Compound sentences

There are three types of sentences in English language:

simple, compound and complex sentence.
1. SIMPLE SENTENCE:
A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a
subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought.
Some students like to study in the mornings.
Juan and Linda play football every afternoon.
Selma goes to the library and studies every day.

2. COMPOUND SENTENCE:
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by
a coordinator. The coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but,
or, yet, so.
Coordinators are always preceded by a comma except for very
short sentences.
I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak
English.
Ali played football, so Ahmad went shopping.
Rami played football, for Maria went shopping.
The above three sentences are compound sentences. Each
sentence contains two independent clauses, and they are joined
by a coordinator with a comma preceding it. Note how the
conscious use of coordinators can change the relationship
between the clauses. Sentences B and C, for example, are
identical except for the coordinators. In sentence B, which action
occurred first? Obviously, "Ali played football" first, and as a
consequence, "Ahmad went shopping. In sentence C, "Maria went
shopping" first. In sentence C, "Ali played football" because,
possibly, he didn't have anything else to do, for or because "Maria
went shopping."

3. COMPLEX SENTENCE:
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A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or

more dependent clauses. 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.
When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the
teacher the last page.
The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the
error.
The students are studying because they have a test
tomorrow.
After they finished studying, Ali and Maria went to the
movies.
Ali and Maria went to the movies after they finished studying.
When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as
sentences A and D, a comma is required at the end of the
dependent clause. When the independent clause begins the
sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences B, C,
and E, no comma is required. If a comma is placed before the
subordinators in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong. Note that
sentences D and E are the same except sentence D begins with
the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence
E begins with the independent clause which contains no comma.
The comma after the dependent clause in sentence D is required,
and experienced listeners of English will often hear a slight pause
there. In sentence E, however, there will be no pause when the
independent clause begins the sentence.

COMPLEX SENTENCES / ADJECTIVE CLAUSES:

Finally, sentences containing adjective clauses (or dependent
clauses) are also complex because they contain an independent
clause and a dependent clause.
The woman who(m) my mom talked to sells cosmetics.
The book that Jonathan read is on the shelf.
The house grandpa was born in is still standing.
The city where I grew up is in Jordan.

Subject Verb Agreement

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The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea

that is doing or being something. You can find the subject of a
sentence if you can find the verb. Ask the question, "Who or what
'verbs'?" and the answer to that question is the subject. For
instance, in the sentence "The computers in the Learning Center
must be replaced," the verb is "must be replaced." What must be
replaced? The computers. So the subject is "computers." A simple
subject is the subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers. The
simple subject of the following sentence is issue:
The really important issue of the conference, stripped of all
other considerations, is the morality of the nation.
Sometimes, though, a simple subject can be more than one
word, even an entire clause. In the following sentence
What he had already forgotten about computer repair could
fill whole volumes,
the simple subject is not "computer repair," nor is it "what he had
forgotten," nor is it "he." Ask what it is that "could fill whole
volumes." Your answer should be that the entire underlined clause
is the simple subject.
In English, the subject of a command, order, or suggestion
you, the person being directed is usually left out of the sentence
and is said to be the understood subject:

[You] Step lively there or I'll leave you behind!

Before assembling the swing set, [you] read these
instructions carefully.
For purposes of sentence analysis, the doer or the initiator of
action in a sentence is referred to as the agent of the sentence. In
an active sentence, the subject is the agent:
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The Johnsons added a double garage to their house.

The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.
In a passive sentence, the agent is not the subject. In fact,
sometimes a passive sentence will not contain an agent.

The dean's report was reviewed by the faculty

senate.
Three cities in the country's interior were bombed.
A final s or es is added to noun to make the noun plural.
Friend= a singular noun
Friends= a plural noun
Verb+-s: Mary works at the bank.
Verb +-es: John watches birds.
A final s or es is added to a simple present verb when the
subject is a singular noun (e.g., Mary, my father, the machine) or
third person singular pronoun (he, she, it).
Mary works = singular.
The students work = plural.

Using Verbs Correctly

Subjects and verbs must agree (be consistent) in terms of tense,
number, person, and gender.
Achieving Tense Agreement: Past, Present, and Future
Tense refers to time, be it past, present, or future.
Yesterday, I wrote several e-mails to our customers. (past
tense)
write to several customers each day. (present tense)
Tomorrow, I will write to several customers. (future) .
Recognizing Other Changes in Verb Form
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Whether the verb has a singular or a plural subject and whether

the subject is in the first, second, or third person will usually affect
the form of the verb. For example, notice the change in the verbs
do, am, and was as the subject changes from first person to
second person, from singular to plural, and so on:

Subject

Do

Am Was

do

am

Was

we

do

are

were

you

do

are

were

he/she/it does is

Was

they

were

do

are

Making Subjects and Verbs Agree:

1. When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more
nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb.
She and her friends are at the fair.
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2. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are

connected by or, or nor, use a singular verb.
The book or the pen is in the drawer.
3. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a

plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should

agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.
The boy or his friends run every day.
His friends or the boy runs every day.
4. Doesn't is a contraction of does not and should be used only
with a singular subject. Don't is a contraction of do not and
should be used only with a plural subject. The exception to
this rule appears in the case of the first person and second
person pronouns I and you. With these pronouns, the
contraction don't should be used.
He doesn't like it.
They don't like it.
5. Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the
subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not
with a noun or pronoun in the phrase.
One of the boxes is open
The people who listen to that music are few.
The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious.
The book, including all the chapters in the first section, is
boring.
The woman with all the dogs walks down my street.
6. The words each, each one, either, neither, everyone,
everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone,
and no one are singular and require a singular verb.
Each of these hot dogs is juicy.
Everybody knows Mr. Jones.
Either is correct.
7. Nouns such as civics, mathematics, dollars, measles, and
news require singular verbs.
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The news is on at six.

