Sentences By Structure: Simple & Compound Explained

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In order to discuss sentence types by structure, you must be able to distinguish between two kinds of clauses, groups of words that have a subject and a verb.

An independent clause (main clause) has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. It can be used as a sentence. It must meet at least three conditions: at least 1 subject, at least 1 verb, and 1 complete thought. Example:

I am a student.
He likes to play football.
Samiha and Abir are good friends.

Independent clauses (simple sentences) are groups of words that contain a subject and a verb, and they can stand alone as complete thoughts. Like: I ate seventeen pancakes.

A dependent clause (subordinate clause) also has a subject and a verb, but it does not express a complete thought. It is not a sentence (it can be a part of a sentence). It is also called a subordinate clause as it always starts with a subordinating conjunction. Examples:

As I am a student (Not a sentence).
Although he likes to play football (Not a sentence).
Since Samiha and Abir are good friends (Not a sentence).

A subordinate clause (dependent clause) is also a group of words that contains a subject, but this kind of clause cannot stand alone as a complete thought. You must remember that a subordinate clause always starts with a subordinating conjunction*.

Because I was hungry
Although he was a good student

These guys need to be linked to independent clauses to make sense. Here are those two subordinate clauses joined with independent clauses. Now, they make two complex sentences.

Because I was hungry, I ate seventeen pancakes.
Although he was a good student, he failed the test.

Subordinate clauses come together to function as one part of speech. They can act as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns, and each one is joined to the independent clause with a different kind of word. All of these example sentences are complex because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause.
Classification of Sentence By Structure

Simple Sentence: 1 Independent Clause
Compound Sentence: 2 X Simple Sentence
Complex Sentence: 1 Independent and 1 Dependent Clauses
Compound-Complex: 2 Independent and 1 dependent clauses

The Simple Sentence

A simple sentence contains only one independent clause. This means that it does not contain more than one independent clause, and it does not contain any subordinate clauses. It expresses only one main idea. Shall we look at some examples? Great!

Simple	Not Simple
I love football.	I love football, and you love cricket.
Azmah loves cricket.	Although Azmah hates football, she loves Cristiano Ronaldo.
Azmah served fruit salad.	Azmah served fruit salad because it is delicious, and it contains oranges.

Compound Elements

Do you know what compound means? It means more than one. We say that a sentence is compound when it contains two or more independent clauses. Well, listen to this! Simple sentences may contain compound words or phrases! That doesn’t mean it is a compound sentence.

Compound Element	Still Simple? Yes!
Subject	Moon and Alif play basketball. The man with the blue shirt and the woman with the straw hat had lunch together.
Verb	The players dribbled and shot the basketball. Bangla Academy has changed and added lots of Bangla words recently.
Predicate	The doctor treated the patient and prescribed this medicine.
Direct Object	The team won the game and the tournament.
Predicate Adjective	They were happy and excited.

The Compound Sentence

A compound sentence is made up of at least two independent clauses/ Simple Sentences and no dependent clauses. Do you remember what independent clauses are? They are groups of words with a subject and a verb that can stand alone as complete thoughts.
When we take two or more independent clauses and join them together, we form a compound sentence. We usually connect the clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction, but you can also join them with a semicolon.

I am good at language, but I am poor at science.
I am good at language; I am poor at science.

Did you notice how the sentences above express two simple sentences? The word compound means that something is made up of two or more elements, so it makes sense that these sentences express two or more simple sentences. Here is a sentence expressing three simple sentences:

I am good at language, I am average in science, but I am poor at history.

Notice that there are three independent clauses in that example.

I am good at languages. I am average in science. I am poor at history.

They could all be stand-alone if they wanted to, but they have decided to come together as one sentence. Aw… isn’t that sweet?
Basic Structure: 1 Simple Sentence + comma (,) + A Coordinating Conjunction + 1 Simple Sentence*

Compound Sentences

Coordinating conjunctions are the conjunctions that work as connectors. There are seven coordinating conjunctions. You can remember them by using the acronym FANBOYS, and there was a movie named FANBOYS, which was released in 2009.

Letter	Conjunction	Sentence Example	Handwritten Note
F	FOR	He was happy, for he just passed the exam.	Reason
A	AND	He loves cricket, and he always plays as a bowler.	Both
N	NOR	She was not wrong, nor was she entirely right.	Neither one
B	BUT	He loves cricket, but I am a soccer fan.	Contradiction
O	OR	I will take a CNG, or I will go there by bus.	Either one
Y	YET	I ordered Thai soup, yet I really wanted corn soup.	Dramatic contradiction
S	SO	Oeeshy was late, so she missed the orientation class.	Result

**Be careful not to use subordinating clauses in the compound; it will become a complex sentence instead.

He is good at speaking English (Independent clause), and he practices speaking every day (Independent clause). [Compound Sentence]
He is good at speaking English (Independent clause) because he practices every day (Dependent clause). [Complex Sentence]

Don’t Get Tricked!

Note: A comma is a must in compound sentences only, not in a compound predicate.
Beginners sometimes become confused between compound sentences and compound predicates. The easiest way to remember a compound sentence means at least 2 Simple sentences, at least 2 subjects, and 2 predicates. On the other hand, compound predicates will carry only 2 or more predicates, not sentences.
Compound Sentence: The designer needed the information, and they appreciated the memo.
Compound Predicate: The designer needed the information and appreciated the memo. (‘and’ is connecting 2 predicates, so a comma is not required)
As writers become more proficient, they sometimes omit the comma in informal writing. You will sometimes notice that in books (especially fiction), you read. The hero saved the princess, and then he went home.

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are groups of words that do not express complete thoughts. They are only fragments of sentences. Example: On the table. Over there. If I walk home. (They do not have a complete thought)
They are fine to use in conversation or in informal writing, but they are a no-no when it comes to formal writing. We talk about sentence fragments in contrast to complete sentences.
There are four possible reasons why a group of words is a fragment.

Missing Subjects

Subjects tell whom or what sentences are about. If the subject is missing, we are left wondering who or what performed the action.

Ran around the tree. (Who ran around the tree?)
Will walk into the room. (Who will walk into the room?)
Shot through the sky. (What shot through the sky?)

We can fix each of those fragments and turn them into sentences by adding a subject.

The dog ran around the tree.
The President will walk into the room.
A rocket shot through the sky.

Now they are all complete sentences!

Missing Verbs

Verbs tell what the subject did or is. If the verb is missing, we are left wondering what the subject did or what the subject is.

My little sister. (My little sister did what?)
My cute little dog. (The cute little dog did or is what?)

We can fix these types of fragments by adding a verb.

My little sister ran away.
My cute little dog is eating.

Now, both of those groups of words are complete sentences.

Missing Subject and Verb

Some fragments are missing both subjects and verbs. That means that we do not know whom the sentence is about or what they did or are. Example: On the table, over there.
Do you know how to change these from fragments into complete sentences? You guessed it! We need to add a subject and a verb.

The pen is on the table.
My doggie ran over there.

Those two groups of words are now complete sentences.

Dependent Clause

Subordinate clauses (dependent clauses) are groups of words that contain a subject and a verb, but they don’t express complete thoughts. If we use them alone, they are sentence fragments.

Whenever I walk the dog.
Until my little sister walks into the room.

We can fix these kinds of fragments by converting them into complex sentences.
Using coordinating conjunctions as prepositions: Using “for” as a preposition and using “for” as a coordinating conjunction are completely two different things.