Compound-Complex Sentences

Compound-Complex Sentences

Let's review!!!

• A simple sentence has a subject and a predicate. We also call these Independent Clauses.

• A compound sentence combines two Independent Clauses with a comma and a FANBOYS (For And Nor But Or Yet So)

• A complex sentence combines an Independent Clause with a Dependent Clause (AAAWWUBBIS) (After, Although, As, When, While, Until, Because, Before, If, Since).

Multiple Choice

Esme drove her bike in the city today.

• Simple

• Compound

• Complex

Multiple Choice

We should feed the cats before we meet Eliza and Stella for dinner.

• Simple

• Compound

• Complex

Multiple Choice

Mary and John drove the car, but Erich took the bus.

• Simple

• Compound

• Complex

Multiple Choice

Mary and John drove the car and ate lunch today.

• Simple

• Compound

• Complex

Multiple Choice

After the cat noticed the mouse skittering around, she chased it around the house!

• Simple

• Compound

• Complex

Multiple Choice

Abdi wanted to study for his test, so he grabbed his books and turned on some music.

• Simple

• Compound

• Complex

Compound-Complex Sentences

• First, take a breath and realize that you've done a great job with sentence structures so far!

• These are tough to construct, and they take time to process! Give yourselves credit for all the work you've done so far!

Ok...let's do it!

• Because I want this to be easy to understand, you make a compound-complex sentence by combining what you know about a compound sentence and a complex sentence, but it's all in one sentence.

• The above sentence is a compound-complex sentence.

• Let's break that down...

Breaking down a sentence:

• Once they were done playing in the park, Emma drove her bike home, and Winston went fishing.

• This sentence combines what we know about Complex and Compound sentences.

• "Once they were done playing in the park, Emma drove her bike home." This is a Complex Sentence!

• "Emma drove her bike home, and Winston went fishing." This is a Compound Sentence! Just look at that comma FANBOYS!!!

The order of things...

• It doesn't always have to look the way the last two sentences did!

• Here is another example we can check out:

• Stephen walked around the Mall of America, but Cathy stayed home after they ate lunch together.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is a Compound-Complex sentence?

• After Joan watched the movie, she played on her phone.

• Elizabeth and Gregory played Scrabble and ate cheesecake after the movie.

• Since I am allergic to peanuts, I didn't use any in my recipe, but you can use them!

• The boys and girls played tag outside, but things got ugly quickly!

Multiple Choice

Which of these sentences IS NOT a Compound-Complex Sentence?

• When we went to the museum, kids were running around everywhere, and it was so annoying!

• After this, let's grab the skateboards and go with Xander and Deb to the old Gamestop.

• Edgar and Ellen were happily married, and they had several children before the family moved to Cincinnati.

Open Ended

Try to make a Compound-Complex Sentence of your own!

If you want some inspiration, you can use the following sentences:

I love going to the zoo. The zoo is expensive. I can use a coupon.