Lesson video

Hello everyone, it's Mr. Brown with your English lesson.

I hope you're ready, because I'm ready.

Let's get started.

Okay, so our learning objective for today is to develop an understanding of simple, compound and complex sentences and this is our third lesson.

Okay, so the agenda for today, the things we're going to be learning about is simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences.

In this lesson, you will need your exercise book or a piece of paper, a pencil or a pen, something to write with and, of course, your brain.

Let's start with our key vocabulary and today it is essential that we really focus on our key vocabulary.

These are our four main word classes.

Let's go through them one at a time to make sure we fully understand what each of those means.

The first one is noun.

Can you say that for me? Noun.

A noun is a PPT, a person, place or thing.

A noun is a PPT, a person, place or thing.

So something like a table, Mr. Brown, I'm a noun, you are a noun, the sky is a noun.

A thought can be a noun, even though you can't touch it, it's a thing, it's still a noun.

Okay, let's move on across to the pink box here.

Adjectives.

Say it for me.

Adjectives, good job.

An adjective is a describing word.

An adjective is a describing word.

This is a word that describes something else.

For example, if I'm describing a table, the adjective could be hard table or round table.

Those adjectives are words that describe something.

Okay, onto the bottom row and the green box, it's verbs.

Say that with me.

Verbs.

A verb is a doing or a being word.

Something that you do is a verb.

Run is a verb, sit is a verb, listen, which you're doing right now, that's a verb.

And then our last box is adverbs! An adverb describes a verb.

Say it with me.

An adverb describes a verb.

An adverb basically tells you how the verb is being done, because I can sit quietly or I can sit sleepily.

The adverb controls the verb and it's essential in our writing.

We look a lot at that.

Okay, let's start with simple sentences.

My first question to you is what is a clause? What is a clause? Now I don't mean Santa Claus.

What is a clause when we're writing? Do you think you know? You can tell me out loud if you do or you can tell someone who might be at home or at school, wherever you're watching this lesson.

A clause is simply a group of words that contain a verb.

Let's repeat that.

A group of words that contain a verb.

What's the key thing that a clause has to have? A verb, exactly.

A group of words that contains a verb.

Let's have a look at some clauses.

Now clauses can be sorted into two categories.

Those that make sense on their own and those that do not make sense on their own.

What I want you to do is to pause the recording to read the four clauses and try and work out if any of them make sense on their own.

And by make sense on their own, I think the easiest way to explain it is that these could be sentences on their own.

A clause that makes sense on its own can be a sentence.

You could put a full stop at the end, a capital letter at the start and it works as a sentence.

Do any of these clauses make sense on their own? Pause the lesson now.

Okay, let's have a look and see if you are right.

Our full clauses were the snow fell, when I was at home, because he was so cold and he gazed at the keys.

I love the word gazed.

You're going to see that probably lots.

It's a great word for when you're looking at something really, really hard.

Okay, if you didn't have a chance to read through those and have a go, you can have a go now.

Let's see which two clauses make sense on their own.

The snow fell and he gazed at the keys are both main clauses because they make sense on their own and they therefore can become sentences.

And I use this symbol to help me remember that.

Mr. Main and he is the main man.

He's the superhero who can go out there and fight crime all on his own.

He doesn't need anyone else.

He might go out with someone else to help him fight crime, but he doesn't need them.

He can go on his own.

Now a main clause is sometimes called a simple sentence.

It's just got one main clause and that can be a simple sentence.

I would like you to write a simple sentence to describe this picture, so pause the lesson and write a simple sentence with just one main clause remember.

What's a clause? Ah, yeah, group of words that contain a verb.

Write a simple sentence to describe this picture.

Pause the lesson now.

Okay, let's see how you got on.

Here was my attempt.

The man counted his coins.

The man counted his coins.

Now we know to be a main clause you need to have a verb, so counted is the verb.

It's the thing that he did and to be a main clause you need to make sense on your own.

The man counted his coins.

Yeah, makes sense.

It's a simple sentence.

