Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm really pleased to see you today for our lesson on five sentence types.

Now I'm really excited about this lesson because I think it's gonna really help you to improve the variety and interest in your writing.

So let's get to work.

Today's lesson is called Five Sentence Types, and it comes from my unit called Using Five Sentence Types.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to say and write five different sentence structures for text cohesion.

Now we all know that it can be a bit boring to read writing where all the sentences sound the same and it's a bit repetitive, so this lesson's going to really help us to avoid that because we're going to learn to write five different types of sentences, and if we can do that, we are well on the way to writing in a really varied and interesting way.

So let's make a start.

Here are today's keywords, my turn, your turn.

Simple sentence.

Compound sentence.

Complex sentence.

And text cohesion.

Well done.

Now a simple sentence is a sentence about one idea that makes complete sense.

A compound sentence is a sentence formed of at least two main clauses and a coordinating conjunction.

A complex sentence is a sentence formed of at least one main clause and a subordinate clause.

And writing with good text cohesion means making sure a text meets its purpose, flows, and maintains or keeps the reader's interest.

Here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by looking at simple and compound sentences, we'll move on to looking at complex sentences, and then we'll look how we can create text cohesion using five different sentence types.

Now, as I'm sure you know, a main clause is a group of words that contains a verb and makes complete sense all on its own.

Here are some examples.

"Miss O'Niell checked our work thoroughly.

Who has been causing a nuisance? Stop chatting to your neighbors.

How marvelous this song is." Notice how each of these has a verb highlighted in purple.

So we know it's a clause, we know it's a main clause because it could make sense on its own.

And the main clause has a superpower, which is it could be a complete sentence all on its own.

That's why our character Main is so strong and powerful.

And you can see each of these main clauses could be a complete sentence on its own with a capital letter and some closing punctuation.

And when a sentence like these is made of just one main clause with just one idea, it's called a simple sentence.

So each of these four is a simple sentence, it's made of one main clause with one idea.

Now, there are four different types of simple sentence.

We start off with a statement.

A statement is a simple sentence that expresses or shows a fact or an opinion.

For example, "I recommend studying hard before this test." And, "He's really been causing a nuisance today!" A command is a simple sentence that tells someone to do something, and it starts with an imperative verb.

You might have heard them called a bossy verb.

For instance, "Take his temperature now.

Don't embarrass yourself!" Take and don't are both imperative, bossy verbs.

Now you might have seen that one of my statements ends with an exclamation mark, and one of my commands ends with an exclamation mark.

We use an exclamation mark to show a strong emotion in a statement or a command, so "He's really been causing a nuisance today," shows a strong emotion, someone's getting a bit frustrated.

And, "Don't embarrass yourself," shows that strong emotion as well.

"Take his temperature now," could be shown with strong emotion, but here, I've decided to use a full stop to show I wasn't worried in this situation, this wasn't a situation where the temperature required strong emotion.

Now a third type of simple sentence is an exclamation, and that's a simple sentence that expresses a strong emotion or surprise.

For example, "What a bargain this is! How efficient you are! How fun this will be! What a dreadful racket they're making!" Now you might have noticed that all of these start with what or how, and it's sometimes hard to spot the verbs in these exclamations, but an exclamation often contains a being or a having verb.

So we've got this is, you are, this will be, they are making, all of these are being and having verbs.

Remember, if it doesn't have a verb, it can't be a main clause, and it can't be a simple sentence, so your exclamation must contain a verb.

A question, is the easiest one, is a simple sentence that asks someone for an answer.

For example, "Will you take this opportunity? Are you exaggerating this time? Have you done what is necessary?" We've got a question mark at the end of each one.

So can you decide if each of these simple sentences is a statement, question, command, or exclamation? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, great effort.

A is an exclamation.

We've got that word what and that verb is, and it ends with an exclamation mark.

B is a command, we've got that imperative verb, check.

C is obviously a question with the question mark at the end, and D is a statement, it doesn't show a strong emotion, so we've used a full stop there.

Really good job.

