This document discusses complex sentences and the use of conjunctions like "if", "although", "before", etc. at the beginning of sentences. It notes that when these conjunctions begin a sentence, a comma is needed to create a complex sentence as opposed to a sentence fragment. Examples are provided of complex sentences and how sentences can be combined or separated using these conjunctions.

1. AAAWWUBBIS
Complex Sentences

2. What do you notice?
If this were a movie, I’d probably have
to kill off my father in the first scene.
- Paul Acampora, Defining Dulcie (2006)

3. If…
If
this were a rap song, …
If my life were a country song, …
If my life were a video game, …
If this were a TV show, …
If this were a comedy, …
If this were a reality show, …
If my life were a car, …
If this were a football game, …

4. “If I Had a Million Dollars”
 by
the Bare Naked Ladies
 YouTube video

5. AAAWWUBBIS
fter
lthough
s
hen
hile
ntil
efore
ecause
f
ince

6. AAAWWUBBIS at the beginning of a
sentence requires a comma
sentence
,
sentence
.
= complex sentence

7. AAAWWUBBIS at the beginning of
a sentence requires a comma +
another sentence
sentence
.
= fragment

8. What do you notice?
As it drew within a few feet of me, it
opened its mouth.
(Describing a live shark approaching the author.)
- Peter Benchley, Shark Life (2007)

9. What do you notice?
Although the women’s
faces are shown from
the front, their noses
appear in profile to the
left.
(Describing how Picasso painted people
abstractly.)
- Claire d’Harcourt, Masterpieces Up Close
(2006)

10. What do you notice?
When you are a kid, you think you are
going to remember everything.
- Esme Raji Codell, Sing a Song of Tuna Fish(2006)

11. What do you notice?
Before the players begin drills, they
must warm up properly.
- Jeff Savage, Play-by-Play Football (2003)

12. What do you notice?
If I stand in a room and no one sees
me, it’s like I was never there at all.
- Neal Shusterman, The Schwa Was Here (2006)

13. What do you notice?
If I stand in a room and no one sees
me, it’s like I was never there at all.
- Neal Shusterman, The Schwa Was Here (2006)

14. AAAWWUBBIS in the middle of a
sentence does not require a comma
Sentence
sentence
.
= complex sentence

15. What do you notice?
I would need patience and motivation
because the process is very long and
challenging.

16. Introductory Phrases also take
AAAWWUBBIS + a comma.
phrase
,
sentence
.
≠ complex sentence
= simple sentence

17. What do you notice?
After reading twelve pages, she looked
to the end to see how many more
pages there were to go: more than two
hundred.
- E. L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
(1967)

18. What do you notice?
Until the sixteenth century, couples
could be married outside a church
and without a priest.
- Claire d’Harcourt, Masterpieces Up Close (2006)

19. Uncombining Sentences
with AAAWWUBBIS
Because his burden of garbage was
large and precarious, he could not look
down at the path and had to go by the
feel of dirt under his sneakers.
- Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross (2005)

20. Uncombining Sentences
with AAAWWUBBIS
If Rowanne said something
important, something he needed to
know, he didn’t want to miss it.
- Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross (2005)

21. Combining Sentences
with AAAWWUBBIS








He ate dinner.
Then he headed out to see Phil.
Phil was at his house.
Hector put on his shirt.
Hector slung the guitar over his shoulder.
The guitar belonged to him.
Hector was surprised at how well he had turned out.
Rowanne was surprised at how well he had turned out.

22. Combining Sentences
with AAAWWUBBIS
After he ate dinner, he headed out to Phil’s house.
When Hector put on his shirt and slung his guitar over
his shoulder, he and Rowanne were both surprised at
how well he had turned out.
- Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross (2005)