Sentence Types

Building Blocks of Bigger Ideas

You now have the building blocks: phrases and clauses. But how do we put them together? The answer is to create different types of sentences. A simple sentence uses one independent clause. A compound sentence joins two independent clauses. A complex sentence combines an independent clause with a dependent clause. And a compound-complex sentence uses both structures. The ability to use all these types makes your writing more engaging and mature. This final unit brings together everything you've learned to show how sentences are constructed.

Sentence type (by structure) refers to how many and what kinds of clauses a sentence contains.