TYPES OF SENTENCES

PHRASES

CLAUSES

SENTENCES
Phrases

Any Group of meaningful words that don’t make complete

sense
1. Prepositional Phrase : In Spite of the rain, I enjoyed my run
2. Appositional Phrase : My oldest sister, Margot, is jealous of
me.
3. Participial Phrase : Dissatisfied with my coffee, I went to the
store to buy milk.
4. Gerund Phrase : I earn money on the weekends, washing
dishes at the local diner
5. Infinitive Phrase : he mad scientist worked frantically to
complete his experiment before the police came.

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Clauses

A group of words that contain subject and a verb.

1. Main/Independent Clause :
China is growing at a very fast rate.
2. Subordinate/Dependent Clause :
- Adjective Clause : The bedrooms, which we painted
during the summer, look cheerful and bright. (use which, that,
and who)
- Adverb Clause : I like to swim at the pool when it gets
too cold to go for hikes. (use if, because, although, and when)

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Sentences

A group of words that make sense to the reader, it contains :

• Subject: About which something is being said.
• Predicate: Tells us something about the subject.
• Direct object: A person or thing that is affected by the verb.
• Indirect object: Usually followed by direct objects.
• The object of the preposition: Functions as a noun or
pronoun and comes right after the preposition.
• Verbs: Indicates action, the occurrence of something or
state of being.
• Phrases: Makes sense but not complete sense, thus can’t
stand alone.
• Complements: It provides complete meaning to a subject,
an object or a verb.

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 SIMPLE SENTENCE

COMPOUND SENTENCE

COMPLEX SENTENCE
SIMPLE SENTENCE
Simple sentences

Let’s quickly recap basic sentences…

Can you remember the differences between simple and

compound sentences?
Simple sentences contain a subject, a verb and an object.
Simple sentences make sense on their own, e.g.
I like tea.

Subject Verb Object

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Subject, verb, object revision

Read the sentences below:

1. John loves television.

2. My brother eats worms.

3. Norman picks his nose. verb

subject
object

Decide which words are the verbs, subjects and

objects in the sentences.
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COMPOUND SENTENCE
Compound sentences

Now let’s revise compound sentences…

Compound sentences are simple sentences which have

been joined together by the conjunctions: or, and , yet, so,
or but.
I like tea. I like coffee.
These are two simple sentences.
They can be joined to form
a compound sentence:
I like tea and coffee.

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COMPLEX SENTENCE
Types of clauses

The sentence below is a complex sentence.

Mr Farrell,
Farrell,who
who
whois
is
isour
our
ourEnglish
English
Englishteacher,
teacher,
teacher,always
always
always
gives
gives
gives
great
great
great
lessons.
lessons.

The main and most important idea in the sentence is called

the main clause. This makes sense on its own.
The additional information is called the subordinate clause.
This clause would not make sense on its own.

When the subordinate clause splits the main clause down the
middle, commas are used to show the boundaries between
them.

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Complex sentences

Okay, so a sentence with a main clause

and a subordinate clause is known as a…

complex sentence

e.g. John walked by the canal which was full of barges.

main clause subordinate clause

Do you know what sort of word ‘which’ is?

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Different types of sentences

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Using simple, compound and complex sentences

Let’s recap when to use simple, compound

and complex sentences…

Simple and compound sentences are useful to be brief:

in emergency instructions
to teach young children
for someone who can’t read much English.
Complex sentences are useful to be descriptive:
to explain something in detail
to be precise about what you are describing
to keep your reader interested.
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THANK YOU