Sometimes we know what we want to write, but we are just unsure of the best way to write it.

In this
video, we will cover ways to structure sentences in an essay.

Sentence Structure
Often times when writing an essay, we know what we want to say; we just struggle with how to say
it. One of the best ways of getting better at expressing yourself is through a good understanding
of sentence structure. Just like you need to learn to read music to express yourself on the piano,
you need a firm grasp of sentence structure to express yourself in writing. In this video, we are going
to review the most common types of sentences found in English language writing, and how to
determine the right ones to use for your essay.

The Four Types of Sentences

There are four main types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-
complex. Simple sentences contain one independent clause. The best way to figure out if a
sentence has more than one independent clause is to see if it has more than one subject and verb.
For instance, in the sentence 'I swam and fished yesterday;' although there are two verbs, swimming
and fishing, there is only one subject, I. In the sentence 'Jack and Jill went up the hill,' we have two
subjects, yet just one verb. Both of these sentences would be simple sentences.
A compound sentence has two independent clauses and a coordinating conjunction. An example
of a compound sentence would be: 'Jack went up the front of the hill, and Jill went up the side of the
hill.' You can count the number of independent clauses by counting the number of subjects and
verbs. There are two subjects: Jack and Jill, and there are two verbs: going up the front of the hill
and going up the side of the hill. The two clauses are
Often times in writing, we know what we want to say, but it doesn't seem to come out right. In this
video we will learn the steps needed to improve your writing with better sentence structure.

The Importance of Improving Sentence Structure

Imagine seeing all the pieces for a house laid out in front of you. You know roughly where things
should go, but putting the pieces in the wrong order won't have a very good final product. You can
end up with something that looks like a house but has lots of problems in style and function.
This jumbled box often occurs in our writing as well. We have all the parts that we need, but the
order in which they occur leaves us lacking the style we desired and leaves our writing not quite right
for our reader.

Why Sentence Structure Matters

There are a number of reasons why sentence structure matters. Sentence structure matters in
English because of our use of modifiers. A modifier is a word or phrase that provides description in
a sentence. However, putting the modifier in the wrong place can add confusion instead of clarity to
your sentence. We can see this with simple modifiers in the wrong place.
'Only I love you!'
I'm pretty sure our friend didn't mean to tell his sweetheart that he was the only person on the planet
that loved her. Structure that sentence a bit better and he would have had a much more pleasant
result.
 'I love only you!'
Then we have those dangling modifiers.
'To improve his building skills, a video was watched.'
In order to not offend our conscientious observers, a better choice of sentence structure would be:
'In order to improve his building skills, our friend watched a video.'
Now our readers know exactly who we are talking about and they won't need to figure it out and
guess.
Good sentence structure helps to eliminate the use of sentence fragments as well. A sentence
fragment is an incomplete sentence. These sentences are often incomplete because they are no
longer attached to their clauses.
'It is important to eat vegetables every day. Having a variety.'
A sentence should be able to stand on its own. If we separate the two sentences, we can easily see
that the second sentence is a fragment. We don't really know what 'having a variety' is referring to.
'Having a variety of vegetables can help us consume more of them.'
However, be careful not to err on the side of a run-on sentence to avoid a sentence fragment. A run-
on sentence is when two or more independent clauses are joined without the appropriate
punctuation or conjunction.
The final of the big three causes of sentence structure problems is using passive voice. Passive
voice isn't a grammatical error so much as it makes the sentence harder to follow. In passive voice,
the target of an action is put in the subject position even though they aren't doing anything. For
example:
'The doll was bathed by Sally.'
The doll is an inanimate object and isn't doing any action in the sentence - Sally is doing the work.
So to make the sentence active we would write:
'Sally bathed the doll.'
To

How can you improve your comprehension of sentence structure in English?

If you want to improve your understanding of how English works, it’s really worth looking
at sentence structure and sentence types.
Every sentence gives information about someone or something. This someone or
something is called the SUBJECT.
The subject can be

 a person (Susan),
 more people (My husband and I)
 or basically anything (My life, A dog, The weather, Our society etc).

The information that is given about the subject is called the PREDICATE.
See the predicate in the following sentences in bold. You can use coloured highlighters
at home when analysing sentences.
 Susan is married.
 My husband and I have been married for eight years.
 My life is exciting.
 There is a dog in the garden.
 The weather is getting better.
 Our society is facing new challenges.

I usually advise beginners to begin sentences with the subject and build it up from
there. This word order is very common in English:
George’s parents (who?)
moved to a small town (do what?)
last year. (when?)
We (who?)
are going to celebrate my sister’s birthday (do what)
next Saturday. (when?)

Then you can add extra information:

George’s elderly parents
moved to a small town in the north
last year.
We
are going to celebrate my younger sister’s eighteenth birthday
at our parent’s house
next Saturday.

A part of a sentence that contains a subject and a predicate is called a CLAUSE.

There are four main sentence types:
1. SIMPLE SENTENCE
It contains one, independent clause.

 I love literature.

2. COMPOUND SENTENCE
It contains two independent clauses that are connected with one of these linking
words: BUT, OR, AND, SO

 I love literature, but my husband hates it.

3. COMPLEX SENTENCE
It contains one independent clause plus extra information in a ’dependent clause’.
 Dependent clauses don’t make sense on their own. They are linked to the independent
clause with words like WHILE, WHEN, BEFORE, AFTER, IF, ALTHOUGH etc.

