Sentence Types

Hello! This lesson is about sentence types. The first thing we need to talk about is what we mean when we say “sentence types.” We could mean are we talking about declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamative? Or, are we talking about simple, complex, compound and compound complex? Well, in this video, this is what I’m talking about… these types of sentences. So, before we start, you must know what a clause is. You must know the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause, and if you don’t, you have to go back and watch my videos where I explain those, because in this video, I’m going to assume that you know what I’m talking about. So independent clauses: Susan opened the fridge. We love that movie. You lived in a large house. These are independent clauses, but watch this! They are also simple sentences. That’s right, if I just put a capital letter at the beginning, and a period at the end of an independent clause, it becomes a simple sentence. That wasn’t so hard! We’re already partway done. Now, let’s take a look at dependent clauses. Because she was hungry… There it is; I got ahead of myself. Even though it is long; When you were young. You will probably recognize these dependent clauses from the last video. These are not complete thoughts. So, what do we do? Because before we were talking about clauses; now we’re talking about sentences. How do I fix this? I have to add an independent clause. Because she was hungry, Susan opened the fridge. Even though it is long, we love that movie. When you were young, you lived in a large house. So, we take a dependent clause, we add an independent clause, and we now have… a complex sentence. So, we saw a simple sentence is just an independent clause by itself. A complex sentence once again there’s an independent clause, but then also with one or more dependent clauses. Now, you will notice that the dependent clause comes first in each example here. Does it have to? No, it doesn’t. Watch this. I’m going to make a few changes, and then I’m going to put them backwards… and a couple of things have happened. First of all, this is obviously no longer capital letter because it’s not at the beginning. Susan is a name, so that always was a capital letter, but look at the punctuation. I’m just going to go back here for a moment. This is where we started: Because she was hungry, and there is a comma here. This comma disappears. See? There it is – gone. Okay, so do I need to add it back? No, and in fact, not only do I not need to; I can’t. When the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, I’m not allowed to put a comma there. Let’s look at the next example. Even though it is long, we loved that movie. I’m going to make a few changes now I’m going to switch them. We love that movie even though it is long. And again, there’s no comma there. When you were young, you lived in a large house. I’m going to make a few changes… I’m going to reverse them… You lived in a large house when you were young. So, a complex sentence is one dependent clause and – I’m sorry that’s actually a little bit of a mistake – one or more dependent clause and one independent clause. Either clause can come first. If the dependent clause is first, there is a comma after after the dependent clause. If the independent clause is first, there is no comma. And again, I’m not saying it’s not necessary to put a comma. I’m saying: Don’t put a comma. Next, let’s look at compound sentences. Compound sentences are two or more independent clauses. So clauses must be joined by a coordinating conjunction, a semicolon, or a conjunctive adverb. Again, if you don’t know what that, please go watch my last video where I explain that. Bill walked to the store, but Alan rode his bike. Alan rode his bike, but Bill walked to the store. These are both compound sentences. Alan rode his bike, so bill walked to the store. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they were having a fight or something. If you’re going to ride your bike, I’m going to walk. Anyway, the point is we’re using a FANBOY here, a coordinating conjunction, to join these two independent clauses. I could also say this: Alan rode his bike and Bill walked to the store, which again, this is a really good demonstration of which coordinating conjunction we choose to use changes the the flavor, changes the meaning of the sentence. So make sure that you choose carefully. Unlike complex sentences, compound sentences place equal importance on both clauses. In other words, one idea is not more important than the other. Compound-complex sentences. Compound-complex sentence is a combination of a compound and a complex sentence. At least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. In theory – don’t do this – but in theory, you could write a whole book with one crazy, stupid compound-complex sentence. I really recommend you don’t do that. You probably – won’t, well, I can pretty-much promise you you won’t get a very good mark, even though in theory, it is possible. Because they had been fighting – ah I was right in what I said earlier! Because they had been fighting, Bill walked to the store but Alan rode his bike. Okay, so we’ve got these different sentence types, but why does sentence types matter? Well, the way we arrange our sentences can put emphasis on certain ideas. This idea is there, but this idea is more important, and the way we arrange our sentences can show that. Also, variety and interest. It makes it a better experience for the reader. It’s important to understand that one type of sentence is not better than another; use what fits best, and there’s two ways in the past my students have had trouble with this. One is they think: I can write simple sentences all day long I very, very seldom make mistakes; I’m going to stay with what I know, and that way I’ll be safe, and if I don’t make any mistakes I can’t get a low mark! Uh, wrong! You can get a low mark for only writing simple sentences. A composition that is only simple sentences is not very fun or, honestly, very easy to read. Don’t do that. Then I have students who basically try to do the exact opposite, and they try to write… every sentence they write, they try to make the longest, most complicated, most beautiful, most wonderful sentence that just goes on and on and on. That is very confusing for the reader as well. Now, in some languages I, I have, I have read this: in some languages, that is considered beautiful. In English it’s considered confusing. We don’t think of that as being long and beautiful and flowing. We think of it as being difficult to follow. So, if that’s a difference from your first language, then please understand that it is a difference and make sure that when you’re writing in English, you’re writing with English style. The most important thing is this be clear; don’t use fancy sentences just for the sake of using fancy sentences, okay? If the reader has to reread what you have written, if he or she has to read it again, that’s a bad thing. Your reading [writing] should be easy to understand the first time. Okay, so, that’s all I have to say about sentence types. If you’d like some more practice, look below, because I’ve got some exercises for you. Thank you very much. Have a good day!