What is a Complex Sentence?

It functions best when you need to expand on or change the core idea of your statement. Because they frequently utilize subordinating conjunctions to link clauses, such as “because,” “since,” or “till,” complex sentences are simple to identify.

An independent clause is a phrase that would make sense if it were a sentence on its own, while the opposite is the case for a dependent clause. When these two clauses co-exist, we would have a complex sentence.

Complex sentences are good buddies with compound sentences. There is just one difference. Two independent clauses combine to form compound sentences. Complex sentences have both a dependent and an independent clause.

Complex Sentences Types

Complex sentences involve at least one independent clause and one dependent clause. Contrary to compound sentences, which combine two independent clauses, a difficult sentence must have at least one-half of it be a full thought on its own. Take a closer look at each part of a challenging statement.

The Dependent and Independent clauses

An independent clause of a complex sentence has a subject and a predicate. Meaning it is perfect enough to stand on its own without another statement.

Example:

The food is sour.

Home is boring.

Each sentence gives you a rough overview of what is going on. They are, however, uninteresting on their own. They require a bit more description to pique the reader’s interest.

Subordinate clauses, usually referred to as dependent clauses, are unfinished ideas. They provide extra information to a statement but aren’t whole sentences in and of themselves.

Examples:

Although the food is sour.

Even home is boring.

Even though these clauses lack an independent clause’s context, they nonetheless provide intriguing facts. One or more dependent clauses may be included in complex sentences, connected by subordinate conjunctions for complex sentences.

It is simpler to illustrate the distinction between simple and complex sentences. Any statement with just one independent clause is considered simple. Complex sentences and sentences with more than one clause cannot be simple sentences. It’s interesting to note that, with the addition of subordinate conjunction, two simple phrases can occasionally be combined to form a single complicated statement.

Complex Sentences examples

The dependent clause occurs first in each of the difficult sentence examples below. The dependent clause began with subordinating conjunction such as “because,” “whenever,” or “while,” and a comma separates the two phrases.

Examples:

Because he was late again, he would be benched for the match.

While I am a lover of burgers, I prefer burritos.

Whenever it rains, I like to stay indoors.

In the next examples below, the independent clause comes first. As is customary in complicated phrases beginning with independent clauses, most examples do not utilize commas to separate the clauses. The phrases describing notions that are almost opposite in meaning or that need to be strongly highlighted are referred to as the extreme contrast.

Example:

Having a party at our place is a bad idea because the neighbors will complain.

I was extremely happy when I got hired by the company.

The cat lay on his lap while he was eating.

Conclusion

A complex sentence enables a full exploration. They enable us to provide more information about the people, setting, and narrative when we write.

You can include a little bit of additional information in a statement if it is complex. Have fun constructing complicated phrases to give your work and discussions more depth.