Plain English

by Marian Wharton

Exercise 1

Write simple sentences of your own containing:

1. A compound subject.
2. A compound predicate.
3. A noun as subject modified by one or more adjectives.
4. A noun as subject modified by a phrase.
5. An incomplete verb with a direct and an indirect object.
6. An incomplete verb with a predicate complement.
7. A predicate modified by one or more adverbs.
8. A predicate modified by an adverb phrase.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

441. The simple sentence is the unit of speech. It is a combination of words which makes a single statement, question or command. But many times a constant repetition of these short sentences would become tiresome, and our written and spoken speech would not flow as smoothly and rapidly as we desire. So we have evolved a way in which we may combine these sentences into longer statements. Let us take the two simple sentences:

• We are united.
• We shall succeed.

We may combine these into a single sentence by using the co-ordinate conjunction and. Then our sentence reads:

• We are united and we shall succeed.

This is a compound sentence, formed by uniting two simple sentences. Both of the clauses are independent and are of equal rank. Neither depends upon the other. They are united by the co-ordinate conjunction and. We can combine these sentences in a different way. For example, we may say: