Simple Sentence

Simple Sentence

According to the structure of sentence, they are divided in to 4 types. Simple sentence has a basic structure and known to be the easiest one in English Grammar.

It can be long or short, but the sentence always contains an independent clause without which a simple sentence cannot be formed.

Like simple sentence other sentences such as compound sentence and complex sentence also contains independent clause, but simple sentence contains only one independent clause.

Before understanding the simple sentence, let us understand what is a clause?

Clause is known as a part of sentence that contains verb. Clauses are also known as verb phrase as well.

It is of four types.

1.Independent clause (main clause)

2.Dependent clause (subordinate clause)

3.Relative clause

4.Noun clause

Independent clause is a part of the sentence which does not depend on the other part of the sentence and can form a sentence alone or we can say independent sentence can stand alone. Where in a dependent clause cannot form a sentence alone.

Independent clause can express a complete thought having one subject and a predicate in it. But a dependent sentence cannot express a complete thought and always need another grammatical element to form a sentence and express a complete thought.

Independent clauses are known as the main clause and the dependent clauses are known as the subordinate clause.

Let us see some examples of Simple sentence using different grammatical elements.

1.One subject and one verb

  • I went.
  • She goes.
  • Harry plays.
  • Susan dances.
  • He cried.
  • Horse runs.
  • Dog barks.
  • The prisoner escaped.

2.Two subjects (compound subject) and one verb 

  • Me and my husband drove to the city.
  • I and my brother went for a movie.
  • The cat and the dog played.
  • Sarah and Husain went on a trip.

3.One subject and two verbs

  • We sang and danced in party.
  • Thief stolen but caught afterwards.
  • She ran and caught the train.
  • He had breakfast and drove to work.

Simple sentence is not always positive

We often get confused with the example of the simple sentences that these sentences always written in a positive sense.

But sentences with exclamation mark and question mark are also simple sentence.

  1. Do you drink tea?
  2. Does she like ice-cream?
  3. Run! It is raining.
  4. You cannot complete your homework.

From above sentences we can conclude that simple sentences are not always positive sentences ending with a period, but it can be a interrogative sentence or questioner sentence. It can be an exclamation sentence and can be a negative sentence.

Let us see some example of long simple sentence.

Did you know in literature most of the long sentences are simple sentences? By seeing them we cannot recognise as simple, but they are.

Below is one example of long simple sentence from literature:

Virginia Woolf, “Mrs. Dalloway.” 116 words.

“It was not to them (not to Hugh, or Richard, or even to devoted Miss Brush) the liberator of the pent egotism, which is a strong martial woman, well nourished, well descended, of direct impulses, downright feelings, and little introspective power (broad and simple–why could not everyone be broad and simple? she asked) feels rise within her, once youth is past, and must eject upon some object–it may be Emigration, it may be Emancipation; but whatever it be, this object round which the essence of her soul is daily secreted, becomes inevitably prismatic, lustrous, half looking glass, half precious stone; now carefully hidden in case people should sneer at it; now proudly displayed.”