Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is a writing lesson,

  • but it's also a spoken English lesson. It's about anything to do with English,

  • because we're going to

  • be looking at sentence types. Now, of course, when you speak, you're using all kinds of

  • sentence types. But, especially in writing, it's important to know the different types

  • of sentences, because, especially if you're going to be writing tests, they want to see

  • sentence variety. And even if you're not writing tests, anything you write, if you're using

  • only one type of sentence, your writing becomes very bland, very boring, very hard to follow,

  • because it's a little bit monotone. So what you need to do is you need to vary... You

  • need a variety of sentence structures in your writing to give it a little bit more life.

  • Okay?

  • Luckily, you only need to know four sentence types. We have simple sentences, compound

  • sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex. Now, this is not exactly easy, but it's not

  • exactly hard, either. If you figure out what you need to have in each one, in each sentence

  • type, just make sure it's there. Okay? Let's start.

  • A simple sentence has one independent clause. A little bit of review: What is an independent

  • clause? An independent clause has a subject and a verb, and can complete an idea. It can

  • stand by itself, because the idea in that clause is complete. I don't need to add anything

  • else to it. Okay.

  • A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses, joined by a conjunction.

  • A compound conjunction: "and", "but", "or", "so", "for" (not very common), etc. So, we join two independent

  • clauses with a compound conjunction. You can have more, but again, you have to be a little

  • bit careful. Once you get to three, start to look for a way to finish your sentence,

  • because if you get to the fourth, you already have a crazy sentence that has the... Runs

  • the risk of being a run-on sentence. Eventually, you're going to make a mistake, you're going

  • to miss something, and the whole sentence falls apart. I don't recommend three, but

  • you can put three.

  • Then we have a complex sentence. A complex sentence has one independent clause, plus

  • one or more dependent clause. A dependent clause is a clause that has a subject and

  • a verb, but cannot stand by itself. It is not a complete idea. It has some sort of relationship

  • to the independent clause. We have three types of dependent clauses. We have noun clauses,

  • we have adjective clauses, and we have adverb clauses. Okay? That's a whole separate lesson.

  • You can look at that later. But you have to have one of these, plus one of these, and

  • you have a complex sentence.

  • Next we have a compound-complex sentence. Here you have two or more independent clauses,

  • again, joined by a conjunction, and one or more dependent clause. Okay? So you have basically

  • all the elements in this sentence.

  • Then, once you have all this stuff, you can add as many complements, or basically extras,

  • as you want. So, let's look at an example. We're going to start with the simple sentence:

  • "Layla studied biology."

  • Very simple. I have a subject, I have a verb, I have an object.

  • Okay? This is a simple sentence. It's an independent clause; it can stand by itself as a complete

  • idea. Now, I can add anything I want to this that is not another clause of any type, and

  • it'll still be a simple sentence. So I can say:

  • "My friend Layla studied biology in university."

  • I'll just say "uni" for short. I have more information, but do I have a different type

  • of sentence? No. It's still a simple sentence.

  • Now, let's look at this sentence. First, let me read it to you:

  • "Even with the weather being that nasty, the couple and their families decided to go ahead with the wedding as planned."

  • Now you're thinking: "Wow, that's got to be a complex sentence", right? "It's so long.

  • There's so much information in it." But, if we look at it carefully, it is still a simple

  • sentence. Why? Because we only have one independent clause. Where is it? Well, find the subject

  • and verb combination first. So, what is the subject in this sentence? I'll give you a

  • few seconds, figure it out. Hit the pause key, look at it.

  • Okay, we're back. Here is the subject:

  • "the couple and their families".

  • Now, don't get confused with this "and". This is not joining another clause to another clause.

  • This is just joining one part of the subject to another part of the subject. So here we have a compound

  • subject, not a compound sentence. So one subject decided. Subject, verb. Do I have any other

  • subjects and verbs? Do I have any other verbs? I have this verb, but this is an infinitive

  • verb, right? A clause only has one tense verb. You can have 10 verbs in a sentence, but only

  • one will be the tense verb in the independent clause. And what goes with this? Nothing.

  • Okay. Oh, here's another verb, but it's not really a verb; it's a participle. Okay? So

  • now, here's my subject, here's my verb, here's my object. This whole thing is the object

  • to "decided". Decided what? To go ahead with the wedding as planned. Even with the weather

  • being that nasty. So all of this is what? This is a phrase. It does not contain a subject,

  • it does not contain a verb. Right? So here I have a simple sentence with lots of additions

  • to it. Okay? Very simple. The key is to recognize what's involved in the sentence. You can have

  • a very long sentence. As long as it only has one subject-verb combination, it is a simple

  • sentence. Okay? Let's look at a few of the other ones now, and see how they work.

  • Okay, so we're back. Let's look at the next set of examples. Let's look at compound sentences.

  • Compound sentences, I only gave you one example here, because it's very straightforward. Have

  • your independent clause, have your compound conjunction, have another independent clause.

  • "I arrived at the office at 9."

  • I could put a period here, and that's a complete sentence.

  • "My assistant came 10 minutes later." This is a complete sentence. Two independent clauses,

  • all I'm doing is joining them with the conjunction "and". But remember, I said you can have one,

  • you can have two... Or you can have two, you can have three independent clauses. I can

  • add another one:

  • "But she was sick so I told her to go home."

  • Now: "I arrived at the office at 9, and my assistant came 10 minutes later, but she was sick so I told her to come...

  • To go home." How many independent clauses do you count, here?

  • One, two, three, four.

