Complex Sentences

What Complex Sentences means

Now that we've talked about the simple and the compound sentences we're now ready to talk about the complex sentences. So that's what this section is about. So first of all what is a complex sentence basically a complex sentence is when you have a dependent clause plus an independent clause so you'll recall from the previous video that an independent clause is a complete idea. On the other hand a dependent clause is an incomplete idea so when we have a dependent clause and an independent clause put together we call that a complex sentence.

Now what do we use to connect the independent and the independent clause to each other we use what is called a subordinating conjunction so we'll talk about subordinating conjunctions very soon. First let's take a look at some examples of complex sentences so here's our first sentence whereas Britain invested over one million pounds in books. France only invested one hundred thousand. In this case the word whereas is the subordinating conjunction.

How to use it

I want you to notice that France only invested one hundred thousand is an independent clause. It's a complete idea and it can stand by itself. That means that if we were to just write this clause as its own sentence it would still make sense because it's a complete idea. On the other hand if we were to say whereas Britain invested over one million pounds in books this is not a complete idea because we're using the word whereas to make a comparison so when we say the sentence we have to compare it with something else.

Therefore we cannot just stop the sentence here. We have to add some extra information to complete the sentence in this case. We need to complete the comparison let's look at another example Switzerland ranked the highest in 1999 although it was outranked by Britain the following year now in this case the word although is acting as the subordinating conjunction and this subordinating conjunction is connecting the dependent clause with the independent clause so here in the blue color we have the independent clause. Switzerland ranked the highest in 1999.

You'll notice that this is a complete idea. If you were to stop the sentence here it would still make sense. On the other hand the dependent clause is incomplete so here this dependent clause only makes sense when we join it together with the independent clause. So an independent clause is called independent because it doesn't need anything else.

It can stand alone by itself. It's complete however a dependent clause is incomplete. It needs to depend on something else as a rule we place these subordinating conjunctions at the beginning of the dependent clauses. So you'll notice that here we put the subordinating conjunction at the beginning of the dependent clause.

And we've done the same over here so it doesn't matter if the dependent clause comes first or if the dependent clause comes second. The important thing here is that the subordinating conjunction has to be placed at the beginning of the dependent clause and when we use these dependent clauses in a sentence we form what are called complex sentences. Now let's look at some examples of how we use subordinating conjunctions to form complex sentences will start with a word although here's our example although this proposal has some drawbacks its advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Notice that this first half is the dependent class and this second half is the independent clause next.

We have to subordinating conjunction despite here's our example. Despite the new regulations many people still do not fully disclose their income to the government. The first half is the dependent clause and the second half is the independent clause. Next we have unless walking is better than driving unless one is in a hurry.

Practice focus

Here we have the independent clause before the dependent clause. Here is the next example. It is important to consider one's financial situation before traveling abroad unless one is wealthy. Notice that in this sentence we have an independent clause plus a dependent clause plus another dependent clause so in this sentence we have one independent clause and two dependent clauses here's our last example.

Certainly this could happen although the odds are remote. Here we have the independent clause. And here we have the dependent clause. I want you to notice that in all of these examples we place the subordinating conjunctions at the beginning of the dependent clauses.

Now you may have noticed that sometimes with the subordinating conjunction we use a comma and other times we don't. So you may be wondering when exactly should we use a comma with a subordinating conjunction. And when should we not so let's talk about that. There are a few basic rules.

The first of these rules is that if the dependent clause comes before the independent clause then you should place the comma at the end of the dependent clause so in this case here we have the dependent clause. And here we have the independent clause the dependent clause comes before the independent clause so in this case we have to place a comma at the end of the dependent clause. The second rule is that if the dependent clause comes after the independent clause then the comma is usually not used so here we have examples of this. Here we don't use a comma in both of these sentences.