Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.
One of the criteria used to assess your writing in the IELTS test is called grammatical range
and accuracy. The examiners will look at the number of mistakes you make, and also at the
range of sentence types you use.
What is the range of sentence types? There is a simple sentence, like this:
Pollution is a problem.
This example shows you the basic structure. A subject - pollution, a verb - is, and the
object - a problem. A simple sentence can have more words than this. You can add adjectives:
Pollution is a serious problem.
Air pollution is a serious problem.
And you can add information with a preposition like 'in'
Air pollution is a serious problem in the city.
Or 'from'
Air pollution from cars is a serious problem in the city.
So a simple sentence doesn't have to be short or simple.
Most of the time the thing that's simple about simple sentences is the idea they express.
Listen to some typical simple sentences in this piece about an old theatre:
It is a lovely theatre. It has excellent acoustics. It's a classic 3 tiered, horse-shoe shaped
auditorium.
You tend to use simple sentences for straightforward information.
It is a lovely theatre to work in.
It has excellent acoustics.
You can add detail, but the idea is not complicated. Listen again:
It's a classic 3 tiered, horse-shoe shaped auditorium.
But it's best to use a variety of sentence types and not just a list of simple sentences.
Listen to this:
The foundation stone was laid in 1834 and the theatre opened in 1837.
You can join two simple sentences together with 'and'.
The two sentences are: The foundation stone was laid in 1834.
The theatre opened in 1837.
Joining them with 'and' gives you a compound sentence.
Listen again:
The foundation stone was laid in 1834 and the theatre opened in 1837.
But what type of sentence do you use if you want to say something a little more complicated?
Listen:
Although the Theatre Royal has some of the disadvantages of this sort of theatre, such
as the columns which people don't like sitting behind, it still has atmosphere.
This sort of sentence is called a complex sentence. A complex sentence isn't just 2
sentences joined together. Some parts of a complex sentence might not be a complete idea.
For instance, the first part of this sentence is quite long with a subject, verb and object,
but it isn't complete:
Although the Theatre Royal has some of the disadvantages such as the columns which people
don't like sitting behind …
That doesn't express a complete thought. It needs a simple sentence to finish it:
it still has atmosphere.
If you take the detail out, you have a structure like this:
Although the theatre has disadvantages, it has atmosphere.
'Although the theatre has disadvantages' is what is called a dependent clause.
It depends on a simple sentence - it has atmosphere - to become complete and form a complex sentence.
Here is another complex sentence.
When you stand in the middle of the stage, you can talk to everybody.
When you stand in the middle of the stage - that's a dependent clause. It needs another
simple sentence or independent clause to make sense:
When you stand in the middle of the stage, you can talk to everybody.
You can even change the order of the clauses and say:
You can talk to everybody when you stand in the middle of the stage.
Apart from although and when, some of the words used to create dependent clauses like
this are: which, that, because, after, and where.
Knowing how to use them is important. It's something you should practise.
There is one other type of sentence, which is a combination of compound and complex sentences
like this:
When the theatre was first built, it was said to look like a 2 storey house and on the outside
of the building you can see the stone window sills.
Normally people use a range of sentence types as we've seen with the man talking about the
theatre. It's your ability to use these various sentence types that the examiners notice.
Listen as he finishes with a complex sentence, a simple sentence and a complex/ compound
sentence:
If I could sum up this theatre in a few words, I suppose I could call it an international
theatre star! This is the oldest theatre in Australia. It's been operating for a hundred
and 59 years and, who knows, it might still be here in another one hundred and fifty nine
years.
His first sentence was complex. Sentences with 'if' are mostly complex because an 'if'
clause depends on another sentence to make sense. Listen:
If I could sum up this theatre in a few words, I suppose I could call it an international
theatre star!
Remember that a simple sentence can consist of a subject - this, a verb - is, and an object
- the oldest theatre in Australia. Listen:
This is the oldest theatre in Australia.
A compound sentence is two sentences joined by 'but' or, as here 'and':
It's been operating for one hundred and fifty nine years and who knows, it might still be
here in another one hundred and fifty nine years.
There are 2 sentences here joined by 'and'. The second part is complex with the dependent
clause 'who knows'.
who knows, it might still be here in another hundred and fifty nine years.
So we've seen what can go right. What can go wrong?
A simple sentence must have a verb. Is this a sentence?
The house in the country.
No. It looks like a sentence but there is no verb. Let's add a verb.
The house is in the country.
That's a simple sentence.
The main problem people have with compound sentences is a mistake called a run-on sentence.
It's when 2 simple sentences are run together without using a conjunction such as 'and'
or 'but':
Look at this:
The theatre is small it is beautiful.
That's a run-on sentence. It's either 2 simple sentences:
The theatre is small. It is beautiful.
Or it's a compound sentence:
The theatre is small, but it is beautiful.
So let's recap. A simple sentence is basically a subject - Pollution - a verb - is - and
an object - a problem. It's also called an independent clause.
A compound sentence is two independent clauses joined by a conjunction such as and, but or
so.
A complex sentence is a combination of a dependent clause or clauses with an independent clause.
It's a good way to express some of your ideas in an essay.
Be careful. Using too many simple sentences can make your writing choppy and dull and
too many long sentences can make it difficult to follow your ideas. So use both.
That's all for now. To find more information about sentence types visit our Study English
website at: australianetwork.com/studyenglish.
Good luck with your studies.