Okay, let's try a true or false.

I've got here the group of words, "Who is my best friend." And I've said, "Who is my best friend can be both a simple sentence and a subordinate clause." And you might remember that a subordinate clause is a group of words that doesn't make complete sense on its own.

So is it true or false that who is my best friend can be both a simple sentence and a subordinate clause? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, you're right, that is true.

Now have a look at my two explanations.

Can you choose the best one to explain why that is true? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, you're right, the answer is B.

It could be the question, "Who is my best friend?" That's a simple sentence.

And it could be a relative subordinate clause.

For instance, in a sentence like this, "Jun, who is my best friend, lives in the next village over," there, it's a type of subordinate clause, a relative clause, and it starts with a relative pronoun, who, which tells me it's a relative clause.

Really good job if you got that one.

Now, we've seen that a simple sentence is formed of one main clause, about one idea, but a compound sentence is formed of at least two equally important main clauses joined together by a coordinating conjunction.

Let's look at that in a diagram.

We have one main clause followed by a coordinating conjunction, and we need to know just three, and, or, and but.

And then we have a second main clause.

Here's an example.

We could say, "I want to succeed," that's one main clause, it could be a sentence on its own.

Then we're going to use the coordinating conjunction, but, then we've got a second main clause, "I don't want to make too many sacrifices," and I can join them to make a compound sentence.

"I want to succeed, but I don't want to make too many sacrifices." We've got a main clause, but, the coordinated conjunction, and a second main clause, that's a compound sentence.

Here are some more compound sentences.

"You must report to the secretary, or you'll be marked as absent from school.

Sofia said she was available, but Laura said that she had to visit her neighbors in hospital.

The situation was awkward and we all felt deeply embarrassed about what had happened." In each of these examples, we've got two main clauses joined by coordinating conjunction.

So in the first one, we've got this main clause joined to this main clause.

In the second one, we have a main clause here, "Sophia said she was available," joined to another main clause, "Laura said that she had to visit her neighbors in hospital." And again, in the third example, we have two main clauses.

In each case, those main clauses could be their own sentence, but they've been joined with a coordinating conjunction to another main clause.

And you might have noticed that we use a comma before but and or in compound sentences, so you can see those here.

We don't use a comma before and, that's a really important rule to remember for our punctuation.

So can you add the correct coordinating conjunctions and commas to these compound sentences? You've got your three coordinating conjunctions at the bottom, choose the right one for each of those gaps to join the two main clauses together.

Pause the video and have a try.

Okay, let's take a look.

The first one we would say, "You must stretch your shoulder or the muscles will seize up," with a comma before or.

In the second one, "We will speak to the committee and we will ask them to change their minds," no comma there.

And in the last one, "We joined the queue early, but we didn't get into the restaurant until 9:00 PM," with a comma before but.

Really well done if you got this.

Now, we can tell if a sentence is a simple sentence or a compound sentence by checking whether we have two main clauses, because remember, a compound sentence is made up of two main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.

But sometimes those coordinating conjunction words can pop up in simple sentences as well.

Let's see how that works.

Here's a sentence, "It will either be disastrous or a huge success." Now I see that word or, which I know can be a coordinating conjunction joining together two main clauses, but the words after or are, "A huge success." Now, there's no verb in that group of words, so it's not a main clause, so this whole sentence must be a simple sentence and not a compound sentence.

Let's look at another example.

"It will either be disastrous, or it will be a huge success." Here, the words after or are, "It will be a huge success." Now, that is a main clause, it contains the verb will be, and it could make sense in its own.

So in this sentence, we've got a main clause, or, and then another main clause, so this one is a compound sentence.

Now you try.

I'm going to show you two sentences, and I want you to decide if they're simple or compound.

Remember, a compound sentence will have two main clauses, so what comes after and, but, or or must be a main clause if we think it's a compound sentence.

Pause the video and work out whether they're simple or compound sentences.

Okay, let's check.

In that first one, the words after and are, "A cemetery." Now there's no verb there, so there can't be a main clause, so this whole sentence must be a simple sentence.

