Complex Sentences

As writers, we use lots of different tools to make our writing interesting. One tool that we use is to put complex sentences into our writing.

What is a complex sentence?

A complex sentence is a sentence that uses one independent clause and one dependent clause.

A dependent clause is a phrase that cannot stand on its own, such as:

Because he needed to buy some milk.
Even though it stopped raining.
Although she was tired.

Those just sound wrong, don't they? They don't sound like a sentence.

That's because they are not complete. They need an independent clause to partner up with.

An independent clause is a sentence that can stand on its own, such as:

Anthony hurried to the store.
The thunder crashed outside.
The runner sprinted to the finish line.

Put them together with a comma between them and you will have a complex sentence!

Because he needed to buy some milk, Anthony hurried to the store.
Even though it stopped raining, the thunder crashed outside.
Although she was tired, the runner sprinted to the finish line.

Dependent clauses can go in different places in the sentence. For now, we are putting them at the beginning.

We practiced writing complex sentences together, and then we had a chance to work on our own to come up with some more examples using some of our favorite apps. Take a look at some of our complex sentences!

Pic Collage is a favorite of ours.

Here are Tessa's complex sentences:

 

 Here are Lexi and Deven's complex sentences:

 Jack and Ryan had a lot of fun with their complex sentence.

 Another great app we use to create is Shadow Puppets EDU.

 Here is Kaydance's complex sentence.

Here is Bradyn's complex sentence.




Another app we like is Book Creator. Here is Claire's complex sentence made with Book Creator. 

Some common words we can use to start a complex sentence are after, because, while, and although.

Why don't you give writing a complex sentence a try? Use one of these dependent clauses, add a comma, and then finish with a complete sentence. Share your sentence (or more!) in the comment section below.

Here are some complex sentence starters.

While he waited for his sister,
After they got off the bus,
Because he was late,
Even though she had to take a test,

Or think up one of your own!