 I love literature although I hated it as a child. (’although I hated it as a child’ makes no

sense without ’I love literature’)

4. COMPOUND-COMPLEX
It contains minimum 3 clauses: 2 independent clauses and one or more dependent
clauses.

 I love literature, but my favourite subject is history because it’s more interesting.

The types of sentences you use in your writing might make a big difference:

 if you use simple sentences only, it will be boring and unsophisticated

 if you use compound-complex sentences with lots of dependent clauses, it will be
difficult to understand

My advice is to vary the length of your sentences to keep your readers entertained.

Read more:
4 Main Types of Sentence Structures

To get the word order right in long sentences, you can do two things:
1. read a lot
2. practise
Reading is obviously a great excercise, you’ll see hundreds and hundreds of correct
sentences which will help you form a subconscious understanding of how sentences
work. You can start with easier texts to familiarize yourself with the basic structures first.
Practice is essential if you want to improve, so start writing right now. Visit our facebook
page and join the conversation there. Keep a diary or write a blog about something
you’re interested in. Write poems and short stories. Anything that will make you
construct sentences in English.

Read more:
18 Powerful Websites to Improve Your Writing Skills in English
LIVE Video Chat Room For English Learners
6 Ways to Improve Your English Writing Skills Using Cool Websites

There’s a game I like to play with my students:

I write a simple sentence on the board then see how many words they can add to it to
 make it longer and longer. This is a really useful exercise.
We might start with:

 I called Jenny yesterday.

Then start adding words:

 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday.

 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday to talk about the reception.
 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday to talk about the wedding reception.
 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday morning to talk about the wedding reception.
 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday morning to talk about the wedding reception
again.
 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday morning to talk about the wedding reception
again because she had forgotten to call us back.
 My mother and I called Jenny yesterday morning to talk about the wedding reception
again because she had forgotten to call us back as usual.

OK, this last one might be a bit too long

I hope you’ve find this useful. Remember, it’s good practice to write, so feel free to ask
questions or share your own tips with us.

Read more:
List of Sentence Connectors in English with Examples!
Examples of Conjunction Words in a Sentence!
How can I improve my comprehension of sentence structure in English?

Simple sentences:

A simple sentence has only one clause:

The children were laughing.

John wanted a new bicycle.
All the girls are learning English.

Compound sentences:

A compound sentence has two or more clauses:

(We stayed behind) and (finished the job)

(We stayed behind) and (finished the job), then (we went home)

The clauses in a compound sentence are joined by co-ordinating conjunctions:

 John shouted and everybody waved.
We looked everywhere but we couldn’t find him.
They are coming by car so they should be here soon.

The common coordinating conjunctions are:

and – but – or – nor – so – then – yet

Complex sentences:

A complex sentence has a main clause and one or more adverbial clauses.
Adverbial clauses usually come after the main clause:

Her father died when she was very young

>>>
Her father died (main clause)
when (subordinating conjunction)
she was very young (adverbial clause)

She had a difficult childhood because her father died when she was very young.
>>>
She had a difficult childhood (main clause)
because (subordinating conjunction)
her father died (adverbial clause)
when (subordinating conjunction)
she was very young (adverbial clause).

Some subordinate clauses can come in front of the main clause:

Although a few snakes are dangerous most of them are quite harmless
>>>
Although (subordinating conjunction)
some snakes are dangerous (adverbial clause)
most of them are harmless (main clause).

A sentence can contain both subordinate and coordinate clauses:

Although she has always lived in France, she speaks fluent English because her
mother was American and her father was Nigerian
>>>
Although (subordinating conjunction)
she has always lived in France (adverbial clause),
she speaks fluent English (main clause)
because (subordinating conjunction)
her mother was American (adverbial clause)
and (coordinating conjunction)
her father was Nigerian (adverbial clause).

There are seven types of adverbial clauses:

 Common conjunctions

Contrast clauses although; though; even though; while;

Reason clauses because; since; as

Place clauses where; wherever; everywhere

Purpose clauses so that; so; because + want

Result clauses so that; so … that; such … that

when; before; after; since; while; as; as soon as; by the time;
Time clauses
until

Conditional
if; unless; provided (that); as long as
clauses

Sentence and sentence structure

What is a sentence?

In grammar, a sentence is the basic grammatical unit. It contains a group of words and
expresses a complete thought.

A sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. For example in the sentence "Bill writes
good poems" Bill is the subject of the sentence and writes good poems is the predicate.

Simple and complex sentences

Simple sentences contain one clause:

 The girl is learning how to drive

Complex sentences contain more than one clause.

 The girl who is learning how to drive is still twelve years old.
 She faced the whole trouble with courage and managed to solve the problem all by
herself.

Types of sentences

There are four types of sentences:

1. Declarative sentence
Applicants will be answered in due time. (It makes a statement.)
2. Imperative sentence
Show me your photo album, please. ( Gives a command or makes a request.)
3. Interrogative sentence
Do you like this photo? (Asks a question.)
4. Exclamatory sentence
What a beautiful dress she is wearing ! (Shows strong feeling)

You may also be interested in:

Parts of speech
Subject
Verb
Predicate
Direct and indirect objects
Sentence