In the second one, the words after and are, "It is close to a cemetery." Now we have a verb there, is, and this could be a complete sentence, "It is close to a cemetery," so that's a main clause.

So we've got a verb contained inside a main clause, so this is a compound sentence.

It has two main clauses joined by that coordinating conjunction, and.

Really good job if you worked those two out.

So let's try our first task for this lesson, we've got a beautiful picture here of a gorgeous, lush, green valley with hills on either side.

We're going to use this to inspire some sentences.

So I'd like you to use the picture to help you write, first of all, a question.

For example, "Where does this river lead?" Then a command like, "Climb that hill!" Then an exclamation like, "How green this valley is," remembering you need that verb in your exclamation, I've got is.

Then a statement, "The view from here is stunning." Then let's write some compound sentences, and you can complete these however you choose.

I've gone for some starters here, and I've given you the conjunction, and I'd like you to complete the sentence.

"We tried to climb the hill, but.

We could go back home, or.

." And, "We saw birds soaring through the sky and.

." I wonder what else you saw.

So using that picture to help you, pause the video and let's see if you can write your four simple sentences and complete those three compound sentences.

Have a go.

Okay, let's look at some example simple sentences you could have written.

Yours will obviously look different, but here are some ideas you could've thought of.

I've gone for as my question, "Where shall we go next?" My command, "Take me back home for a rest!" My exclamation, "What a wonderful place this is!" My statement, "The road leads to a nearby village with a small pub." And you can see here, I've got my verb, is.

You need a verb in that exclamation.

I could say, "What a wonderful place," that wouldn't be an exclamation simple sentence because it wouldn't contain a verb, so you need that verb at the end there.

Now let's look at some example compound sentences you could have written.

I went for, "We tried to climb the hill, but we were exhausted in minutes.

We could go back home, or we could climb one more hill," and finally, "We saw birds soaring through the sky and we saw lambs skipping." And make sure you've got those commas before but and or in those two sentences.

Great job if you managed to write something similar.

Okay, so far, we've talked about simple and compound sentences.

We're now going to move on to looking at complex sentences, and we're going to learn three different types.

So that will get us to our five different sentence types, the simple, the compound, and then three types of complex sentence.

So let's make a start.

Now, we know that a subordinate clause is a group of words that contains a verb and does not make complete sense.

For example, "Criticizing our recent behavior," and, "Who has a complicated signature." We've got our verbs there, criticizing and has, but these couldn't be sentences on their own, so they're subordinate clauses.

Now a subordinate clause must be joined to a main clause in order to make complete sense, and when we do that, it's called a complex sentence.

So for example, "The headteacher talked to us after assembly, criticizing our recent behavior," or, "My mum, who has a complicated signature, took forever to complete the forms." Each of these is a complex sentence because it contains the subordinate clause, showed in green, and a main clause.

"The headteacher talked to us after assembly" is a main clause followed by that subordinate clause, "Criticizing our recent behavior." And in the second example, "My mum took forever to complete the forms," is our main clause, and it's been interrupted by that subordinate clause, "Who has a complicated signature." Now we must know three types of subordinate clause.

An adverbial clause is one really important type, and that looks like this.

"As the respected MP spoke, Parliament was completely silent." That first part of the sentence is our adverbial clause, and I know that because it starts with a subordinated conjunction.

And we know there are several different subordinating conjunctions, including as before after, and many more.

Another type of subordinate clause is a non-finite -ing clause, and that might look like this.

"Clapping her hands, Miss O'Neill waited impatiently for silence." I know this is non-finite -ing clause because it starts with a progressive tense -ing verb with our -ing suffix, and there are an unlimited amount of -ing words we could use to start those clauses.

Then we've got a relative clause, which might look like this.

"Jacob, who is holding the party, can accommodate up to four guests." "Who is holding the party" must be a relative clause because it starts with a relative pronoun, in this case, who.

And there are two so far we need to know, which are which and who.

