KINDS of

SENTENCES

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 Phrases, Clauses, &
Sentences
• Phrase: a group of words
• Clause: a group of words that has a
subject and a predicate
• Sentence: a group of words that
has a subject-predicate and can
stand alone/expresses a complete
thought.

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 Types of Clauses
• Independent/main clause: a clause that can
stand alone because it expresses a complete
thought. 🡺It is only called a clause if it is part of
a longer sentence using coordinative/correlative
conjunctions. On its own, it is called a sentence.

• Dependent/subordinate clause: a clause that

can’t stand alone because it doesn’t express a
complete thought.🡺It should be combined with
another clause to make a sentence so that the
meaning could be understood.

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 Examples

• Phrase: the girl

• Independent clause: The girl is
my sister, and the boy is my
brother.
• Dependent clause: Because the
girl is my sister, I love her very
much.
• Sentence: The girl is my sister.

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 Kinds of Sentences

• Simple sentences

• Compound sentences

• Complex sentences

• Compound-complex sentences

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 Simple Sentences

• Simple sentence: a sentence that

consists of only one pair of subject-
predicate/one independent clause.

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 Compound Sentences
• Compound sentence: a sentence that
consists of two/more independent clauses
connected using coordinate/correlative
conjunctions or semicolon (;).
• Coordinative conjunctions: for, and, nor,
but, or, yet, so (F-A-N-B-O-Y-S)
• Correlative/paired conjunctions: both…
and, not only…but also, either…or,
neither…nor, whether…or

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 Compound Predicate vs.
Compound Sentence

• If it is only the predicates that are plural—

not the pair of subject/predicate—, it is not
a compound sentence but a simple one
with a compound predicate.
• Compound predicate: The girl could sing
and dance. 🡺 simple sentence
• Compound sentence: The girl could
sing, and she could also dance.

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 Complex Sentences

• Complex sentence: a sentence

that consists of one
independent/main clause and
one/more dependent/sub(ordinate)
clause(s).
• Subordinative conjunctions: after,
since, because, before, until, when,
who, etc. (see p. 130 for some more
examples)
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 Compound-Complex
Sentences
• Compound-complex sentence: a
combination of compound and
complex sentences.

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 Examples
• Simple sentence: The girl is my sister.
• Compound sentence: The girl is my
sister (IC), and the boy is my brother
(IC).
• Complex sentence: Because the girl is
my sister (DC), I love her very much (IC).
• Compound-complex sentence:
Because the girl is my sister (DC), I love
her very much (IC) and I will take care of
her (IC).

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