Sentences come in four basic structures
The types of sentences just referred to are as follow:
Examples:
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She sings.
(One subject and one verb)
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It is raining.
(Subject and verb phrase)
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A big fat monkey sat next to a little monkey.
(Adjectival phrase modifying subject)
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The doctor and the patient are brothers.
(Compound subject in bold)
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He sneezes and coughs the whole day.
(Compound verb in bold)
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Covering with flies, the unknown thing smells strongly of rotten fish.
(Present participle phrase in bold modifying subject)
Examples:
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She sang and he listened.
(Two independent clauses forming a compound sentence are very short, a comma before the coordinating conjunction may be omitted.)
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He is skinny and she is obese.
(Two main clauses joined by a conjunction.)
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Mary is jogging, but her husband is sleeping.
(Two main clauses joined by a conjunction.)
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The children went for a swim; their parents built sandcastles.
(Semi-colon is used.)
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We have to leave before seven; otherwise, we will not arrive in time.
(Conjunctive adverb connecting two clauses.)
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He gave them a warning: either they behaved, or they would be told to leave.
(Colon is used.)
A subordinate clause cannot stand on its own as a sentence. It has to join a main clause to form a complete sentence as is shown here with the subordinate clauses in bold.
Examples:
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I stay away from her as she is a big bully.
(Comma is not required as subordinate clause follows main clause.)
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As she is a big bully, I stay away from her.
(If subordinate clause comes earlier in the sentence, it is separated by a comma.)
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She is eating less and less because she is overweight.
(Subordinate clause follows main clause, so no comma is required.)
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When she saw a rat in the kitchen, she screamed until her children rushed downstairs.
(This sentence has a main clause and two subordinate clauses.)
Compound-complex sentence
A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. The compound-complex sentence is a combination of a compound sentence and a complex sentence. Like the compound sentence, it has at least two independent clauses, and it has at least one subordinate clause like the complex sentence.
Examples:
The following show sentences containing both main clauses and subordinate clauses. The subordinate clauses are in bold.
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Since we arrived here this morning, we have been watching many vultures circling overhead and as many perching on top of the cliff.
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Jane had to go somewhere, and she wanted me to look after her baby as if I had nothing else to do.