Complex Sentences

A complex sentence uses an introductory adverbial clause...

Simply put, complex sentences use BOTH an independent AND a dependent clause!

Dependent clauses are clauses that cannot stand on their own and still make sense.

If a dependent clause was left alone as a sentence, it would be incomplete/a fragment!

​Independent + Independent = COMPOUND

• Seventy-one percent of the Earth is covered in water, but it is not all safe to drink.

Dependent + Independent = COMPLEX

• Even though seventy-one percent of the Earth is covered in water, it is not all safe to drink.

These are technically called subordinate conjunctions, but this is an easier term to remember!

Why SPOILERS? These words take perfectly good independent clauses and spoil them to be dependent!

Place a comma AFTER the dependent clause IF it comes BEFORE the independent clause!

• When refrigerated, rubber bands last longer.

If the dependent clause comes AFTER the independent clause, do not use a comma!

• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.