So we can tell what type of subordinate clause we're looking at by looking at the word it starts with.

So, is the highlighted clause in each of these complex sentences a relative clause, and adverbial clause, or a non-finite -ing clause? Pause the video and try and work it out.

Great effort, well done.

So in A, that highlighted clause starts with who, that's a relative pronoun, so that must be a relative clause.

For B, when is a subordinated conjunction, so that's an adverbial clause.

For C, taking is an -ing progressive tense verb, So that's a non-finite -ing clause.

And then when again, here the second part of my sentence, is another subordinated conjunction, so that's an adverbial clause as well.

Really good job.

Now because we know three different types of subordinate clause, we also know three types of complex sentence.

So for instance, an adverbial complex sentence is made of an adverbial clause joined to a main clause.

A relative complex sentence is made of a relative clause joined to a main clause, and a non-finite complex sentence is made by joining a non-finite clause to a main clause.

So by looking at these starting words for the subordinate clause, we've identified the type of subordinate clause, and therefore the type of complex sentence.

If we know it's a subordinating conjunction at the start of our subordinate clause, then it must be an adverbial clause, making an adverbial complex sentence.

If we can see an -ing progressive tense verb, then we know we have a non-finite -ing clause, and so that would be a non-finite complex sentence.

And if we see a relative clause starting with a relative pronoun, then we must have a relative complex sentence.

So we can tell the type of complex sentence from the word that starts the subordinate clause.

So in this example, "We went to the leisure center because we wanted to go swimming," we can see this subordinating conjunction because that starts an adverbial clause, so this must be an adverbial complex sentence, and we can see there are lots of subordinating conjunctions we would be able to identify.

If you look at this example, "Sofia, who grew up in Scotland, recently joined our school community," we can see this relative pronoun and we know we have who and which so far.

That must make a relative complex sentence.

And in this example, "Mr. Martinez opened the book, causing us all to fall silent in expectation," we've got that word, causing, a progressive tense verb with an -ing suffix, so that must be creating a non-finite complex sentence because that must be a non-finite -ing clause.

So, can you decide if each of these is an adverbial complex sentence, a relative complex sentence, or a non-finite complex sentence by looking for those words that start the subordinate clause? Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

In A, I can see when, a subordinating conjunction, starting that adverbial clause, "When I saw the lightning," so this must be an adverbial complex sentence.

In B, I've got grabbing, an -ing progressive tense verb.

That must be a non-finite -ing clause, so this must be a non-finite complex sentence.

And C, I've got after, a subordinated conjunction here.

"After he lost his job," that's an adverbial clause, so this is an adverbial complex sentence.

And finally in D, I've got which, a relative pronoun, "Which had all the necessary equipment," must be a relative clause, so this is a relative complex sentence.

Amazing job if you managed to work those out.

So, we can create our own complex sentences when we're given parts of that subordinate clause.

So if you look at the first example, I've got, "Pacing blank, Mr. Martinez made sure we did the test properly." So pacing is our -ing word, starting a non-finite -ing clause.

So I could say, "Pacing up and down the room, Mr. Martinez made sure we all the test properly." In the second example, we've got, "We packed away the equipment when," so there's a subordinated conjunction, it must be starting an adverbial clause.

So I could say, "When we had finished the experiment." I've made the adverbial clause to make an adverbial complex sentence.

And in the last example, I've got, "The temperature, which blank, was making us all sweat." I can tell we've got a relative pronoun, we must be making a relative clause.

I could say, "Which was very high," so I've now made a relative complex sentence.

So let's see if you can do the same thing.

I'd like you to create some complex sentences using the given word to begin the subordinate clause in each case.

So pause the video and think carefully about how you can complete these subordinate clauses using the words that I've given you.

Have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

So the first one, I can see, is going to make an adverbial complex sentence because I have the subordinating conjunction, because.

So I could say, "Because he wanted everyone to have a fair chance at the game," as my adverbial clause.

In the second example, I can see I'm creating a relative clause to make a relative complex sentence.

