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CSTW Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing

College of Humanities

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Drafting and Style

Sentence Types

A complete sentence contains at least two parts:
  • Subject
  • Verb
More complicated sentences may also include:
  • Phrases (i.e. prepositional phrases beginning with "in," "of," or "for")
  • Clauses (i.e. relative clauses such as "which" clauses)
Sentences fall into three main types:
  • Simple sentence
  • Compound sentence
  • Complex sentence
Use these different types of sentences to make your style more varied.
  • Simple sentence: A simple sentence contains one subject and one verb:

    Martin Luther King Jr. died in 1968.

    Subject
    Verb
    Prepositional Phrase
    Martin Luther King, Jr.
    died
    in 1968.

    Simple sentences can also take an object (the thing begin acted on):

    Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Civil Rights movement.

    Subject
    Verb
    Object
    Martin Luther King, Jr.
    Martin Luther King, Jr.
    the Civil Rights movement.

  • Compound sentence: A compound sentence joins together two complete simple sentences with a comma and conjunction (i.e. "and," "but," or "or"):

    Martin Luther King, Jr. led the movement, but many southern whites opposed him.

    Subject 1
    Verb 1
    Object
    Comma + Conjunction
    Subject 2
    Verb 2
    Object
    Martin Luther King, Jr.
    led
    the civil rights movement.
    , but
    many southern whites
    opposed
    him.

  • Complex sentence: A complex sentence begins with a word like "although," "if" or "because." A complex sentence contains one complete simple sentence (called the "independent clause," and one incomplete simple sentence (called the "dependent" clause because it depends on the other clause to complete the thought). Use a comma to join the two clauses.

    Though Martin Luther King, Jr. died in 1968, he inspires many today.

    Dependent Clause
    Comma
    Independent Clause
    Though Martin Luther King, Jr. died in 1968
    ,
    he inspires many today

    The complex sentence can also be flipped around:

    Martin Luther King, Jr. inspires many today, though he died in 1968.

    Independent Clause
    Comma
    Dependent Clause
    Martin Luther King, Jr. inspires many today
    ,
    though he died in 1968.