complex sentence

Related to complex sentence: compound sentence, Subordinating conjunctions

complex sentence

Complex sentences are one of the four main sentence structures. They are made up of one independent clause (or main clause) and one or more dependent clauses (or subordinate clauses). The dependent clause is introduced and linked to the independent clause by a subordinating conjunction.

complex sentence

(Grammar) grammar a sentence containing at least one main clause and one subordinate clause

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

com′plex sen′tence

a sentence containing one or more dependent clauses in addition to the main clause, as When the bell rings (dependent clause), walk out (main clause).

[1880–85]

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Noun

complex sentence - a sentence composed of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause

sentence - a string of words satisfying the grammatical rules of a language; "he always spoke in grammatical sentences"

loose sentence - a complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows

periodic sentence - a complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the subordinate clause

independent clause, main clause - a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence

coordinate clause - a clause in a complex sentence that is grammatically equivalent to the main clause and that performs the same grammatical function

dependent clause, subordinate clause - a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb

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The analysis of the media text also showed that all the media text made use of complex sentence structure.

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Despite LaSaine's tendency to occasionally use somewhat disruptive, complex sentence structure, the book is a worthwhile and informative read.

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At times, Lin uses large words and complex sentence structure when simpler prose would suffice.

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Year 5: Understand the difference between main and subordinate clauses and that a complex sentence involves at least one subordinate clause (ACELA1507)

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Two simple clauses are connected into one complex sentence and interconnected using the conjunction and.

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Asking these students what topics they want to read about, or whether they'd like to listen to audiobooks rather than interact only with texts, or whether they prefer to study complex sentence structures before phonemes, may result in learning that is tailored to their interests but not necessarily to their needs.

The study of subordinate and embedded clauses and simple, compound and complex sentence construction can be quite dry and it can be brought down to a series of 'complete this sentence' type activities.

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This is called a complex sentence. Look at this example:

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To achieve this they often have linguistically complex sentence structures with dependent clauses.