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Complex Sentence and Clauses

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Complex sentence includes one complete sentence (or main clause) with one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence is different than a compound sentence (see Conjunctions).

A compound sentence contains two or more complete sentences separated by punctuation.

Examples:

Compound sentence:

I believe hard work deserves recognition, therefore I reward hard work of my employees with praise, promotion and salary increase.

This sentence has two complete sentences and linked with the conjunction 'therefore'.

Complex sentence:

Mark Twain, who is a famous American novelist, illustrated American life in the industrialization period in his novels.

Dependent clause: who is a famous American novelist.

This is a dependent clause because it has a subject and verb but cannot stand alone by itself.

This sentence has one complete sentence and one dependent clause (in italics). Notice the commas is around the dependent clause because it is a non-essential part of the sentence. This is a noun clause: it has a subject and a verb and is used like a noun. A noun clause is not an independent clause because it cannot stand alone as a sentence. The main clause in this sentence is "Mark Twain illustrated American life in the industrialization period in his novels." This is one complete sentence because it contains a subject, verb and expresses a complete thought without the dependent clause.

In complex sentences, clauses give more information about the subject, object or adverb so we define them as to which part of the sentence they describe further. The types of clauses used in English are: noun clause, adjective clause and adverb clause.

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Noun Clause: As you see above in the example, a noun clause describes a noun in the sentence that could be the subject or the object of the sentence. In the example above, the noun clause describes the subject Mark Twain.

The teacher, who had a British accent, confused the student.

In this sentence, the noun clause is a dependent clause; it has a subject and verb and helps to further describe the subject but doesn't express a complete thought by itself. The noun clause is separated with commas from the main clause (The teacher confused the student.)

Adjective Clause has a subject and a verb, and takes the place of an adjective. An adjective clause must be connected to an independent clause.

Examples:

Faraday first worked as a bottle washer for the famous chemist Humphry Davy, who later had become very jealous of him.

Adjective clause: who later had become very jealous of him.

Main clause: Faraday worked as a bottle washer for the famous chemist. The main clause can stand by itself because it expresses a complete thought.

Faraday discovered that electricity moves through wire.

In this sentence conductivity of wire is not mentioned, but it is described as the 'object' of the sentence. In this sentence the main clause is made up of two independent dependent clauses.

First independent clause: Faraday discovered that. In this sentence 'that" is called a clause marker. A clause marker starts the adjective clause.

Second independent clause: the electricity moves through a wire.

The above two clauses are independent because they both have a subject, verb and object, and they can stand alone.

Hint: You can recognize an adjective clause because it always contains a subject, verb and a clause marker. Study the examples below.

Examples for Adjective Clauses:

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An Adverb clause is a dependent clause that takes the place of an adverb. An adverb clause answers questions such as when, where, why, with what result, under what conditions, and for what purpose.

I watched a movie last night. 'Last night' is the adverb in this sentence.

I watched a movie after I came home. 'After I came home' is the adverb clause in this sentence. It takes the place of the adverb. As you see, the adverb clause is dependent of the main clause (I watched a movie) in a complete sentence. The adverb clause does the same job as the adverb. The adverb clause has the following criteria. Adverb clauses:

Types of Adverb Clauses

Adverb Clauses
Clause Marker	Used with, for	Example
when	time (adverb)	I studied law when I was in college.
after	time/action/things (object)	I had studied law after graduating with pre-law degree.
before	time/action/things (adverb/object)	I had studied pre-law before I went to law school.
why	reason (adverb)	We know why children learn quickly.
where	place (adverb)	I found my keys in the waiting room where I placed a telephone call.
how	under what conditions (adverb)	I don't understand how I can cook for a dozen people without help this weekend.
how	with what result (adverb)	My parents never understood how I married a poor man for love only

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