So I could say "Ms. O'Neill, who studied Spanish at university, always knew the correct pronunciation of words in our languages lessons." And the final one, I can see I'm going to make a non-finite complex sentence because I've got that progressive tense -ing verb, announcing.

So I could say, "Announcing that the Christmas Carol Concert had been postponed." Really well done if you've managed to come up with something similar.

Now let's do our second task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some complex sentences with a gap in them, and I want you to complete the complex sentence by adding a relative clause, an adverbial clause, or a non-finite clause using the words I've given you.

So here are your sentences.

You can see I've given you either a subordinated conjunction, a relative pronoun, or a progressive tense -ing word.

And I'd like you to use that to complete the subordinate clause.

Pause the video and see if you can have a go.

Okay, let's take a look at some example sentences.

You could've written something similar, or yours may be very different, but hopefully you've got the right subordinate clause in each sentence.

So for A, I wrote, "When I had the flu, my temperature was extremely high." For B, "My baby cousin who is learning to walk, is very mischievous," there's a relative complex sentence.

For C, I've written, "Tiptoeing into the shadowy cemetery, I shuddered in fear," a non-finite complex sentence.

For D, "Miss O'Neill was delighted because we behaved so well in church," an adverbial complex sentence.

For E, "The queue, which was incredibly long and winding, was barely moving," another relative complex.

And F, "We entered the competition, hoping desperately we wouldn't lose," and that's a non-finite complex sentence.

Really well done if you've managed to do something similar.

Now in the final parts of our lesson, we're going to have a look at text cohesion using these five sentence types that we've learned.

We've learned simple and compound sentences, and now three types of complex sentence, so let's turn to looking at text cohesion.

Now, we've learned about five different sentence types and we can use those different sentence types to keep our reader really engaged in our writing, to make the writing flow, and to help avoid repetition.

We don't want to repeat ourselves too much in the different types of sentences we use, because that can get difficult to read.

So, for example, we can combine ideas in simple sentences into complex and compound sentences.

Here are three simple sentences.

"I stepped into the dark cave.

I shuddered in fear.

I felt icy water drip down on me." I can combine those together, and this sentence actually is both a complex and a compound sentence.

I've combined all three sentences to make one.

It says, "Stepping into the dark cave, I shuddered in fear and I felt icy water drip down on me." So I've got a non-finite -ing clause there, "Stepping into the dark cave," and I've got a compound sentence with an and coordinated conjunction.

So that's much easier to read, it flows much better, and it's much more engaging as well.

Here's another example, here are four simple sentences, all starting with the same word, so it's very repetitive.

I'm going to combine some of those sentences together.

I'm going to take these first two sentences, "He walked along the sandy beach, he felt the wind whip his face," and I'm gonna combine them into an adverbial complex sentence.

"As he walked along the sandy beach, he felt the wind whip his face." Now I can take the second two sentences, "He waded into the water, he shivered with cold," and I'm going to combine them into a non-finite complex sentence.

"Wading into the water, he shivered with cold." It's now much easier to read these ideas, and I don't have that repetition of the same word at the start.

So I've improved the flow of my writing, and I think I've made it more engaging as well.

Let's see if you can do the same thing.

I've given you some simple sentences here, and I'll let you try and combine them into longer compound and complex sentences, and you might be able to do it several different ways for each pair of sentences.

So pause the video and see if you can combine the pair of sentences into one longer sentence using a compound or a complex sentence.

Have a go.

Okay, here are some ideas for how you might have done it.

For these two sentences, "I danced to the rhythm, I clapped my hands happily," I could have said, "As I danced to the rhythm, I clapped my hands happily," an adverbial complex.

Or I could have said a non-finite complex, "Clapping my hands happily, I danced to the rhythm." Or I could flip it, "I danced to the rhythm, clapping my hands happily." All of those are ways we could combine those two simple sentences into complex sentences, in this case.

Let's look at the next two.

"She took part in the competition.

