What are the three types of simple sentences?

The Mastering the Mechanics webinar series also describes required sentence elements and varying sentence types. Please see these archived webinars for more information.

Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular font = prepositional phrase

Independent clause: An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. It contains a subject and a verb and is a complete idea.

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Dependent clause: A dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It must be attached to an independent clause to become complete. This is also known as a subordinate clause.

• Although I like spaghetti,…
• Because he reads many books,…

Subject: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that does an action. Determine the subject in a sentence by asking the question “Who or what?”

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Verb: Expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does. Determine the verb in a sentence by asking the question “What was the action or what happened?”

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.
• The movie is good. (The be verb is also sometimes referred to as a copula or a linking verb. It links the subject, in this case "the movie," to the complement or the predicate of the sentence, in this case, "good.")

Object: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that receives the action. Determine the object in a sentence by asking the question “The subject did what?” or “To whom?/For whom?”

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Prepositional Phrase: A phrase that begins with a preposition (i.e., in, at for, behind, until, after, of, during) and modifies a word in the sentence. A prepositional phrase answers one of many questions. Here are a few examples: “Where? When? In what way?”

A sentence may be one of four kinds, depending upon the number and type(s) of clauses it contains.

        Review:

        An independent clause  contains a subject, a verb, and a complete thought.

        A dependent clause contains a subject and a verb, but no complete thought.

1. A SIMPLE SENTENCE has one independent clause.

Punctuation note:  NO commas separate two compound elements (subject, verb, direct object, indirect object, subjective complement, etc.) in a simple sentence.

2. A COMPOUND SENTENCE has two independent clauses joined by

        A.  a (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so),

        B.  a (e.g. however, therefore), or

        C.  a alone.

    Punctuation patterns (to match A, B, and C above):

        A. Independent clause, coordinating conjunction  independent clause.

        B. Independent clause; conjunctive adverb, independent clause.

        C. Independent clause; independent clause.

3. A COMPLEX SENTENCE has one (headed by a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun ) joined to an .

We all know what sentences are, but do you know the different types of sentence structures and how to form them?

There are four different types of sentences in English; simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences. This explanation is all about simple sentences.

Keep reading to find out more (p.s that's a simple sentence!)

Simple sentence meaning

A simple sentence is, as the name suggests, the simplest type of sentence. It has a straightforward structure and consists of only one independent clause. You use simple sentences when you want to give direct and clear information. Simple sentences communicate things clearly because they make sense independently and don't have any additional information.

Clauses are the building blocks of sentences. There are two types of clauses: independent and dependent clauses. Independent clauses work on their own, and dependent clauses rely on other parts of the sentence. Every clause, independent or dependent, must contain a subject and a verb.

Simple sentence structure

Simple sentences only contain one independent clause, and this independent clause must have a subject and a verb. Simple sentences can also include an object and/or a modifier, but these aren't necessary.

A simple sentence can contain multiple subjects or multiple verbs and still be a simple sentence as long as another clause is not added. If a new clause is added, the sentence is no longer considered a simple sentence.

Simple sentence: Tom, Amy, and James were running together. Not a Simple Sentence: Tom, Amy, and James were running together when Amy sprained her ankle and Tom carried her home.

Simple sentence examples

Here are some examples of simple sentences. The subject and verb have been highlighted:

• John waited for the taxi.

• Ice melts at zero degrees celsius.

• I drink tea every morning.

• The children are walking to school.

• The dog stretched.

Did you notice how each example sentence only gives us one piece of information? No extra information has been added to the sentences using extra clauses.

Now that we've seen some examples of simple sentences, let's look at a piece of text where simple sentences are used frequently. Remember, in imperative sentences, the subject is implied. So, the sentence 'Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius' actually reads as '(You) heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius'.

Take a look; can you spot all the simple sentences?

