Simple Sentences: A simple sentence contains one subject and one verb: The singer bowed to her adoring audience.

There are four kinds of simple sentences:

  • A declarative (assertive) sentence makes a statement: The king is sick.
  • An imperative sentence gives a command: Look after the king.
  • An interrogative sentence asks a question: Is the king sick?
  • An exclamatory sentence makes an exclamation: The king is dead!

Here’s how you diagram a simple sentence:

Simple sentences can have

  • Compound subjects: The Queen and the princess were in mourning.
  • Compound predicates: The prince refused to eat and always wore black.

Compound Sentences: A compound sentence contains two (or more) independent clauses joined by

  • a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet,so): The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores.

Here’s how you diagram a compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction.

  • or by a semicolon: The singer bowed to the audience; she sang no encores.

Here’s how to diagram a compound sentence with a semicolon. You may put a semicolon in place of an x if you wish.

Complex Sentences:A complex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses: Before the king died, he willed his scepter to his daughter.

  • A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause because it DEPENDS on the main clause to form a complete thought; it cannot stand alone as it leaves the reader wanting to know additional information.
  • A subordinate clause begins with a subordinate conjunction ( or a relative pronoun (

For complex sentences using subordinate conjunctions,

  • subordinate clauses beginning in subordinate conjunctions act as adverbs in the sentence.
  • when you attach a subordinate clause at the beginning of the sentence, you join it to the main clause with a comma: Even though the king is dead, the royal family still threw a holiday party.
  • when you attach a subordinate clause at the end of a main clause, you don’t need a comma: The royal family still threw a holiday party even though the king is dead.
  • when combining a subordinate/dependent clause and a main/independent clause, save the clause with the more important information for last, as the last clause gets the emphasis. For example, if you’re delivering news of the king’s death, write When the trumpeter blew his last note, the king died rather than The king died when the trumpeter blew his last note.

Here is how you diagram a complex sentence with a subordinate conjunction:

For complex sentences using relative (or adjective) clauses

  • the clause must begin with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that which) or a relative adverb (when, where, why)
  • like all clauses, the relative clause must contain a subject and a verb (why Henry ate the ketchup)
  • Sometimes the relative pronoun/adverb will serve as the subject (who ended up assassinating the king. “who” is the relative pronoun and the subject, “ended up assassinating” is the verb).
  • Connect the relative clause to a main clause to form a complete thought. Without a main clause, a relative clause forms a fragment/incomplete sentence.
  • To punctuate a relative clause, first determine whether it is

an essential clause (a clause is essential if you need the information in the clause to understand the sentence). Do NOT place commas around an essential clause.

a nonessential clause (a clause is nonessential if you can leave the clause off and still understand the sentence. It provides extra, but unnecessary information.) Separate a nonessential clause from the sentence with commas.

Here is how to diagram a complex sentence with a relative clause:

Compound-Complex Sentences:A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses. It is a combination of complex and a compound sentence: The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she sang no encores.

  • Because it’s compound, it must have two (or more) independent clauses joined by either a comma + coordinating conjunction OR a semicolon: The singer bowed and,but she sang no encores.
  • Because it’s complex, it must have at least one dependent (subordinate/relative) clause: while the audience applauded

Here are a few example compound-complex sentences diagrammed: