1. Simple Sentence
   1. Bob went to the store.
   2. Bob and Sue went to the store.
   3. Bob and Sue went to the store on the corner near the center of town to buy groceries and to get some drinks for the party.
   4. Bob went to the store and went to the postoffice.
      1. These sentences can be long, but when they are very long they tend to be difficult to read.
          
2. Compound sentences (two complete sentences joined with a conjunction “and,” “but,” “or,” “so,” “yet,” and “for.” See Comma Rules.
    

   Bob went to the store, and Sue went to the office.

   Conjunction

   The negotiations were successful, so the diplomats returned to their homes.

   Conjunction

   We can go to party, or we can go to the dance.

   Conjunction

   Note: Words using conjuncts – see Transition words – bottom of the page are a kind of compound sentence.

   The negotiations ended successfully; therefore, the fighting stopped.

   Conjunct

    

3. Complex sentences. These sentences use subordinators (see the list of words at the top of the transition word page)
    

   Because      the problem proved difficult, they decided to from a committee.

   Subordinator          sentence                   sentence

   The proposal [ that ] we wrote was accepted.

   Subordinator

   The issue, which we thought we had solved, came back to haunt us.

   Subordinator

    

4. Compound –Complex Sentences. These sentences use a conjunction and a subordinator.
    

   The proposal that we wrote was accepted, and we started the project.

   Subordinator                      Conjunction

Phil Druker © 2006  

thompson@uidaho.edu