What is a Complex Sentence?

A complex sentence has a special way in which it is created. An

independent clause in a complex sentence is joined by one or more
dependent clauses. A complex sentence must also always have a
conjunction such as since, after, although, when, or because. A
relative pronoun, such as that, which, or who, can replace a
conjunction in a sentence. When a complex sentence starts with a
conjunction, it is important to remember that a comma must be
placed at the end of the dependent clause. A comma should not be
placed before a conjunction if it appears in the middle of the
sentence.

THE SENTENCE Def: A group of words which expresses a complete sense or thought is
called a sentence. Examples:

He goes to school.

Ali is a good boy.

He is the same man that stole my pen.

Where do you live?

What a pleasant weather it is!

Note:A sentence always begins with a capital letter and ends with a full-stop, question mark or
the mark of exclamation.
(A) CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES
Sentences may well be classified according to their purpose as well as their structure.

CLASSIFICATION BY PURPOSE
Your sentences reflect your purpose as a speaker or a writer. According to their purpose,
sentences may be classified as declarative, imperative, interrogative, negative, exclamatory and
optative. (i)
Declarative Sentence Def: A declarative sentence makes assertion or
states an idea without expecting a reply. Examples:

He goes to school daily.

We read a book.

He offers his prayer.

Imperative Sentence

(ii)

Def: An imperative sentence gives a

command, makes a request or expresses a piece of advice. Examples:

Polish the shoes.

Open the door.

Untie the knot.

Interrogative Sentence Def: An interrogative sentence asks a question and is

(iii)

always followed by a question mark. Examples:

Where do you live?

How does she touch you?

Have you attended the classes?

Negative Sentence Def: A negative sentence is used to negate

(iv)

something.Examples:

He is not reading a book.

It is not my book.

We did not write a letter.

(v)

Exclamatory Sentence Def: An exclamatory sentence expresses strong feelings of

joy, sorrow and wonder. Examples:

Hurrah! We have won the match.

Oh! Now the battery is dead.

Alas! He is dead.
Optative Sentence Def: An optative sentence is used to pray or wish.Examples:

(vi)

May God bless you!

May you live long!

Would that I were your friend.

CLASSIFICATION BY STRUCTURE

According to structure we may classify sentences into four kinds, simple, compound, complex
and compound-complex.
(i)

Simple Sentence

Def: A simple sentence has one independent clause and no subordinate clause and it
has only one subject and one verb. Examples:

He went to school.

We played cricked.

I wrote my first novel last year.

It has been raining since morning.

(ii)

Compound Sentence

Def: A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses but no subordinate
clause. A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator. The
coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.Examples:

I came and he went.

We played hockey and they played cricket.

Ali waited for the train, but the train was late.

Consumers buy fewer goods when prices rise.

(iii)

Complex Sentence

Def: A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one subordinate
clause. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after,
although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. Examples:

He is the man who stole my pen.

He said that he had never visited the zoo.

There are dreams that cannot die.

(iv)

Compound-Complex / Multiple Sentence

Def: A compound complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and one or
more subordinate clauses. It is also called multiple sentences. Examples:

I went to my village and met my old friends who reminded me my childhood.

Life is a race and we are runners which most of us understand.

When he opened the door, he found an old man there who asked her if she could give
him some money.

(B) PARTS OF A SENTENCE

A sentence has two parts; Subject and Predicate. Ali

Predicate Lahore

is a big city. Subject

goes to school.Subject

Predicate 1.

THE SUBJECT

Def: A

word or a group of words in a sentence about which any information is given called
subject.
Kinds of Subjects
(i) Complete Subject: The subject with all its words is called complete subject. A complete
subject may have one or more than one word. Examples:

The Principal of our college is a rich man.

The manager of our factory announces bonus for the labour.

Lahore is called the city of gardens.

In the above given examples the italicized; The principal of our college, The manager of our
factory and Lahore are complete subjects. (ii) Simple Subjects Def: The key word in the
complete subject is called simple subject. Examples:

The Principal of our college is a rich man.

The manager of our factory announces bonus for the labour.
In the above given examples the italicized; The principal and The manager are simple
subjects. (iii) Compound Subject Def : A compound subject consists of two or more
words which are joined by using conjunction. Examples:

Ali and Aslam are good players.

The principal and the members of staf are attending the meeting.

Her shoes and ankles were covered with mud.

In the above given examples the italicized; Ali and Aslam, The principal and the members of
staf and Her shoes and ankles are compound subjects. 2.

THE PREDICATE Def : The

part of the sentence that says something about the subject is called predicate. Ali
goes to school.Subject

Predicate
Kinds of Predicates

(i) Complete Predicate Def : The Predicate with all its words is called complete
predicate. A complete predicate may have one or more than one word. Examples:

They laughed.

They built a new house.

Ali wrote a letter.

In the above given examples the italicized laughed, built a new house and wrote a letter are
complete predicates. (ii) Simple Predicate Def : The verb in the complete predicate is
called simple predicate. Examples:

He prefers milk to tea.

They built a new house.

Ali wrote a letter.

In the above given examples the italicized; prefers, built and wrote are simple
predicates. (iii) Compound Predicate Def: A compound predicate consists of two verbs
which are joined by conjunction. Examples :

Ali wrote the letter and posted it.

We completed our work and went home.

He wrote a book and published it.

In the above given examples the italicized wrote the letter and posted it, completed our work
and went home and wrote a book and published it are compound predicates.

The Different Types of Pronouns

The term pronoun covers many words, some of which do not
fall easily under the description given in the section What are
Pronouns? There are many different kinds of pronouns. In
Below are some
general, these do not cause difficulties for native English
common errors
speakers. The list below is mainly for reference purposes.
related to
pronouns:
Demonstrative Pronouns
These pronouns are used to demonstrate (or
indicate). This, that, these andthose are all demonstrative
pronouns.

