Sentence Types

   The text I'm going to look at this time is a 100 word story, whose author I can not name, since he goes only by the username "-ls/cm" on this site: http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com

   You can find the story here.

   I will also paste the text here for easier referencing:

   I have a lot of chores to do every day.(1)

   There was an app for To Do lists on my phone, but I’d have to stop playing Angry Birds long enough to check it.(2)

   So, I picked up a cork-board and pinned my to do list up there.(3)

   When I finish a task, I stick in a pin.(4)

   I call it my Voodoo To Do List.(5)

   I just have to be careful about putting names on it.(6)

   Like when I wrote “Get birthday present for Stan” and stuck a pin in it.(7)

   Poor Stan.(8)

   Hold on.(9) Gotta add “Stan’s Funeral.”(10)

   It can be seen that the style is rather simple, the sentences concise and clear. But, what kind of sentences are there really? Here are a few definitions: 

Simple sentence: A sentence with one independent clause and no dependent clauses.

• sentence (1) - subject: I, verb: have
• sentence (5) - subject: I, verb: call
• sentence (6) - subject: I, verb: have to
• sentence (9) - command sentence, subject: you (assumed), verb: hold on
• sentence (10) - colloquial, subject: I, verb: have got to

 

Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses but no dependent clauses.

(The coordinators that join them are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.)

• sentence (2) - independent clause 1, but independent clause 2.
• sentence (3) - independent clause 1 and independent clause 2 .

   

Complex Sentence: A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

(  A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. )

• sentence (4) - when dependent clause, independent clause.
  
  

   

Complex-Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

• no examples in the text above

Sentence Fragment: An incomplete sentence, usually a phrase or a clause mistaken for a sentence.

• sentence (7) - It may seem understandable, but there is no complete meaning
• sentence (8) - It is kind of an exclamation, could be confused with exclamatory sentence.