Cooking Instructions:

Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Start by weighing the flour. Now sieve the flour into a large bowl. Measure out the sugar. Mix together the flour and sugar. Create a dip in the dry ingredients and add the eggs and melted butter. Now mix all the ingredients together. Whisk the mixture until fully combined. Pour the mixture into a cake tin. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Let it cool before serving.

Below, we can see how many simple sentences there are in this text:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Start by weighing the flour.
3. Now sieve the flour into a large bowl.
4. Measure out the sugar.
5. Mix together the flour and sugar.
6. Now mix all the ingredients together.
7. Whisk the mixture until fully combined.
8. Pour the mixture into a cake tin.
9. Cook for 20-25 minutes.
10. Let it cool before serving.

You can see that the majority of sentences in this text are simple. Instructions are a great example of when simple sentences can be helpful, as shown in the example above. Simple sentences are direct and clear - perfect for giving informative instructions that are easy to understand.

Let's think a bit more about why we use simple sentences, both in writing and in spoken language.

Types of simple sentences

There are three different types of simple sentences; single subject and verb, compound verb, and compound subject. The type of sentence it is depends on the number of verbs and subjects the sentence contains.

Single subject and verb simple sentences

As the name suggests, single subject and verb simple sentences contain only one subject and one verb. They are the most basic form of a sentence.

• The cat jumped.
• The black dress looks nice.
• You must try.

Compound verb simple sentences

Compound verb simple sentences contain more than one verb within a single clause.

• She jumped and shouted with joy.
• They walked and talked the whole way home.
• He bent down and picked up the kitten.

Compound subject simple sentences

Compound subject simple sentences contain more than one subject within a single clause.

• Harry and Beth went shopping.
• The class and the teacher visited the museum.
• Batman and Robin saved the day.

When to use simple sentences

We use simple sentences all the time in both spoken and written language. Simple sentences are used when we want to give a piece of information, give instructions or demands, talk about a single event, make an impact in our writing, or when speaking to someone whose first language is not the same as our own.

In a more complex text, simple sentences should be balanced out with other sentence types, as a text would be considered boring if it only contained simple sentences. This is the same with every sentence type - no one would want to read something where all the sentences are of a similar structure and length!

How to identify simple sentences

We use clauses to identify a type of sentence. In this case, simple sentences contain only one independent clause. These sentences are usually quite short and do not contain additional information.

Other types of sentences contain a different amount of independent and dependent clauses:

We can therefore identify each sentence type by deciding whether a dependent clause is used and by looking at the number of independent clauses that the sentence contains. But remember, when it comes to simple sentences, we are only looking for a single independent clause!

This is a simple sentence. We know this as we can see there is one independent clause that contains a subject and a verb. The short length of the sentence further indicates that it is a simple sentence.

Jennifer decided she wanted to start scuba diving.

This is also a simple sentence, even though the clause is longer. Because the length of sentences varies, we rely on the type of clause to identify different types of sentences.

Simple Sentence - Key takeaways

• A simple sentence is a type of sentence. The four types of sentences are simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

• Simple sentences are formed using an independent clause. Clauses are the building blocks for sentences, and independent clauses work on their own.

• Simple sentences are direct, easy to understand, and clear about their information.

• Simple sentences must contain a subject and a verb. They can optionally also have an object and/or a modifier.

  What are the 3 simple sentences?

  Simple Sentences Joe waited for the train. The train was late. Mary and Samantha took the bus. I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station.

  What are 3 main components of simple sentence?

  What are the Parts of the Sentence? Within a sentence, there are three main parts that make up a sentence: the subject, the verb, and the complement.

  What are the types of sentences simple?

  Simple Sentences A simple sentence contains a single independent clause—that is, a subject and a predicate that form a complete thought: It is an ice cream cone.

  What are the 4 types of simple sentences?

  The 4 English Sentence Types.

  declarative sentence (statement).

  interrogative sentence (question).

  imperative sentence (command).

  exclamative sentence (exclamation).