Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

 Simple sentences

  Simple sentences

The dog barked. The baby woke up. The dog whined.  A simple sentence has a subject (what the sentence is about) and a verb (what that person or thing is doing). 

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

There may be other words in the sentence but as long as there is only one verb it is a simple sentence.  Simple sentences In the middle of the night, the dog barked loudly for its master. After dinner, the baby woke up his mother with a loud yell. The dog whined miserably in the coal shed.   

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Compound sentences Compound sentences are simple sentences linked together using a conjunction like and, but, or and so The dog barked and the baby woke up and the dog whined.

The shops were closed so I went home.

You could take the ‘and’ away and put a full stop and it would still make sense as simple sentences.

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Complex sentences  In complex sentences, there is more than one verb. One part of the sentence helps to give extra information about the main part of the sentence. The dog barked because it was lonely. The extra part tells you why the dog barked. Mother sang a lullaby when the baby woke up.The extra part tells you when the mother sang the lullaby.  The class waited until the teacher arrived.The extra part tells you when the class stopped waiting.

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Complex sentences – more examples Cats clean themselves by licking their fur. The extra part tells you how cats clean themselves. She will get fit if she runs every day.The extra part tells you what she needs to do to get fit.  When the bell rang, the children went to class.The extra part tells you when the children went to class.

He found the letter where his sister left it. The extra part tells you where he found the letter.

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Understanding the rubric – simple, compound and complex sentences

Complex sentences  You can use these conjunctions when writing complex sentences

Time wordsafterbeforewhenwhileuntilsince

Cause and effectbecausesincenow thatas

Other wordsthatwhichwhowhenunlessalthoughifunless