Sentence structure

In a nutshell

A sentence is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb and expresses one thought. Words are the basic building blocks of a sentence. Words can form phrases and clauses. A combination of words, phrases and clauses can form three types of sentences, namely, simple, compound and complex sentences.

Words

Words are the basic building blocks of a sentence. Words by themselves can’t express a thought, but in combination, they can form thoughts and ideas.

Examples

Phrases

A phrase is a group of two or more words that provides a piece of meaningful information. Phrases don’t contain a subject and a verb. There are different kinds of phrases, but that’s for another time.

 
Examples

Clauses

A clause, on the other hand, is a group of words that includes a verb but might still not form a complete thought (as a sentence does).

Examples

Sentences

A sentence, compared to a clause, includes a subject and a verb to form a complete thought.

Examples

Sentence structures

There are three types of sentence structures you need to learn: simple, compound and complex sentences.

​

Simple sentences

A simple sentence is just a normal sentence. In other words, it is a main clause that contains a subject and a verb, just as in the examples above.

Compound sentences

A compound sentence is just two simple sentences (i.e. two main clauses) compounded (combined) using coordinating conjunctions (remember these?). The easiest way to remember the coordinating conjunctions is by memorising the mnemonic device, FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So).

Examples

He sits in the sun, and eats butter popcorn.

It was raining, so I took an umbrella.

Complex sentences

A complex sentence is slightly different because it contains a subordinate clause. Subordinate clauses provide sentences with extra detail.

Example

Now that I have saved up, I can buy a bike.

A complex sentence consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause: