Teaching Sentences: Simple, Compound, Complex, Compound-Complex

Sentences can be categorized in two ways: by their function and by their form.

Sentence Types by Function

Definition: Sentence types by function are based on the type of information it conveys, a sentence may be declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory.

1. Declarative Sentences

Definition: A declarative sentence is a statement. It ends in a period.

Aisha writes the report.
He eats bread in breakfast.
She takes bath daily.

2. Imperative Sentences

Definition: An imperative sentence is either a command or a request. It also requires a period as its terminal punctuation.

Write the report, Maha.
Aisha, would you please write the report.
Please, do not disturb me.

Would you please, show the right way.

3. Interrogative Sentences

Definition: An interrogative sentence is a question and ends in a question mark.

Is Aisha writing the report?
Are they going school?

4. Exclamatory Sentences

Definition: An exclamatory sentence is an exclamation and ends in an exclamation mark.

I can’t believe Maha is writing the report!

Alas! He failed in the examination!

Sentence Types by Form
Definition: Sentence types are based on its structure, a sentence may be categorized as simple, compound, or complex.

1. Simple Sentences

Definition: A simple sentence is composed of one independent clause.

The boy threw the ball.

He got an accident.

They ran from home.

2. Compound Sentences

Definition: A compound sentence includes two or more independent clauses linked by a conjunction, semicolon, or colon.

The boy threw the ball, and he ran away.
The boy threw the ball; he ran away.
The boy threw the ball: He ran away.

The girl topped in the examination, and she got job in an office.
The girl topped in the examination; she got job in an office.

The girl topped in the examination: she got job in an office.

Note: The clauses in a compound sentence are given equal emphasis.

3. Complex Sentences

Definition: A complex sentence is composed of at least one independent or subordinate clause and one dependent clause.

Note: a clause that cannot stand alone as a separate sentence since its meaning depends on the meaning of the main clause and simply gives additional information. In the sentence;

“We had to run because we were late,”

The clause “because we were late” is

the subordinate clause and

“We had to run” is the main clause. Also called dependent clause

When the boy threw the ball, he ran away.
When she went there, she took breakfast.

The independent clause expresses the main idea of the sentence, while the dependent clause functions as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun. Therefore the students are supposed to study carefully at home to understand the nature of each noun and its usages.

Practice at home from simple to complex sentences in different style. Start the simple sentences and slowly and slowly go to the complex and imperative sentences. In the beginning always write single sentences and after this try to join the single sentences into the shape of a solid paragraph so that the concept made clear.

In the broader sense these are the same sentences that we speak in our daily language at home and out of home. In the beginning you will feel a bit difficulty but after one week you will be the master of using these sentences easily. First write on the paper and then try to speak loudly at home so that your accent could be clear from the very beginning since the in which you are reading.

Imperative, declarative and interrogative sentences are spoken commonly at home and out of home everywhere all over the world. In the beginning these sentences look a bit difficult but its nature is simple but its construction is difficult for lay students.