Building Better Sentences

Understanding sentence structure helps you write and recognize clear, varied sentences.

Types of Sentences

• Simple Sentence: One independent clause.
  She reads every night.
• Compound Sentence: Two independent clauses joined by a conjunction.
  She reads every night, and she writes in her journal.
• Complex Sentence: One independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
  Because she loves stories, she reads every night.

Avoiding Run-ons and Fragments

• Run-on: Two sentences joined incorrectly.
  She reads every night she writes in her journal.
• Fragment: An incomplete sentence.
  Because she loves stories.

Practice

Mix up your sentence types to make your writing more interesting!