NO ONE NOT NOONE

Examples:

This is the one I left in the car.

(In this example, the speaker could be indicating to a mobile
phone, in which case, the pronoun this replaces the
words mobile phone.)
Shall I take those?
More on demonstrative pronouns...

There is no hyphen in
the word no one.
No one is
qualified to take
the position.
No-one lifted a
finger.

Indefinite Pronouns
Unlike demonstrative pronouns, which point out specific items,
indefinite pronouns are used for non-specific things. This is the
should be No one ever died...
largest group of
(newspaper article)
pronouns. All, some, any, several, anyone, nobody, each,
both, few,either, none, one and no one are the most
See the lesson No
common.
One & Noone.
Example:

Somebody must have seen the driver leave.

(somebody not a specific person)

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at

the stars. (Oscar Wilde)

I have nothing to declare except my genius. (Oscar

Wilde)
More on indefinite pronouns...

Interrogative Pronouns
These pronouns are used in questions. Although they are
classified as pronouns, it is not easy to see how they replace

NONE SINGULAR
OR PLURAL?
There is a growing
misconception
thatnone is always
singular. Its not. It
can be singular or
plural. However, this
"rule" is so well
promulgated, many
of your grammar-

nouns. Who, which, what,where and how are all

interrogative pronouns.

savvy readers will

expect it to be
singular. If
Example:
your none translates
as not one, treat it as

Who told you to do that?

singular. If it better

Which dog won the race?

translates as not any,
More on interrogative pronouns...
treat it as plural.
Your best bet is to
Personal Pronouns
play it by ear. Or, try
The personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, they,
your hardest to
and who. More often than not (but not exclusively), they
replace nouns representing people. When most people think of treat none as
singular, but, if you
pronouns, it is the personal pronouns that usually spring to
cant bear how it
mind.
sounds, go plural.
Example:
ITS NOT IT'S

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on

the curb and clap asthey go by.
The word its (note,

I bought some batteries, but they weren't included.

no apostrophe) is a
More on personal pronouns...
possessive pronoun,
just
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are used to show possession. As they are like his, herand my.
used as adjectives, they are also known as possessive
adjectives. My, your, his, her,its, our and their are all
possessive pronouns.

Have you seen her book?

(In this example, the pronoun her replaces a word
like Sarah's.)
More on possessive pronouns...

Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to add more information to a
sentence. Which,that, who (including whom and whose)
and where are all relative pronouns.
Examples:

Can you see

its pale-coloured
belly?
Jenkins failed
the final test and
its re-sit.
It's (with an
apostrophe) is short
for it is or it has. If
you cannot
substituteit's with it
is or it has, then it is
wrong! This is
covered more in the
lesson Its and It's.

Dr Adam Sissons, who lectured at Cambridge for more

than 12 years, should have known the difference.
NO APOSTROPHES
(In this example, the relative pronoun who introduces the

clause who studied at Cambridge for 12 years and refers

back to Dr Adams Sissons.)

There are no
apostrophes in
absolute possessive

The man who first saw the comet reported it as a UFO.

pronouns (also
(In this example, the relative pronoun who introduces the
clause who first saw the comet and refers back to the man.) calledabsolute
possessives).
More on relative pronouns...

Shall I take
yours?
Absolute Possessive Pronouns

Paul's scores
These pronouns also show possession. Unlike possessive
were better than
pronouns (see above), which are adjectives to nouns, these
her's.
pronouns sit by
themselves. Mine,yours, his, hers, ours and theirs are all
absolute possessive pronouns.
Examples:

The tickets are as good as ours.

Shall we take yours or theirs?
More on absolute possessives...

Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns are used for actions or feelings that are
reciprocated. The two most common reciprocal pronouns
are each other and one another.
Examples:

They like one another.

They talk to each other like they're babies.
More on reciprocal pronouns...

Reflexive Pronouns
A reflexive pronoun ends ...self or ...selves and refers to
another noun or pronoun in the sentence (usually the subject
of the sentence). The reflexive pronouns
are: myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves,y
ourselves and themselves.
Examples:

COMMAS OR NOT?
The first example in
Relative Pronouns
(left) has commas
around the
clausewho studied at
Cambridge for 12
years, but the second
example does not
have commas
around who first saw
the comet. These
clauses are
called relative
clauses.
The first example
refers to Dr Adam
Sissons and the
second example
refers back to the
man. These are
called
theantecedents of
the relative clauses.

The dog bit itself.

(In this example, the intensive pronoun itself refers back to
When a relative
the noun the dog.)

Are you talking to yourself?

More on reflexive pronouns...

clause (like who saw

the comet) is
required to
identify the
Intensive (or Emphatic) Pronouns
antecedent (in this
An intensive pronoun (sometimes called an emphatic
case the man), then
pronoun) refers back to another noun or pronoun in the
no commas are used.
sentence to emphasize it (e.g., to emphasize that it is the
When it is just
thing carrying out the action).
additional
information (like who
Examples:
studied at Cambridge
for 12 years), then

John bakes all the bread himself.

commas are
(In this example, the intensive pronoun himself refers back required.
to the nounJohn.)
This is covered more

The cat opened the door itself.

in the lessonWhich,
More on intensive pronouns...
That and Who
Commas or Not?.

See also:
What are adjectives?
What are adverbs?
What are conjunctions?
What are interjections?
What are prepositions?
What are verbs?
What are nouns?
The different types of nouns

Demonstrative pronouns
Indefinite pronouns
Interrogative pronouns
Personal pronouns
Possessive pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns
Relative pronouns
Reflexive pronouns