The Different Types of Sentences
How to Create Sentence Variety in Writing
Aug 25, 2009 Carol Rzadkiewicz
Fun With Dick and Jane was a series of basic readers used in the United States to teach reading from the 1930s through the 1970s. In fact, Dick, Jane, and their dog Spot not only provided an introduction to reading for first graders but also became part of popular culture.
Although cute, these stories sound as elementary today as they did then, mainly because they are written in simple sentences: See Dick run! See Jane run! See Spot run! Of course, they were written for students just learning to read, so simplicity was intentional on the part of the writer. Unless they are writing a children’s story, however, writers need to utilize a variety of sentence structures in order to imbue their words with authority.
Definition of a Sentence
A sentence is a group of words containing a subject (it can be understood) and a verb and expressing a complete thought. Plus, every sentence contains at least one clause, although, depending upon the type of sentence, some are independent, others dependent (subordinate clauses).
Definition of a Clause
A clause is a group of words containing a subject and verb; for example: “Tom yelled.” The majority of clauses, though, also contain modifiers (adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, etc), for example: “Tom yelled enthusiastically at the game.”
Independent clauses can stand alone as complete thoughts, whereas subordinate clauses are dependent upon independent clauses to give them full meaning. These dependent or subordinate clauses can be noun clauses, adjective clauses, or adverb clauses.
Noun Clauses Defined
A noun clause fills a noun slot within a sentence, i.e., subject, direct object, indirect object, object of a preposition, or subject complement. For example, “Tom knew that he would someday write a bestseller.” The clause “that he would write a best seller” is the direct object of the verb “knew.” (Tom knew what? That he would someday write a bestseller.)
Adjective Clauses Defined
An adjective clause modifies a noun, and answers one of four questions: Which one? What kind? How Many? Whose? For example, “Tom thought the 60-inch TV, which he saw in a Best Buy ad, was an good deal.” The clause “which he saw in a Best Buy ad” answers the question: “Which 60-inch TV?”
Adverb Clauses Defined
An adverb clause modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb and answers one of five questions: How or in what manner? When? Where? How often? To what extent or degree? For example, “When football season is over, Tom watches recordings of all the best games.” The clause “when football season is over” answers the question: “When does Tom watch recordings?”
The Four Types of Sentences
Simple: A sentence consisting of one subject and one verb, for example: “See Tom Run.” However, a simple sentence can also consist of a compound subject and/or compound verb.
- Tom and Sue were having dinner and didn’t notice their cat, Bonkers, chewing on an extension cord. (Tom and Sue = compound subject. Were having and didn’t notice = compound verb)
- Tom, Sue, and Bonkers went for a walk. (Three subjects all working with the verb “went.”)
- Tom, Sue, and Bonkers went for a walk and were caught in a rainstorm. (Three subjects working with two verbs: “went” and “were caught.”)
Compound: A sentence consisting of two independent clauses linked by either a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or a conjunctive adverb (however, furthermore, nevertheless, moreover, for example, consequently, etc.)
- Tom, Sue, and Bonkers went for a walk, but a rainstorm ruined their outing.
- Tom, Sue, and Bonkers went for a walk; however, a rainstorm ruined their outing.
Complex: A sentence consisting of one independent clause and at least one dependent (or subordinate) clause. Dependent clauses begin with words like “that, which, who, when, because, after, while, as, where, since, although, even though, whenever,” etc.
- When Tom, Sue, and Bonkers went for a walk, they got caught in sudden rainstorm. (The first clause is dependent upon the second clause.)
- Tom, Sue, and Bonkers ran for shelter because it began to rain. (The second clause is dependent upon the first clause.)
- Ms. Jones, who lives next door, laughed aloud when she saw Tom, Sue, and Bonkers running for shelter. (The clause beginning with “who” and the clause beginning with “when” are both dependent upon the clause “Ms. Jones laughed aloud.)
Compound/Complex: A sentence consisting of at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent (subordinate) clause.
- Tom, Sue, and Bonkers went for a walk; however, their outing came to an abrupt end when it began to rain. (The independent clauses are the first and second; the dependent clause is the last, which begins with “when”.)
The bottom line is that writers need to be able to incorporate a variety of sentence structures into whatever they are writing. Not only will doing so imbue their words with authority but also prevent what they write from sounding like a page from Fun With Dick and Jane.
The Different Types of Sentences
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