Okay, let's have a look at compound sentences.

Getting a bit tricky now.

Just say that with me.

Compound sentences.

Now I just wanted to read you some of my writing I did.

Let me know what you think.

The man sat at his desk.

He counted his coins.

A candle flickered.

The wind blew.

What do you think? Good writing? Not so good writing in the middle.

What do you think? And sometimes it's just a feeling or an opinion, isn't it? What do you think, was that good writing? No, it wasn't, wasn't it? It didn't sound like good writing and the reasons for that is because it wasn't varied enough.

To keep our writing varied and interesting to read we can't just write a long sequence of simple sentences.

Now the word varied and variety I'm going to keep talking about in literacy and English because to be a great writer you need to keep your writing varied.

It needs to have also variety, so do different things.

That's what varied means.

Means it's never just the same, the same, the same, the same.

Variety means something different at all times, okay? And in our writing in English we need to make sure we are always being as varied as we can to keep our reader interested.

However, we can fix this problem because we can use certain words to join two simple sentences together.

And this, when you do that, is called a compound sentence.

If you have one simple sentence, another simple sentence, you join them together, you have made a compound sentence.

Can you work out what a compound sentence is then? Use these pictures to help you.

What will make up a compound sentence? It's a main clause, plus another main clause and you got yourself a compound sentence.

Now these three words are called coordinating conjunctions and they can be used to join two main clauses together.

Let's read those words at the top.

You've got but, or, and.

And again, but, or, and.

One more time, but, or, and.

A bit louder, but, or, and.

Good job.

Now those three words are called coordinating conjunctions.

Your turn, coordinating conjunctions, good.

They can be used to join two main clauses together.

Now two main clauses joined using coordinating conjunctions is called a compound sentence.

Let me give you an example.

Here are two main clauses.

The man sat at his desk, full stop.

He counted his coins, full stop.

Two perfectly good simple sentences, but if you want variety, you've got to think about joining some of your simple sentences.

Let's have a look at this then.

Here's our two simple sentences and our three, what are they called at the top? Coordinating conjunctions, yeah, thank you.

Coordinating conjunctions.

I would like you to have a read through of the three sentences in front of you here.

I have taken those two main clauses, those two simple sentences and I've joined them using each of the coordinating conjunctions, but which one is correct? To find this out, you're simply going to have to think of which one sounds right.

Which one sounds right? So I want you to read these three sentences to yourself.

Decide which one sounds right and that one would be the one that you would use to join these two sentences, these two main clause simple sentences.

Okay, pause the lesson, have a go now.

Okay, welcome back.

So, let's read through these three compound sentences and see which one sounds right.

First one, the man sat at his desk, but he counted his coins.

Mm, not sure about that.

Now the way that we use but is with this symbol.

Think of it like this.

A but sentence has something positive in the first main clause and then something negative in the second main clause or the other way around.

It could be negative first, then positive.

For example, it was a beautiful sunny day, but it started to rain.

Let's try another one.

I scored a goal in football, but VAR ruled it out for offside.

Let's try flipping it around.

Let's start with the negative.

I had a terrible day at school, but I went out for dinner after school.

So, you're seeing what I mean.

Now but doesn't work for that sentence does it, because the man sat at his desk.

That's okay, I guess it's positive.

Nothing negative happening there.

He counted his coins.

Well, that's positive as well, so but doesn't sound right.

Let's try the next one.

The man sat at his desk or he counted his coins.

Again, it's not sounding right is it because or works by offering someone something that will happen if the first part of the sentence doesn't.

For example, I must go to sleep or I will be very tired tomorrow.

Being very tired tomorrow is going to happen if the first part of the sentence doesn't happen, so or doesn't work for that either.

Let's try the last one.

The man sat at his desk and counted his coins.

Perfect.

All I'm doing is giving you another piece of information and that is what and is amazing at.

And is just when you want to tell someone some more about the same topic.

For example, I went to school today and, so I know if and is there you're going to be telling me something about going to school or something that you did today.

