kinds of sentences

                                      KINDS OF SENTENCES  

A sentence is a group of words that consists of two main parts (i.e. subject and predicate); in addition, they should be grammatically and logically arranged. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb/predicate. A sentence may be a statement, question, command, request, or exclamation. The first letter must be capitalized, and the sentence must be ended with a final punctuation mark in the form of a period (.); a question mark (?); or an exclamation point (!).

Sentence can be classified into four categories according to the number and types of clauses that are in them. They are simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence and compound-complex sentence.

1.      Simple Sentence

Simple sentence consists of a subject and a predicate or an independent clause. Only independent clause can stand by itself to form simple sentence.

·        I enjoy studying English in my own library every weekend.

·        My friends always try to finish our task and duty as soon as possible.

·        John asked the questions and answered it in the same breath.

2.      Compound Sentence

Compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses joined together in any one of the following three ways.

a.      By a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, for, so, yet, but, etc)

I enjoy studying English, but I hate studying math.

b.      By a sentence connector (furthermore, however, therefore, etc)

I enjoy studying English; however, I hate studying math.

c.      By a semicolon (;)

I enjoy studying English; I hate studying math.

3.      Complex Sentence

Complex sentence is the combination of an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The independent clause expresses the main idea while the dependent clause expresses subordinate idea. Subordinator such as when, while, where, who, because, as, if, even though, so that, etc

·        Although I enjoy studying English, I hate math.

·        I hate math although I enjoy studying English.

·        As he loved his sister, he bought her computer, even though he could hardly afford it.

4.      Compound-Complex Sentence

Compound-complex sentence is a combination of two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

·        I hate math, but I enjoy studying English even though I am not very good at it.

·        I like you when you are cheerful but I hate you when you are grumpy.

·        Many people know that smoking is bad but they cannot stop smoking.

·        I enjoy studying English when I was teenager but I am not very good at it.