Following by - In the complex sentence examples shown below, the independent clause comes first. Notice that in most examples there is no separation of the clauses by a comma, which is the general rule in complex sentences starting with an independent clause. However, the last example has a comma as it is an example of an extreme contrast. This extreme contrast refers to the clauses expressing ideas that are almost opposite in meaning or that must be heavily emphasized.
- Having a party is a bad idea because the neighbors will complain.
- I am extremely happy since I retired.
- The dog jumped on his lap while he was eating.
- Annie was still crying, although she had been happy about the news.
Independent and dependent clauses - I like to eat candy before I watch a movie.
- As we stated earlier, “I like to eat candy” is an independent clause. It makes sense as a standalone sentence. “Before I watch a movie” does not make sense on its own. However, let’s tweak the sentence a bit:
- I like to eat candy, but I don’t like to eat popcorn.
- The sentence now contains two independent clauses, as “I like to eat candy” and “I don’t like to eat popcorn” could both form complete sentences. The example has now become a compound sentence, i.e. one that contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (but).
- However…
- I like to eat candy (independent clause – makes sense on its own).
- Because I like to eat candy (dependent clause – does not make sense on its own without more information).
- As we have seen with the previous examples, the structure for a complex sentence essentially looks like this:
- Dependent Clause + Independent Clause (comma splits the clause)
- Independent Clause + Dependent Clause (comma usually does not split the clause)
- So, using that structure we can easily form examples of complex sentences:
- Because she was scoring many baskets, Elesa was considered the best player on the team.
- Elesa was considered the best player on the team because she was scoring many baskets.
- Since Hannah got here, she’s been nothing but trouble.
- Hannah has been nothing but trouble since she got here.
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