This document discusses different types of sentences and common sentence structure issues. It describes simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. It also outlines issues like sentence fragments, run-on sentences, comma splices, choppy sentences, and stringy sentences. Examples are provided to illustrate each concept. The document encourages practicing different sentence structures and reviewing additional resources to improve writing skills.

1. Sentence Structure

2. Before we begin….
◦ Let’s look at the types of sentences people use:
• Simple sentences
• Compound sentences
• Complex sentences
• Compound-complex sentences

3. Simple Sentences
Simple Sentences:
These are sentences that express a complete idea:
e.g. She was in the class
The exam is tomorrow
A simple sentence needs a subject (the thing ‘doing’ the action) and a main
verb (the action)
Simple sentences are also called “independent clauses” (because they are
complete and don’t need any support)

4. Compound Sentences
Compound sentences are formed by connecting two (or more) simple
sentences with the words and/but/so/nor/or/for/yet (also called
conjunctions) :
e.g. She was in class, but she arrived late
e.g. The exam is tomorrow, so you need to revise tonight.
Note: there should be a comma before each conjunction, but this rule is not
always followed

5. Complex Sentences
Complex sentences are formed by using an independent clause (simple sentence) with a dependent
clause (or switch them round).
The independent clause expresses a complete idea, but the dependent clause (also called a
subordinate clause) does not.
There are many words you can use to form complex sentences, and they can refer to concession (e.g.
although, despite), time (e.g. since, while), reason (e.g. because, as), subjects (e.g. which, who)
e.g. Although she completed her literature review, she still needed to improve it
Because it was exam day tomorrow, it was important to revise
The nursing assignment was difficult as they needed to critically analyse the
article
If you want to practice these types of words, look at the Canvas Linking Words page, or the web links
below this presentation.

6. Compound-Complex Sentences
Compound-complex sentences are formed with by combining a range of independent
and dependent clauses together.
Often, this sentence type will have three parts:
e.g. The assignment was completed, but he felt the reference list was not complete,
even though he had spent two hours compiling it.
e.g. Although the exam was tomorrow, they did not feel confident they would pass,
since they had not been to the revision classes.
Remember : there are many different ways to form compound-complex sentences,
but they are useful if you want to write long sentences

7. Do I need to know all this?
If you are having problems organising your sentences, it can be useful to see if you
are structuring them well,
e.g. do your sentences have subjects and verbs? Are you writing a complex-sentence
correctly?
If you find the sentence terminology confusing (clauses, subordinates, dependent
etc.), then don’t worry – just make sure you are structuring your sentences clearly.

8. Sentence Problems
•The next section looks at common problems when forming
sentences:
•Sentence fragments
•Run-on sentences
•Comma splices
•Choppy sentences
•Stringy sentences

9. Sentence Fragments
Look at the following sentences:
• Although the course was well organised
• The new book very simple to understand
• Organised the students into different classes
Can you see what they problems are?
They are all incomplete because they are all missing something. Therefore, these
sentences are sentence fragments.

10. Sentence Fragments
Possible ways to correct the sentence fragments:
• “Although the course was well organised” is a dependent clause, so
needs an independent clause added to it to make sense
• “The new book very simple to understand” is missing a verb e.g. The
new book was/is very…..
• “Organised the students into different classes” is missing a subject e.g.
The teacher organised the students…..

11. Run-on Sentences / Comma Splices
These two types are very similar and are often found together
For example:
1. Over indulgence in fast food can lead to weight gain it can also
cause health problems in later life
2. Over indulgence in fast food can lead to weight gain, it can also
cause health problems in later life
Can you see the problems?

12. Run-on Sentences / Comma Splices
If you think both sentences are correct, then maybe you have problems
with run-on sentences and comma splices:
1. “Over indulgence in fast food can lead to weight gain it can also cause
health problems in later life”
is a run-on sentence because it has no punctuation to separate the
sentence parts (i.e. 2 independent clauses).
2. “Over indulgence in fast food can lead to weight gain, it can also cause
health problems in later life”
is a comma splice, because it is using a comma to separate the
sentences parts.

13. Run-on Sentences / Comma Splices
Run-on sentences and comma splices can both be corrected the same way:
Using a semi colon : “…..can lead to weight gain; it can also……”
Using a full stop: “…..can lead to weight gain. It can also……”
Using a conjunction: ““…..can lead to weight gain and it can also……”
Note: these mistakes are very common, but can be corrected very easily 
If you make these mistakes, try and recognise them so you can improve your
sentences.

14. Choppy Sentences
Look at the following sentences and see what problems there are:
The findings are presented here. They appear to show that the
results are inconclusive. This was expected.

15. Choppy Sentences
Choppy sentences are those where the ideas are divided into short
sentences.
The three sentences would be more effective if the ideas were
combined by removing some words and adding others.
For example :
The findings presented here appear to show the results are
inconclusive, but this was expected.

16. Stringy Sentences
Look at the following sentence and see what problems it has:
Many students attend classes all morning, and then they work all
afternoon, and they also have to study at night, so they are
usually exhausted by the weekend.

17. Stringy Sentences
Because the sentence has too many clauses, it is over-long and so becomes a
list of parts strung together.
There are many ways to correct it, but one way is to have two sentences, and
introduce the second sentence with a word or phrase :
Many students attend classes all morning, and then they work all
afternoon. Because of this, they also have to study at night, so they are
usually exhausted by the weekend.
Stringy sentences are the opposite of choppy sentences.

18. Extra Practice
To write effectively, you need to use a range of sentence types
(simple/compound/complex/compound-complex) and also recognise the
mistakes you make e.g. run-on sentences; too many choppy sentences.
Look at the links below this presentation for more examples and ideas on
sentence structure.
Additionally, our other Canvas pages have ideas on linking words, cohesion
and punctuation, which are all connected to good sentence structure.