Think of a complex sentence as a family.

Although the children contribute to the family,

they cannot survive on their own without the base of the family--the parents.

A complex sentence has a base of a complete sentence with a subject, verb, and words to
complete the thought (the complete "couple" or "parents"). A complex sentence also adds
additional information in separate phrases (the "children"). The information in the phrases
depends upon the information in the complete sentence base; it cannot stand alone.

The [bracketed] phrases in the following sentences add information to the base sentence but
cannot stand alone:
[If the temperature stays at about freezing], then we can join the polar bear club for
a dip in the lake.
I told him that his new print on the wall looked like an interesting prehistoric
drawing of a fish, [although I really just wanted to laugh].
The kids need to go to bed, [whether or not they want to], no later than 8:00 p.m.
Certain words traditionally start off the subordinate, or dependent, parts of the complex
sentence:
before.....while.....if.....where
after.....because.....whether.....whereas
though.....since.....unless.....as
although.....when.....because.....as if
The complex sentence is an effective way to show that one idea takes precedence over
another. The idea in the complete sentence base is more important than the idea in the
dependent phrase.

In the following example from one student's proposal to implement a county fire
investigation team, see how he downplays certain information [in the dependent phrases]
while highlighting his own ideas in the complete sentence base:
[While the effectiveness of investigations by the Sheriff's Department is not
questioned], The investigations are very costly both in the amount of time personnel
are taken away from other police work and the cost of paying the personnel who
conduct the investigations.
[With the movement of fire investigation from the Sheriff's Department to a county
fire investigation team], the investigation of fires determined to be accidental in
nature could be completed by volunteer members of the team who at the most
would be reimbursed mileage expenses.