She bruised her shoulder." I could say, "When she took part in the competition, she bruised her shoulder." I could say, "She bruised her shoulder because she took part in the competition." So both of those are adverbial complex sentences, which have combined those two simple sentences.

Really well done if you managed to do something like that.

So when we combine sentences like this, it can help to add to text cohesion, and that means it helps to make our writing flow, it keeps the reader engaged and interested in what we're trying to say.

So by using a range of sentence types, simple, compound, and complex, we can add to that text cohesion.

So here's a passage using just simple sentences, let me read it to you.

"We plodded up the steep hill.

Birds flew past us.

Lambs leaped around us.

We got tired.

We sat down to rest.

We enjoyed the beautiful views.

We sighed happily.

What a wonderful sight it was!" Now, that passage does not have very much text cohesion.

It doesn't flow together and it doesn't keep us engaged and interested.

We could rewrite it like this using a range of sentence types that we know.

We could say, "As we plodded up the steep hill, birds flew past us and lambs leaped around us." That combined the first three sentences.

Then we could say, "When we got tired, we sat down to rest." That combined the next two.

We could say, "And during the beautiful views, we sighed happily," that combines two sentences.

And then I finished with, "What a wonderful sight it was," again.

Because simple sentences are useful, we don't want to not use simple sentences, they're really helpful and can be incredibly impactful to our writing.

We just want to make sure we use a range of sentence types and that we make our writing flow together like this to increase that cohesion.

So take a look at my passage again.

What sentence types can you see here that I've used to increase the text cohesion? Pause the video and see what you can spot.

Well done, hopefully you spotted that this first sentence has an adverbial complex and compound sentence together.

So we've got as, our subordinating conjunction starting the adverbial clause, "As we plodded at the steep hill," and then I've got two main clauses joined together with and.

"Birds flew past us and lambs leaped around us," so it's both adverbial complex and compound.

The next sentence is an adverbial complex sentence again, we've got, "When we got tired," as our adverbial clause.

Then I've got a non-finite complex sentence, "Enjoying the beautiful views," is our non-finite -ing clause.

And finally, I finish with that simple sentence, which is an exclamation.

So I've used a range of sentence types to increase that text cohesion.

Well done if you spotted those.

So here's your final task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you another passage made of simple sentences, and I want you to rewrite the passage using a range of different sentence types to increase that text cohesion.

So here's your passage, and you'll see there's lots of repetition of the word we, and these are mostly short, simple sentences, so you need to try and combine them to create longer sentences in some cases.

It's okay to leave some simple sentences, but you might want to create some compound and complex sentences of different types.

So we've got our five sentence types there in the books.

Let's see if you can combine some of these sentences and add some variety to this passage to increase that cohesion.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, so here's an example passage I've created with that passage, which I think has greater text cohesion by using a range of sentence types.

I've said, "We tiptoed in the dark forest, shivering intensely," that would be a non-finite complex.

"As we looked at each other, we wondered whether we would make it through safely," that is adverbial complex.

"We heard a sound, which was low and growling, coming from close by," a relative complex.

"What was it," I've kept as a simple sentence, a question.

"We felt our hearts pounding fiercely in our chests, but we continued on through the shadowy trees, that's a compound sentence.

So I've now got much better text cohesion.

It flows together really well and I've got enough variety there to keep my reader really interested.

But remember, we keep simple sentences when they work well.

There is nothing wrong at all with using simple sentences in our writing.

We just want to make sure we use this full range of sentence types that we know.

Okay, let's summarize our learning in this lesson.

We learned that a simple sentence is composed of just one main clause, and can be a question, command, statement, or exclamation.

We learned that a compound sentence is composed of two or more main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.

We learned that a complex sentence is composed of a main clause and a subordinate clause, and there are several types including a relative, an adverbial, and a non-finite complex sentence.

And we learned that by using a range of sentence types in our writing, we can improve text cohesion, the flow, and the interest of our writing.

We've done a fantastic job in this lesson and I hope you're really pleased with the passage that you've just managed to write.

Really well done, and I hope to see you again in a future lesson.