I found a large hall, obviously a former garage, dimly lit, and packed with cots. (Eric
Hoffer)
I knew I had found a friend in the woman, who herself was a lonely soul, never having
known the love of man or child. (Emma Goldman)
As the number of subordinate constructions increases, the loose sentence approaches
the cumulative style."


Two Loose Sentences on Baseball
"Sal Maglie ended the third for the Dodgers, walking out slowly carrying one bat, digging
his spikes in as though anything is possible in this game, driving the first pitch straight
to Mickey Mantle and walking over towards third base to change his cap and get his
glove."
"A 'home run' is the definitive kill, the overcoming of obstacle at one stroke, the
gratification instantaneous in knowing one has earned a risk-free journey out, around,
and back--a journey to be taken at a leisurely pace (but not too leisurely) so as to savor
the freedom, the magical invulnerability, from denial or delay."

Loose Sentences
"One afternoon we visited a cave, some two miles down the stream, which had recently
been discovered. We squeezed and wriggled through a big crack or cleft in the side of the
mountain for about one hundred feet, when we emerged into a large, dome-shaped
passage, the abode, during certain seasons of the year, of innumerable bats, and at all
times of primeval darkness. There were various other crannies and pit-holes opening into
it, some of which we explored. The voice of running water was everywhere heard,
betraying the proximity of the little stream by whose ceaseless corroding the cave and its
entrance had been worn. This streamlet flowed out of the mouth of the cave, and came
from a lake on the top of the mountain; this accounted for its warmth to the hand, which
surprised us all."
(John Burroughs, Wake-Robin, 1871)
President Kennedy's Loose Sentence
"Although loose sentences are less dramatic than periodic sentences, they too can be
crafted into rhythmically pleasing structures. John F. Kennedy, for example, began his
1961inaugural address with a loose sentence: 'We observe today not a victory of party but a
celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well
as change.'"
Cumulative sentence
Definition:
An independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions
(phrases or clauses) that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea. Contrast
with periodic sentence.
In Notes Toward a New Rhetoric, Francis and Bonnie Jean Christensen observe that
the main clause of a cumulative sentence "is likely to be stated in general or abstract or
plural terms. With the main clause stated, the forward movement of the sentence stops, the
writer shifts down to the lower level of generalization or abstraction or to singular terms,
and goes back over the same ground at this lower level. . . . Thus the mere form of the
sentence generates ideas."
Examples and Observations:

"I write this at a wide desk in a pine shed as I always do these recent years, in this life I
pray will last, while the summer sun closes the sky to Orion and to all the other winter
stars over my roof."
(Annie Dillard, An American Childhood, 1987)

"He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them--a quick shake, fingers
down, like the fingers of a pianist above the keys."
(Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith, 1925)

"The radiators put out lots of heat, too much, in fact, and old-fashioned sounds and
smells came with it, exhalations of the matter that composes our own mortality, and
reminiscent of the intimate gases we all diffuse."
(Saul Bellow, More Die of Heartbreak. William Morrow, 1987)
Imperative sentence
Definition:
A type of sentence that gives advice or instructions or that expresses a request or
command. (Compare with sentences that make a statement, ask a question, or express
an exclamation.)
An imperative sentence typically begins with the base form of a verb, as in Go now! The
implied subject you is said to be "understood" (or elliptical): (You) go
now! (See You Understood.)
An imperative sentence ends with a period or an exclamation point.
Examples and Observations:

"Think Small"
(slogan of Volkswagen)

"Put an egg in your shoe, and beat it. Make like a tree, and leave. Tell your story walking."
(Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn. Doubleday, 1999)

"We're going into the attic now, folks. Keep your accessories with you at all times."
(Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story 3, 2010)

"Go ahead, make my day."
(Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in Sudden Impact, 1983)

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
(Mark Twain)
Exclamatory sentence
Definition:
A type of sentence that expresses strong feelings by making an exclamation. (Compare with
sentences that make a statement, express a command, or ask a question.)
With the appropriate intonation, other sentence types (especially declarative sentences) can
be used to form exclamatives.
An exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation point.
Examples and Observations:

"It's alive! It's alive!"
(Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein, 1931)

"Have fun storming the castle!"
(Billy Crystal as Miracle Max in The Princess Bride, 1987)

"I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!"
(Homer Simpson, The Simpsons)

"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
(Oliver Hardy in Sons of the Desert, 1933)
Declarative sentence
Definition:
A sentence in the form of a statement (in contrast to a command, aquestion, or
an exclamation).
In a declarative sentence, the subject normally precedes the verb. A declarative sentence
ends with a period.
Examples and Observations:

I like cats.

