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Simple sentences | compound sentences | multiple sentences | complex sentences

Simple sentences

The most basic sentence form contains a single clause. This is known as a simple sentence:

• Mary had a little lamb.
• Coffee is intoxicating.
• Down fell the rain.

Compound sentences

A compound sentence joins two coordinate clauses together:

• Mary had a little lamb and took it to school.
• I drank some coffee and could not sleep.
• Here is a wug and here are two wugs.

Multiple sentences

A multiple sentence links clauses of essentially similar type, with coordinating conjunctions.

• I came home, sat down, put the kettle on, lit the fire and sat down with a book.

Complex sentences

A complex sentence uses subordination to link clauses. It is not necessarily very "complex" in the everyday sense (that is, difficult to analyse), but it may be:

• I hope that she will come.
• Lest you forget, here is my address.
• Having played football and cycled home, I sat in the bath, thinking of how to spend the evening, which loomed before me promisingly, while downstairs in the kitchen the kettle boiled vigorously.