  • Now, is this a good sentence? No, it's not. Is it grammatically correct? Yes, it is. So

  • this is okay, but I wouldn't recommend it. I would split this into two sentences. I would

  • put a period here, I would take out the "but", I would say:

  • "She was sick, so I told her to go home."

  • I would just make it a whole two separate ideas, instead of one joined

  • idea. But again, that's up to you. I don't recommend it, but it's grammatically okay.

  • So is a... Also a conjunction. It is not an adverb conjunction, it is a compound conjunction.

  • Next, let's look at complex sentences. And this is where people start getting a little

  • bit scared, but you don't need to be. Just remember: independent clause, dependent clause.

  • "John retired."

  • "John" is the subject, "retired" is the verb, I have a complete idea.

  • That's all I need to know. He doesn't work anymore. But I want to give you more information.

  • "John retired when he turned 65."

  • So this is an adverb clause. Okay? This whole thing is an

  • adverb clause; it has its own subject and verb, and it tells you something about the

  • verb "retired". When did he retire? When he was... When he turned 65. "Turned" means had

  • his birthday. Okay?

  • Now this is, again, this is a complex sentence. It's much longer than this one, but it works

  • in the same way. Let me read it to you:

  • "Whether you agree with me or not makes little difference to our investors,

  • who, by the way, are the ones most affected by whatever mistakes we make."

  • Now you're thinking: "Well, that's a crazy sentence. Where do I start?" Start

  • with the independent clause, always. A little bit trickier here, though. Okay? The easiest

  • way to find your independent clause is first find your tense verbs. Any verb that has a

  • past, present, or future tense in any form, find that first. "Agree". Okay, there's a

  • subject here: "you agree". This is one combination of subject-verb. "Or not", blah, blah, blah,

  • "makes". Well, that "s" tells you that this is a tense verb. Simple present. Okay, we'll

  • figure out where the subject for it is. All right. "Little difference to our investors".

  • Makes what? "Who, by the way, are". So here's another tense verb. And here's your subject

  • for it. Okay? "The ones most affected by whatever mistakes we make". And here's your last one.

  • So now, you're thinking: "Okay, well, I have subject-verb, I have subject-verb, I have

  • subject-verb. Well, where's the verb...? Where's the subject for this verb?" And here it is.

  • Okay? This is a noun clause. Noun clauses act as subjects or objects. Okay? So this

  • is your whole subject, this is your verb. "Little difference to our investors." Now,

  • here, we have an adjective clause describing, telling me something about investors, telling

  • me a little bit extra information about investors.

  • "Who are the ones most affected by", by what?

  • And here we have another noun clause. By what?

  • "By whatever mistakes we make". "Whatever"

  • is the object conjunction. So "mistakes we make", these mistakes.

  • So now, a little bit simpler, I hope, but you still see: I have my independent clause

  • with a noun clause in it, which already makes it a complex sentence, but then I can add

  • others. Okay? I can add as many as I need. This is not a bad sentence, but, remember:

  • If it's getting out of control... If you're writing and it's... Your sentence is just

  • too long, think about cutting it somewhere. Cut it in two, cut it in three, but make it

  • very clear. But at least keep one of the independent clauses in there, so that you still have a

  • complex sentence. Okay?

  • Now, we're going to look at the complex-compound sentence. Now, these can be very tricky, because

  • you obviously have many clauses. You have to identify each one. Let's look at an example.

  • Okay, let's look at our last example. Now, I know you're thinking: "Oh, wait a minute.

  • That's too short. It can't be that complicated." It's not. All the... All the elements that

  • should be there are there. First, let's read it:

  • "Bill voted against the measure because he felt that it wasn't strong enough,

  • but he also offered to continue discussions, which we will do next week."

  • Now, what do I have here? I have compound, means I have to have

  • two independent clauses; and I have complex, means I have to have at least one dependent

  • clauses. So let's look at... For the first independent clause. Again, look for a verb.

  • A tense verb. "Voted". There's a subject, "Bill". We have our subject-verb.

  • "Against the measure", blah, blah, "he felt". So here's a verb, here's another subject, but we know

  • because of the "because", this is part of the dependent clause. "It wasn't". Okay, there

  • we have another verb, we have another subject. We have "that" so that's another dependent

  • clause. Oh, here's our conjunction. Okay? "He", here's our subject, "offered". There's

  • our... "He offered to continue discussions, which we will do", so there's your... Another...

  • Next subject-verb.

  • So, let's break it down again.

  • "Bill voted against the measure." Period. There's a complete idea.

  • Bill, "he", so: "Bill also offered to continue discussions."

  • Period. There's another complete idea.

  • So: "Bill voted against the measure, but he also offered to continue discussions."

  • So there you have your compound. Now, we're giving you a reason. So we have here an adverb

  • clause with reason about why he voted against. "Because he felt". Felt what?

  • "That it wasn't strong enough". So here we have a noun clause, acting as object to "felt."

  • "He also offered to continue discussions, which", so the discussions.

  • "We will continue the discussions next week."

  • So, here, we have an adjective clause. So look at that, I have all three types of dependent

  • clause. I have two independent clauses with a contrasting compound conjunction, and I

  • have a compound-complex conjunction.

  • So, don't be afraid of complex sentence structures. Don't be afraid to have a variety of sentence

  • structures in your writing. It will make your writing better, it will make it more interesting,

  • and if you're doing a test, if you're doing the IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, GRE, GMAT, whatever,

  • this will get you the points. Not doing this won't get you the points that you need. Okay?

  • If you need to ask any questions, go to www.engvid.com and ask me in the comment section there.

  • There will be a... There is a quiz there right now, go do that.

  • Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and I'll see you again soon.

  • Bye.

Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is a writing lesson,

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it