Sentence Structure

Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex

You were probably taught this in school at some point, but it’s important, so let’s go over it again. Simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences are four basic types of sentence structure.

Why am I talking about this at all? Honestly, I see this wrong a lot when I’m editing books, and that leads to confusion in the reader. If your reader is confused, they’re not going to understand or connect with your book. And isn’t that the whole point of selling books? If you want to educate, persuade, or entertain your reader, you need them to understand what you’re writing.

Another reason is that some people only know one or two types of sentence structure, which makes for really boring writing! It’s so repetitive! Tell me which is more interesting to read:

I took my dog for a walk. I saw my neighbor. We stopped to talk. My dog saw a squirrel. He ran off. I chased him. I found him an hour later. He was swimming in my neighbor’s pool.

While taking my dog for a walk, I saw my neighbor, so we stopped to talk. My dog saw a squirrel, and he ran off. I chased after him. An hour later, I found him swimming in my neighbor’s pool.

The second one is much more interesting to read, and it flows so much better than the first. That’s because the sentence structure varies. It’s not all simple sentences one after another.

Okay, enough convincing you that this is important. Let’s get into it.

Let’s first learn what independent and dependent clauses are since those are rather important to understand the sentence structures.

Independent Clause

This can stand alone as a sentence.

My shoes got wet.

I like bananas.

The school bus is noisy.

Dependent Clause

This cannot stand alone as a sentence; it must be linked to something else to hold meaning.

since it’s raining

because they are yummy

which makes my dog bark

If you add these dependent clauses to independent clauses, they make sense.

My shoes got wet since it’s raining.

I like bananas because they are yummy.

The school bus is noisy, which makes my dog bark.

Simple Sentences

This sentence structure has one independent clause. That’s all.

She is late for school.

Claire plays basketball and soccer.

Brian has a big presentation at work.

Compound Sentences

This sentence structure has two independent clauses separated by a comma and conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, etc.).

She is late for school, so she can’t get coffee this morning.

Claire plays basketball and soccer, and she’s trying out for volleyball this year.

Brian has a big presentation at work, but he isn’t worried.

If you replace the comma and conjunction with a period, you’ll get two complete sentences. This is how you know you have a compound sentence.

She is late for school. She can’t get coffee this morning.

Complex Sentences

This sentence structure has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

She is late for school because her alarm didn’t go off.

Claire plays basketball and soccer despite her recurring knee injury.

Since the fiscal year just ended, Brian has a big presentation at work.

If you separate the two clauses, the independent clause stands alone fine while the dependent clause does not.

She is late for school. Because her alarm didn’t go off.

Compound-Complex Sentences

This sentence structure has multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

She is late for school because her alarm didn’t go off, so she can’t get coffee this morning.

Claire plays basketball and soccer, and she’s trying out for volleyball this year despite her recurring knee injury.

Since the fiscal year just ended, Brian has a big presentation at work, yet he isn’t worried.

Separate each clause in the sentence to figure out what sentence structure you have:

She is late for school. (independent)

Because her alarm didn’t go off. (dependent)

She can’t get coffee this morning. (independent)

If you use these different sentence structures throughout your writing, you will have a variety of rhythms and patterns, keeping your writing interesting and flowing well.

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