Sentences                                                 

A sentence is made up of one or more words that express a complete thought.  Every sentences begins with a capital letter and with an end mark-a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. A sentence must have a subject and a predicate.

Sentences are constructed with clauses, groups of related words that have both a subject and a predicate.  There are two types of clauses: independent and dependent.

Independent clauses present a complete thought and can stand as a sentence.  Dependent clauses do not present a complete thought and cannot stand as a sentence.

Sentences Classified By Structure

When classified by structure, there are four kinds of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

(1) A simple sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and no dependent or subordinate clauses.

      Ex. Great skateboarders use many safety precautions.               

             [independent clause]

(2) A compound sentence is a sentence comprised of two or more independent clauses but no dependent clauses.

            Ex. Great skateboarders use many safety precautions, and they also take lots of risk.

                                                [compound sentence with two subjects and two verbs]  

  (3) A complex sentence is a sentence that contains one independent clause

and one or more dependent clauses.

Ex. Great skateboarders, while taking lots of risk, use many safety precautions.  

[one independent clause and dependent clause]

(4) A compound-complex sentence is a sentence that contains two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

               Ex. Great skateboarders, while taking lots of risk, use many safety precautions, and they still manage to keep the sport entertaining.

                                    [two independent clauses and one dependent clause]