"I like children--fried."
(W. C. Fields)

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."
(Fred Allen)

"The best goodbyes are short."
(Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon, 1941)

"We rob banks."
(Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde, 1967)
Interrogative sentence
Definition:
A type of sentence that asks a question. (Compare with sentences that make a statement,
deliver a command, or express anexclamation.)
Interrogative sentences are typically marked by inversion of thesubject and predicate: that
is, the first verb in a verb phraseappears before the subject.
An interrogative sentence ends with a question mark.
Examples and Observations:

"Interrogative: Did Nina sleep well?
Declarative counterpart: Nina slept well.
An interrogative sentence is formed by reordering the words of its declarative
counterpart. Note that the verb did was inserted and sleptbecame sleep in the
interrogative. The interrogative, then, has two words that act as verbs. The additional
verb, did, is a helping verb (sometimes called auxiliary); it is paired with sleep, our main
verb. Together, the helping verb and main verb form a full verb."
(Susan J. Behrens, Grammar: A Pocket Guide. Routledge, 2010)

"How did it get so late so soon?"
(Dr. Seuss)

"Are my kids cute or do they make people uncomfortable?"
(Donkey in Shrek Forever After, 2010)

"Where do you want to go today?"
(tagline from Microsoft's first global advertising campaign, 1996)

"Now, who wants to save the world?"
(Mermaid Man in SpongeBob SquarePants, 2000)

"What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
(Henry David Thoreau, letter to Mr. Blake, May 1860)

"Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"
(Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in The Wizard of Oz, 1939)
Fragment
Definition:
A group of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or
exclamation point but is grammatically incomplete. Also known as a sentence
fragment or verbless sentence.
Though in traditional grammar fragments are usually treated as grammatical errors (or as
errors in punctuation), they are sometimes used by professional writers to
create emphasis or particular stylistic effects.
Examples & Observations:

"I'm home, but the house is gone. Not a sandbag, not a nail or a scrap of wire.
(Tim O'Brien, "LZ Gator, Vietnam." The New York Times Magazine, Oct. 2, 1994)

"Today I woke up half a century old. I am not ready. Too much yet to do. Too much
everyday living. Too much left unsaid, unimagined.
"Late afternoon. The sky hunkers down, presses, like a lover, against the land. Small
sounds. A far sheep, faint barking. Time to drive on, toward Strathpeffer, friends, a phone
call from my father.
(Judith Kitchen, "Culloden," Only the Dance. Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1994)

"'Yes,' said Bond. He looked levelly at the great red face across the desk. 'It's a
remarkable case-history. Galloping paranoia. Delusions of jealousy and persecution.
Megalomaniac hatred and desire for revenge. Curiously enough,' he went on
conversationally, 'it may have something to do with your teeth. Diastema, they call it.
Comes from sucking your thumb when you're a child. Yes, I expect that's what the
psychologists will say when they get you into the lunatic asylum. "Ogre's teeth." Being
bullied at school and so on. Extraordinary the effect it has on a child.'"
(Ian Fleming, Moonraker, 1955)

Creating Stylistic Effects With Fragments
"The sentence fragments used for their stylistic effect are not the kind that teachers
mark with a marginal 'frag'; those are usually the result of punctuation errors, often a
subordinate clause punctuated as a full sentence. But experienced writers know how to
use fragments deliberately and effectively--noun phrases or verb phrases that add
a detail without a full sentence and invariably call attention to themselves."
(Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar. Allyn and Bacon, 1999)
"Since the term 'sentence fragment' carries with it a pejorative association, let me use
the term 'minor sentence.' A minor sentence is any punctuated sentence which does not
contain at least one independent clause."
(James Alatis, Language, Communication, and Social Meaning. Georgetown Univ. Press,
1992)

Fragments As Errors
"In general, it is best to avoid sentence fragments in formal and college writing.
However, it's important to be aware that good writers do use fragments, sparingly.
"[The peacock] shook itself, and the sound was like a deck of cards being shuffled in the
other room. It moved forward a step. Then another step.
-From Raymond Carver, 'Feathers'"
(David Blakesley and Jeffrey L. Hoogeveen, The Brief Thomson Handbook. Thomson,
2008)
"A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence masquerading as a complete one. A
sentence must contain a subject and a verb. It is a fragment if one of these elements is
missing, as in the following example:
Alice is busy tonight. Working on her French essay.
"To correct this sentence fragment, attach it to the preceding sentence and replace the
period with a comma:
Alice is busy tonight, working on her French essay."