Complex Sentences
Review and Practice
Definition: A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause (the main clause) and one or more dependent clauses.
The INDEPENDENT CLAUSE has a subject and verb and can stand alone as a complete sentence. It is also called a simple sentence.
Example: John wrote an amazing paragraph.
The DEPENDENT CLAUSE also has a subject and a verb, but it cannot stand alone. There are two types of dependent clauses, those that begin with subordinating conjunctions and those that begin with relative pronouns.
Examples:
When John wrote an amazing paragraph (subordinating conjunction)
Who wrote an amazing paragraph (relative pronoun)
When John wrote an amazing paragraph, he earned an A+ in the course.
John, who wrote an amazing paragraph, is very happy with his grade.
One type of dependent clause is introduced by a word (or words) called a subordinating conjunction . The clause does have a subject and a verb, but it begins with a subordinating conjunction . When a clause starts with a subordinating conjunction, the clause becomes dependent—it cannot stand alone.
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after * |
since * |
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although |
so that |
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as * |
though |
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as if |
till * |
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as long as |
unless |
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as though |
until * |
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because |
when |
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before * |
whenever |
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even though |
where |
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if |
wherever |
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once |
while |
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provided |
whether |
* Remember that some of the subordinating conjunctions can also be used as prepositions. These words have an asterisk (*) beside them. To decide whether those words function as prepositions or subordinating conjunctions, label the sentence parts. If only a noun or pronoun appears, the word group is a prepositional phrase. If a subject and verb appear after any of these words, the word group is a dependent clause.
Examples:
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: Bart has not been happy (since his accident).
DEPENDENT CLAUSE: Bart has not been happy [since he returned home].
Access the file with a list of common subordinating conjunctions here.
When one of these subordinating conjunctions is placed before an independent clause, the clause can no longer stand by itself. It becomes dependent.
Robert rode the bus to town. (independent clause)
When Robert rode the bus to town. (dependent clause -- cannot stand alone as a sentence)
When the dependent clause comes first, a comma is required. Dependent clauses are in italics.
Example:
When I read the story, I could imagine everything.
However, when the dependent clause follows an independent clause, no comma is used.
Example:
I could imagine everything when I read the story.
Access the file here if you would like to follow along with the video or print it to take notes.
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Try the following practice.
First, read the information about writing a description on the Purdue Online Writing Lab website.
Next, try the following practice.
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The second type of dependent clause begins with a relative pronoun. Relative pronouns are listed below:
who
whom
whose
which
that
(Somtimes where, when, and why act as relative pronouns.)
Examples:
Steinbeck, [who wrote novels], is famous.
The independent clause is Steinbeck is famous.
The dependent clause is [who wrote novels].
The dependent clause does have a subject and a verb. The subject of the dependent clause is usually the relative pronoun that begins the clause. In the dependent clause [who wrote novels], notice that who is the subject of the verb is.
Just as dependent clauses that begin with subordinating conjunctions cannot stand alone as complete sentences, dependent clauses that begin with relative pronouns cannot stand alone as complete sentences
Rule 1: When a dependent clause beginning with a relative pronoun points to a general noun, do NOT use commas. The clause is needed in the sentence to make a general noun more specific.
Examples:
a. All books [that are banned] should be read (in college courses).
b. All books should be read (in college courses).
The meaning of the sentence is not that all books should be read in college courses. The meaning is that only books that are banned should be read in college courses. Therefore, the dependent clause [that are banned] is needed to identify the specific books and should NOT have commas around it. It is a necessary clause.
Rule 2: When a dependent clause beginning with a relative pronoun points to a specific noun, DO use commas. The clause is not needed in the sentence because it only gives extra information about a noun that is already limited and specific.
Examples:
a. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the Nobel Prize, wrote many novels.
b. Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote many novels.
The reader does not need the dependent clause to identify Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is specific already; a proper noun or name is specific. The dependent clause [who won the Nobel Prize] merely gives extra information about him. Using commas with dependent clauses that are not needed sets them apart from the rest of the sentence.
Access the file here if you would like to follow along with the video or print it to take notes.
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First, read the following article about Toni Morrison from Wikipedia.
Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931) is an American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved. She also was commissioned to write the libretto for a new opera, Margaret Garner, first performed in 2005. She won the Nobel Prize in 1993 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for Beloved. On 29 May 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Morrison began writing fiction as part of an informal group of poets and writers at Howard who met to discuss their work. She went to one meeting with a short story about a black girl who longed to have blue eyes. She later developed the story as her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970). She wrote it while raising two children and teaching at Howard.
In 1975 her novel Sula (1973) was nominated for the National Book Award. Her third novel, Song of Solomon (1977), brought her national attention. The book was a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the first novel by a black writer to be so chosen since Richard Wright's Native Son in 1940. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
In 1987 Morrison's novel Beloved became a critical success. When the novel failed to win the National Book Award as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award, 48 black critics and writers[8] protested the omission.[5][9] Shortly afterward, it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the American Book Award. That same year, Morrison took a visiting professorship at Bard College.
Beloved was adapted into the 1998 film of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Morrison later used Margaret Garner's life story again in the libretto for a new opera, Margaret Garner, with music by Richard Danielpour. In May 2006, The New York Times Book Review named Beloved the best American novel published in the previous twenty-five years.
In 1993 Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her citation reads: Toni Morrison, "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality." She is currently the last American to have been awarded the honor. Shortly afterward, a fire destroyed her Rockland County, New York home.
In 1996 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. Morrison's lecture, entitled "The Future of Time: Literature and Diminished Expectations," began with the aphorism, "Time, it seems, has no future." She cautioned against the misuse of history to diminish expectations of the future.
Morrison was honored with the 1996 National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, which is awarded to a writer "who has enriched our literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work."
In 2000, The Bluest Eye was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club.
In 2002, Morrison was invited to serve as the first Mentor in Literature in the inaugural cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, an international philanthropic programme that pairs masters in their disciplines with emerging talents for a year of one-to-one creative exchange. Out of a very gifted field of candidates, Morrison chose young Australian novelist Julia Leigh as her protégée.
Although her novels typically concentrate on black women, Morrison does not identify her works as feminist. She has stated that she thinks "it's off-putting to some readers, who may feel that I'm involved in writing some kind of feminist tract. I don't subscribe to patriarchy, and I don't think it should be substituted with matriarchy. I think it's a question of equitable access, and opening doors to all sorts of things."
In addition to her novels, Morrison has also co-written books for children with her younger son, Slade Morrison, who worked as a painter and musician. Slade died on December 22, 2010, aged 45.
from "Toni Morrison." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
Next, try the following practice.
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