I went to school today and I had a PE lesson.

Perfect, really good.

Okay, let's move on.

The man sat at his desk and counted his coins.

Definitely.

Main clause plus main clause equals a compound sentence.

The candle flickered.

The wind blew.

Your job is to turn these two simple sentences into a compound sentence.

Can you remember what our three coordinating conjunctions were? Can you remember what our three coordinating conjunctions were? We can go back and have a look if you want.

Because I put this picture of a snake there to help us, because this snake is a boa constrictor.

It's a type of snake, B-O-A, boa.

Why do you think I called the snake B-O-A, boa? Because it helps me to remember but, B, or, O, and, A, boa.

My three coordinating conjunctions.

So have a go at joining those two simple sentences to make a compound sentence using your three coordinating conjunctions and remember boa to help you remember.

Off you go.

Okay, let's have a look.

I went for this one and again, because it's giving two bits of information.

The candle flickered and the wind blew.

It's the same thing and I'm telling you that's it.

Okay, let's move onto complex sentences and this is where it does get tricky.

If you need a quick brain break, maybe give your brain a massage, maybe loosen up, get ready, because this could be the hardest one, but I know you're going to be able to do it.

Okay, the clauses that are not main clauses are called subordinate clauses.

Now let's say that together because that's a big word.

Subordinate, subordinate clauses.

So you've got main clauses and subordinate clauses now.

Subordinate clauses can't make a sentence on their own.

They need a main clause.

For example, my main clause would be the snow fell.

There's my verb fell, so that's a clause.

It makes sense on its own.

The snow fell.

A subordinate clause would be when I was at home it can't work on its own, can it? Can you imagine if someone said, "Oh, let me read you my sentence." When I was at home, full stop.

That's not a sentence.

It doesn't make sense on its own.

It can't be a simple sentence.

So, have a look at how I have used these in the same sentence and let's look at our action hero here, because he is a bit like Mr. Main.

He likes to fight crime.

He likes to be a superhero, but he can't do it on his own.

He is Mr. Subordinate.

He can't do it on his own and there he is.

He needs Mr. Main with him.

Together, they work really well.

Mr. Main can go on his own, but Mr. Subordinate needs him there, that's why he's the helper.

So, my main clause, the snow fell, that could be on its own.

If I want to use my subordinate clause I need a main clause with it.

For example, the snow fell when I was at home.

That makes sense.

When did the snow fall? It was when I was at home.

The snow fell when I was at home.

You can even change the order of the main clause and the subordinate clause around.

You can have main clause, subordinate clause or you can have subordinate clause, main clause.

It works both ways.

The snow fell when I was at home.

Main clause first.

When I was at home, the snow fell.

Subordinate clause first.

They both make sense.

There is only one punctuation rule that you need to know.

Can you spot what it is? Have a look at my two examples there.

When main clause is first and subordinate clause is second and when subordinate clause is first, the main clause second.

There is one punctuation rule you need to know when you are writing complex sentences, what is it? Have a good look.

What have you spotted? What piece of punctuation is there in one and not in the other? Subordinate clauses will start with subordinating conjunctions and they when they are starting a subordinate clause need a comma.

They have to have a comma at the end of them.

Just like when you can see when I was at home there is when, which is one of the subordinating conjunctions.

It started a clause and it needs a comma before you get to the main clause, but only when the subordinating conjunction starts the sentence.

For example, let's look at the snow fell when I was at home.

There's when again, but it is in the second part of the sentence where the subordinate clause comes.

Tricky isn't it? Subordinate clauses will start with subordinate conjunctions and here are the four kind of main examples.

There are lots of subordinating conjunctions, but at this stage I think if we can master these four, we'll be doing really well.

They are when, as, while, because.

And they can be split, these guys, into two categories.

When, as, and while talk about when something that is happening at the same time as the main clause.

For example, when I was brushing my teeth, it was raining outside.

It's raining at the same time as I'm brushing my teeth.

That's what when, as, and while do, whereas because explains why the main clause happened.

