Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Educational Resources

Now that you’ve learned how to construct sentences, learn the different kinds of sentences (yep, there’s more than one!). Practice making simple, compound, and complex sentences with our stash of classroom (or anytime) materials on the subject. Practice writing them out in worksheets, build some in real life with an activity, or click and drag sentence fragments in an online quiz. Next stop, writing novels!

Once your student learns the basic elements of a sentence they may feel ready to start writing more complex pieces. Teaching them how to expand beyond simple sentences into complex and compound sentences will give them the ability to vary their sentences in a way that expands readability and comprehension.
Simple Sentences
A simple sentence consists of three parts. Use an example sentence when explaining to your students. Considering the example sentence, “John ran down the street.”

• John is the subject. The subject or the actors the sentence is about.
• Ran is the verb. The verb or the action the subject is taking.
• The sentence must be a completed thought.

If a sentence contains these three parts, it is considered a complete sentence or an independent clause. This means the sentence can stand alone.
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence, as the name implies, is created when two independent clauses are put together. The two complete sentences are connected using a coordinating conjunction. Examples of coordinating conjunctions are:

For

And

Nor

Using the resource provided by Education.com, your students can practice identifying independent clauses and merging them into compound sentences.
Complex Sentences
A complex sentence is when an independent clause joins with a dependent clause, or a sentence fragment, using a subordinating conjunction. The sentence: “After he woke up late” is not an independent clause because it is not a complete thought. When joined with the original independent clause, however, it becomes a complex sentence: “John ran down the street after he woke up late.”