WE - Sentence Variety in Writing Lesson

A clause is a sentence part that contains a subject and a verb. A clause is dependent if it contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought; it would be independent if it contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought.
Complete sentences, or independent clauses, must contain a subject and a verb. The subject is who or what does the verb. The verb expresses the action of the subject.

The verb appears in the predicate, which is the part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject.

Adding sentence variety to your writing will do three things: enhance the flow of ideas, intensify points, and sustain the interest of your reader. Varying the length, rhythm, and structure of sentences are three ways to create variety and interest in your writing.
Sentences can also be divided by how many clauses they contain into simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, or compound-complex sentences. Remember that a clause can be independent (complete thought) or dependent (cannot stand alone).
A simple sentence consists of an independent clause, so it contains a subject and a verb. It does NOT contain either a dependent clause or another simple sentence.

For example:

• The cat meowed.
• The dog sits.

A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences joined by:

• a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so)
• For example: The cat meowed, and the dog growled.
• The door squeaked, and the man jumped.
• a semicolon:
• The cat meowed; the dog growled.
• The door squeaked; the man jumped.

Because they can both stand alone, they are both independent clauses. Notice that they must have a connector of some type, so they do not form a run-on sentence.
A complex sentence consists of a combination of an independent clause and a dependent clause. Complex sentences have a part that can stand alone and make a complete sentence as well as parts that do not have the ability to stand alone as a complete thought.

For example:

• The man yelled loudly (independent) as he was walking down the street (dependent).
• Eric left (independent) when his sister arrived (dependent).

A compound-complex sentence consists of a combination of a compound sentence and a complex sentence. A compound-complex sentence contains two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

For example:

• As the dog barked (dependent), one squirrel sat on the fence (independent), and the other jumped to a tree (independent).
• Laura forgot her friend's birthday (independent), so she sent her a card (independent) when she finally remembered (dependent)

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