Let's have a look at some examples of when, as, and while, something that's happening at the same time as the main clause.

When I went to the shops, it started to rain, so it was raining when I went to the shops.

As the man counted his coins, so whatever comes next is going to be happening at the same time as the man counting his coins.

As the man counted his coins, the candle flickered.

Really nice complex sentence and a good one that we can use in our writing for "A Christmas Carol." The man sat in silence while the snow fell outside.

Why have I not got a comma in that third sentence? The man sat in silence while the snow fell outside.

Of course, yes, because the main clause comes first.

The man sat in silence, that's my main clause and all I'm doing is adding a bit more information.

While the snow fell outside, with a subordinate clause.

Good job.

Let's have a look at some because examples then.

Because explains why the main clause happened.

The girl used her umbrella because it was raining.

That's main clause first, subordinate clause second.

No need for a comma.

Because it was raining, comma, the girl used her umbrella.

Because is a subordinating conjunction.

It's starting a subordinate clause.

The subordinate clause is going first, main clause second, so you need the comma.

I know it's tricky.

You're going to learn and practise this lots and lots.

Okay, your turn.

Can you write a simple sentence for this picture? Write a simple sentence for this picture.

What is happening in this picture.

A simple sentence is just one main clause, so you're only going to tell me one thing that's happening.

You can say this out loud actually.

If you would rather write it down, you can write it down and pause the lesson or you can say it out loud to me.

So tell me, what's your simple sentence for this picture? But make sure you start with your capital letter.

I always do this to show a capital A to help me remember and your full stop.

Write a simple sentence for this picture.

You should have a look at my example.

The man warmed his hands, full stop.

That's it, I told you one piece of information.

It has my verb, warmed.

What a nice verb that is.

The man warmed his hands.

Now add another main clause using a coordinating conjunction and turn your sentence into a compound sentence and there he is.

There's my boa snake.

Can that help you to remember the three coordinating conjunctions that you can use? The man warmed his hands.

Add another main clause and a coordinating conjunction and you would've made a compound sentence.

You can tell me out loud or you can pause and write it down.

Okay, let's have a look at my example.

The man warmed his hands.

Oh, that sounds good, doesn't it? Positive, he's warming his hands.

Oh, there's a but.

But, he was still shivering.

He was still cold, so but works so well there, because he warmed his hands and then he's shivering.

It's a really good example of positive and then negative and it's a compound sentence because but was one of my three coordinating conjunctions.

Remind me, what were they? But, or, and.

Exactly, good.

Okay, the tricky one.

Now try adding a subordinate clause before or after your main clause.

Can you remember your subordinating conjunctions that you could use to start your clause? What were they? Your subordinating conjunctions.

I can remind you.

You remind me first.

Do you know them? The subordinating conjunctions.

There were four of them that we said are great to start a subordinate clause.

They were when, while, as, because.

Write them down if you need to.

They are great ones to start a subordinate clause with.

Okay, the man warmed his hands.

That's our main clause.

Can you add a subordinate clause before or after that? What have you got? Tricky one that one, isn't it? Let's have a try.

I have given you three examples here.

While the man shivered, there's my subordinate clause, starting with my subordinating conjunction while.

While the main shivered, he warmed his hands, and I've got a comma because my main clause comes second.

The man warmed his hands as he shivered.

Main clause first, so no comma, good.

The man warmed his hands because he was cold.

Because works really well.

It tells us why he warmed his hands.

I don't need a comma because my main clause goes first.

Good job.

Well done today.

Some really tricky stuff and you've handled that so well.

You've learned about simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences.

Very, very good.

Well done everyone today.

That was a really, really tricky lesson and you handled it so well.

I think if you are feeling that you might need to work on those tricky things again then watch the lesson again, it will be so helpful to go through that two times, maybe three times.

If you have a parent or a carer or a family member or a friend who is nearby ask them to sit down with you to stop and start that lesson to go over those tricky things, because simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences are one of the hardest things that you're going to be doing in your English writing, but well done.

I'll see you soon.