Note: the word dollars is a special case. When talking about an
amount of money, it requires a singular verb, but when referring to
the dollars themselves, a plural verb is required.
Five dollars is a lot of money.
Dollars are often used instead of rubles in Russia.
8. Nouns such as scissors, tweezers, trousers, and shears
require plural verbs. (There are two parts to these things.)
These scissors are dull.
Those trousers are made of wool.
9. In sentences beginning with there is or there are, the subject
follows the verb. Since there is not the subject, the verb
agrees with what follows.
There are many questions.
There is a question.

10.
Collective nouns are words that imply more than one
person but that are considered singular and take a singular
verb, such as: group, team, committee, class, and family.
The team runs during practice.
The committee decides how to proceed.
The family has a long history.
My family has never been able to agree.
In some cases in American English, a sentence may call for the
use of a plural verb when using a collective noun.
The crew are preparing to dock the ship.
This sentence is referring to the individual efforts of each crew
member.
11.
Expressions such as with, together with, including,
accompanied by, in addition to, or as well do not change the
number of the subject. If the subject is singular, the verb is
too.
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The President, accompanied by his wife, is traveling to

India.
All of the books, including yours, are in that box.

VERB TENSE CONSISTENCY:

Verb tense indicates the time of the verb: past, present, or future,
illustrating when an action takes place: After I get the call from
the school (present), I will call my parents (future).
When you write a paragraph, you need to be particularly careful
about verb tenses throughout the entire paragraph. Unnecessary
shifts in verb tenses can cause confusion.
I jumped when I heard the door slam. I run to the window to see if
there were any cars outside. I stood frozen in the room, wondering
what to do, so I fly up the stairs.
Suddenly, as we were running toward the end zone, a huge
dog jumps in front of the quarterback.
Dr. Eggleston was talking to the students about statistical
analysis. She frowns when a loud hammering suddenly
drowned out her voice.

Of course, there are occasions where it is necessary to shift

tenses, however, but just make sure you have a specific reason for
doing so:

Students today remember very little about the Challenger

explosion other than the films they watched in grade school.
Read the following paragraph, paying attention to the highlighted
verbs. Change any verbs which are not consistent:
I used to think I want to major in biology. After taking a biology
class my first semester, however, I realize that perhaps biology
was not for me. I decided not to worry about it and to just take
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classes that fulfilled my core requirements. I took a journalism

class and I loved it. I have decided to major in journalism, and I
felt confident that this is the right decision.
Compare the paragraph above to the corrected version below:
I used to think I wanted to major in biology. After taking a biology
class my first semester, however, I realized that perhaps biology
was not for me. I decided not to worry about it and to just take
classes that fulfilled my core requirements. I took a journalism
class and I loved it. I have decided to major in journalism, and I
feel confident that this is the right decision.

Practice
1.

VERB TENSE CONSISTENCY EXERCISE:

Do any of the verbs need to be changed in the following paragraphs?

1. Getting used to living in the dorms can be hard for some

students, particularly if they have never had to share a room
with someone else. If you want to make your transition as
easy as possible, you should consider talking to your
roommate about the things you wanted from your living
situation. Deciding on how you will communicate your
feelings to each other made it easier when problems arose.
2. Going to a concert can be dangerous these days. I went to
Woodstock this past summer and I saw two people seriously
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hurt in the mosh pit where everyone dance. I saw one girl fall
down and when I ran over to her to see if she needed help,
she says, "I think I've twisted my ankle." I help her out of the
crowd and over to a medical tent. I was glad I had seen her
fall or she could have been crushed.
3. Last night, I went to Ames Cafeteria to see the comedian. It
is very exciting, and he was really funny. I just wish it start a
little earlier than 10 p.m. I find it hard to stay out until
midnight and then got up for an 8:00 class.
4.

Working as a teachers aid in Lebanon last year shows me

that I would like to be a teacher. The students always
responded to me very well, and I had a lot of fun. One of my
favorite students is Jeremy, a fourth-grader who had a
stuttering problem. I really related to him because I stutter
as a child as well. I think I really help Jeremy's selfconfidence, and I hope he is continuing to work with the
speech therapist.

2. Choose the correct verb.

1. They enjoy eating and they (Marvel/Marveled) at the variety
of food available in supermarkets in the U.S.
2. The photograph faded from too much sun, and the original,
brightly-printed fabric on the sofa (Lose/Loses/Lost) much
of its color, too.
3. Hassan explored the subway system during their visit to New
York City, Lila investigated attractions such as the Empire
State Building, and Ali (Goes/Went) to more ethnic
restaurants than his stomach could hold.
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4. Did you go to the video store and return the video? And did
you (Rewind/Rewound) it first?

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