Shana's Guide to the Sentence (Final Chapter)

Other Guides so far:

Basic Lesson...
Intermediate Lesson...
Advanced Lesson...

In the last guide, we covered the compound sentence. Now, here's the whopper of a guide to introduce and explain the dreaded complex sentence...

---

Complex Sentence: A Complex sentence contains at least one dependent clause, and one independent clause. Why can a Complex Sentence only contain one independent clause? It's simple: If there are two independent clauses in it, it would be a compound sentence, not a complex.

So, let's look at two sentences that are related to each other. We'll take the same sentence as the one we used in the previous lesson.

Shana did not like to fight at a distance.
She quickly leaped forward to engage Trunks in melee.

Now the first thing you should notice here is that both of these are independent clauses. Both of them can stand alone as a complete thought, and thus, a complete sentence. A complex Sentence can't have two Independent Clauses. Remember what we did when we combined those two clauses?

Shana did not like to fight at a distance, so she quickly leaped forward to engage Trunks in melee.

I highlighted the part we added in. The comma is used as a break, and the conjunction was used to conjoin the two clauses, giving us a compound sentence. Now, we need to make one of these clauses a dependent clause.

Shana did not like to fight at a distance.

We'll use this one. To make this clause a dependent, we need to make it so it cannot stand alone as a complete thought. How do we do that?

Because Shana did not like to fight at a distance.

Look! I added the word "because". While starting a sentence with the word "because" is frowned upon in the English community, this is casual writing, not formal. Therefore, it's acceptable. With that word added, the verb like is not finite.

So, let's join this dependent clause with it's independent clause to make a complex sentence.

Because Shana did not like to fight at a distance, she leaped forward to engage Trunks in melee.

This complex sentence needs no conjunction to join it. The comma serves the same purpose as before - a break.

---

The purpose of a Complex Sentence: While I could write out a fifty thousand word guide on all the fine details on Complex Sentences, I simply don't have the time. Complex Sentences have a wide varaity of shapes and forms. But the same basic rule applies: One or more dependent clauses joined to a single independent clause. So why make a complex sentence? It's simple. If we look at those two clauses once more...

Shana did not like to fight at a distance.
She quickly leaped forward to engage Trunks in melee.

We see that both hold their own as a sentence. However, if I were typing this out, both sentences would hold equal weight in importance. However, I want to portray the final point to the reader more than the first. We need to know that Shana leaped forward to engage Trunks in melee. The first clause explains why she did so, but isn't as important as the actual action. Thus, we derive a bit of attention away from the reason by making it into a dependent clause. Then, by attaching it to the independent clause, we form the complex sentence. When the reader looks at this sentence:

Because Shana did not like to fight at a distance, she quickly leaped forward to engage Trunks in melee.

He or she is given two pieces of information. The action that Shana performed, and the reason why. Yet you should notice the action quicker than the reason. This all comes down to the flavor of the writer. This is the foundation of what a complex sentence is.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave a comment below!