These two sentences came up in a English Comp class and there was some discussion if the book was correct on whether they were simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.
- Whatever pizza Lucy orders is a meal in itself.
- You can choose whatever crust you prefer and size you prefer.
I feel that the sentences are unnecessarily contrived; but could someone explain how you should properly parse them and define if the sentences are simple, compound, complex or compound-complex?
A simple sentence has one independent clause.
A compound sentence has more than one independent clause.
A complex sentence has one independent clause with one or more dependent clauses.
A compound-complex sentence has more than one independent clause and at least
one dependent clause.
asked Apr 2, 2013 at 4:30
qw3nqw3n
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These are simple sentences. They have a single subject and a single predicate.
In the first sentence the noun clause [ Whatever pizza Lucy orders ] is the subject: and [ is a meal in itself ] is the predicate, in this case a complement.
In the second sentence [ You ] is the subject and [ can choose whatever crust you prefer and size you prefer ] is the predicate, containing the verb and the object noun clause [ whatever crust you prefer and size you prefer ].
answered Apr 2, 2013 at 14:37
ShoeShoe
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In the simple sentence, only one subject and one verb In the compound sentence, two complete clauses and co-ordinate conjugation uses. In the complex sentence, the one complete clause and subordinate conjugation uses
answered Dec 6, 2013 at 11:37
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Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello Grammarians. Hello Paige. - [Voiceover] Hi David. - [Voiceover] I say hello to you and I say hello to the grammarians. - [Voiceover] That was an interesting thing to say. - [Voiceover] Yeah, it's cause there's a compound sentence. - [Voiceover] I see. - [Voiceover] So there's this distinction made in grammar, between simple and compound sentences. And today Paige, you and I are going to cover those differences. - [Voiceover] Let's do it. - [Voiceover] So, a simple sentence is really just what it says on the tin. A simple sentence consists of one subject and one predicate, and that's it. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] So in the sentence, I bought my friends some candy, alright we got our one subject, I. And then we have our one predicate, bought my friends some candy. - [Voiceover] Mhmm. - [Voiceover] Now all of this together is what we call an independent clause. I don't wanna hit that too hard right now. But you know, when you have this set of subject and a predicate together, and it can be a sentence, that's called an independent clause. I'm not even gonna write that down. - [Voiceover] Yeah. - [Voiceover] But a compound sentence is basically two or more simple sentences joined together. So that would be two subjects plus two predicates. Or more, two, three, a bajillion. - [Voiceover] Sure. - [Voiceover] That would be a very long sentence to read, but you could do it, it would be a very very compound sentence. So I visited the beach and I got a really bad sunburn. When we're looking at this, this is really two sentences together, joined by the comma and this and. Alright, so we have our subject, I visited the beach, I got a really bad sunburn. And we have our two predicates, I visited the beach, got a really bad sunburn. - [Voiceover] So the subject in both these cases is I right, but it's sort of separate. It's like, I'm doing two different actions. - [Voiceover] Correct. - [Voiceover] What's important is even if it's the same subject, if it's I both times. Well I don't know how to say this, but just, if it were, I visited the beach and got a really bad sunburn. - [Voiceover] Then it would be a simple sentence. - [Voiceover] Then it's simple. - [Voiceover] Okay so Paige, I'm looking at this and I see I twice. What if I wanted to condense this sentence further? - [Voiceover] Okay. - [Voiceover] What does that give us? Is this a simple sentence or a compound sentence? Because this looks like what you would call a compound predicate. - [Voiceover] Right, since there's only one subject in this sentence, there's only I and it's only said once. Right, you don't have, I visited the beach and I got a really bad sunburn. That whole thing, visited the beach and got a really bad sunburn, is you're right, it is a compound predicate. - [Voiceover] But what you're saying is I couldn't divide this up into two sentences, unless I put in another subject. Right, you can say, I visited the beach, and that could be a sentence on its own. But you can't say, and got a really bad sunburn, as its own sentence. - [Voiceover] Okay, so both of these things are simple. So even though this is a compound predicate, it's technically one predicate. - [Voiceover] Right, it's -- - [Voiceover] And even if I'd written, Paige and I visited the beach and I got a really bad sunburn, that would still be a compound subject, but it wouldn't be two sentences squished together, it would be one kind of long sentence. - [Voiceover] Right. You can have a compound subject or a compound predicate, but that doesn't make it a compound sentence. What makes it a compound sentence, is you have two parts that can stand on their own as individual sentences, and they're sort of being put together. - [Voiceover] So let me change what I wrote here, to just say, instead of two subjects and two predicates. Cause I think that's confusing in light of this information, let's just say it is two simple sentences. - [Voiceover] Right, or two independent clauses. You know, that terminology. - [Voiceover] Or two, yeah. And if you don't, never fear, we'll cover it, and you can learn anything. David out. - [Voiceover] Paige out.