In English, complex sentences have two or more clauses. A clause has a subject and verb. In the sentence "She was late, because the bus had stopped everywhere", the subjects are "she" and "bus" and the verbs are "was" and "stopped".
Take care to learn the difference between simple, compound and complex sentences. A simple sentence has a single clause: "She was late". A compound sentence has two clauses joined by a simple connective such as "and", "but" or "or". Here is an example of a compound sentence: "She was late and the bus stopped everywhere". A complex sentence has two clauses and also explains the relationship between the two: "She was late BECAUSE the bus had stopped everywhere". The type of word needed to explain this relationship is a connective.
You can test your understanding of connectives in the quizzes devoted to the topic. Here you can test your ability to distinguish between simple, compound and complex sentences. Remember that a phrase is not the same as a clause, but is instead a cluster of words used for a single function. In the previous sentence "a cluster of words" is a noun phrase (you can see there is no verb in that group of words, so it cannot be a clause).
If you enjoy this quiz, there are more quizzes about sentences to play!
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Select the correct term for the following. He couldn't play his violin, because a string was broken. |
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2.
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Select the correct term for the following. Before he could play his violin, he had to mend it. |
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3.
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Select the correct term for the following. After he had mended his violin, he played it. |
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4.
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Select the correct term for the following. The sky was blue, however, it was starting to rain. |
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Simple sentence |
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5.
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Select the correct term for the following. ....... the pouring rain ....... |
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Complex sentence |
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Simple sentence |
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6.
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Select the correct term for the following. The rain poured down. |
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7.
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Select the correct term for the following. They had to stay indoors, because of the rain. |
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Complex sentence |
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Simple sentence |
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8.
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Select the correct term for the following. Although she had injured her hand, she played on. |
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Complex sentence |
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Simple sentence |
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9.
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Select the correct term for the following. ....... her injured hand ....... |
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Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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10.
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Select the correct term for the following. She had injured her hand but she played on. |
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Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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1.
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Select the correct term for the following. He couldn't play his violin, because a string was broken. |
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Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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2.
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Select the correct term for the following. Before he could play his violin, he had to mend it. |
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[x] |
Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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3.
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Select the correct term for the following. After he had mended his violin, he played it. |
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[x] |
Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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4.
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Select the correct term for the following. The sky was blue, however, it was starting to rain. |
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[x] |
Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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5.
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Select the correct term for the following. ....... the pouring rain ....... |
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Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
[x] |
Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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6.
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Select the correct term for the following. The rain poured down. |
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Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
[x] |
Simple sentence |
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7.
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Select the correct term for the following. They had to stay indoors, because of the rain. |
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[x] |
Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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8.
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Select the correct term for the following. Although she had injured her hand, she played on. |
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[x] |
Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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9.
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Select the correct term for the following. ....... her injured hand ....... |
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Complex sentence |
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Compound sentence |
[x] |
Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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10.
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Select the correct term for the following. She had injured her hand but she played on. |
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Complex sentence |
[x] |
Compound sentence |
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Phrase |
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Simple sentence |
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