Hi, I'm Ashley and here's Mia. In this video, we'll learn about complex sentences. Are you ready?
Let's go! First, let's review some things that you already know about sentences. You know a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought, and a clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate, or we could say a subject and verb.
And you also know that an independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence. Okay, let's review a couple more things you've learned. You know that a subordinating conjunction joins a dependent clause to an independent clause.
The most commonly used subordinating conjunctions are "after," "although," "as," "when," "while," "until," "before," "because," "if," and "since. " Remember the nonsense word "AAAWWUBBIS"? That can help you to remember them all.
All right, one more thing. A dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence. It has a subject and a verb, but it begins with a subordinating conjunction.
That's why a dependent clause is also known as a subordinate clause. Whew, that was a lot to review, but it's all very important in understanding complex sentences. A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
So, we could have a simple sentence like "Josh likes to play outside," and we could add a dependent clause to it, like "when the sun is shining," and voila, we have created a complex sentence. It has one independent clause and one dependent clause and the subordinating conjunction "when. " In this complex sentence, the dependent clause comes first before the independent clause.
When the dependent clause comes first, it must be followed by a comma because we are placing it before the subject of the sentence, in this case, "Josh. " However, the dependent clause can also be placed after the independent clause, and when that happens, no comma is needed. Read with me: "Josh likes to play outside when the sun is shining.
" We still have our dependent clause, but it comes after the independent clause, so there's no need for a comma here. Okay, let's make a complex sentence. Remember, it will need a dependent clause, like "if I prove that I am responsible.
" That's a dependent clause because it has a subject and a verb, and it begins with a subordinating conjunction. If we add an independent clause, we have a complex sentence: "If I prove that I am responsible, my parents said we can get a puppy. " Oh, how cute!
Since the dependent clause comes first, we add a comma. But we can also reverse the order of the clauses, and no comma is needed, like "My parents said we can get a puppy if I prove that I am responsible. " Let's try another complex sentence.
We'll start with a dependent clause. How about "because it was raining"? It has a subject and a verb, but the subordinating conjunction "because" makes it a dependent clause.
What's an independent clause we could add to form a complete sentence? Maybe "Because it was raining, I took my umbrella with me. " Since the dependent clause comes first, we add a comma, but remember, we can reverse the order of the clauses.
"I took my umbrella with me because it was raining," and this time, no comma is needed. So now you know what a complex sentence is: A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause, and you can always spot those dependent clauses because they begin with a subordinating conjunction. Some sentences are tricky, and at first they look like complex sentences, but they're not.
For example, "Before lunch, I always wash my hands. " We have an independent clause, "I always wash my hands," but is "before lunch" a dependent clause? Nope, it is not a clause because it doesn't have a subject and a verb.
So, "before lunch" is a phrase – a prepositional phrase, to be exact. This sentence only contains one clause, so it's a simple sentence. However, if we change that phrase to a clause with a subject and a verb, that simple sentence becomes complex: "Before I eat lunch, I always wash my hands.
" Now, we have a subject and a verb, so we definitely have a dependent clause. Let's build our own complex sentence! We'll start with a dependent clause.
It'll need a subject and a verb, like "Mia listened. " And then it will need to begin with a subordinating conjunction. How about "as"?
Let's think of an independent clause, something that might have happened as Mia listened. Maybe "she learned new things. " If we join the dependent clause with the independent clause, we have a complex sentence: "As Mia listened, she learned new things.
" Since the dependent clause comes first, remember, we need to add that comma. We've learned a lot about complex sentences today. A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause, like "When Mia learns new things, she is happy.
" I hope you're happy learning new things too, and I hope you're remembering to always be clever!
