A particularly useful one consists of four parts — they are the rhetorical forms called simple, complex, compound, and compound-complex sentences. Because they are not likely to be recalled from your ...

The compound/complex sentence: This adds one or more subordinate clauses to a compound sentence, as in this revision of #4: “Madonna was once the holy name of a blessed virgin, but then came ...

An independent clause is basically a complete sentence; it can stand on its own and make sense. An independent clause consists of a subject (e.g. “the dog”) and a verb (e.g. “barked”) creating a ...

A dependent clause cannot stand alone, though they often contain both a subject and a verb. Where independent clauses express complete thoughts, dependent clauses do not, and left on their own, ...