Understanding the Simple, the Compound, the Complex, and the CompoundComplex sentences Using Scriptural Examples from The Holy Bible
by Melineze Hite 01/04/11 For Sale Author requests article critique
Simple, Compound, Complex, or Compound-Complex: That Is the Question!
Classified according to their structure, there are 4 kinds of sentences.
They are as follows: simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence.
Definitions were taken from Warriner's English Grammar and Composition: Complete Course, Revised Edition, Harcourt Brace and World, Inc., New York, 1965 with 5 examples of each taken from The Holy Bible.
Compiled by Melineze Logan Hite
The simple sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and no subordinate clauses.
"The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb." Deuteronomy 5:2
"Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon." Matthew 15:21
"They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me." Lamentations 3:53
"Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon." Daniel 3:30
"They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night." Job 5:14
The compound sentence is a sentence composed of two or more independent clauses but no subordinate clauses.
"The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved." Nahum 2:6
"The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed." Psalm 28:8
"Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell." Proverbs 5:5
"He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants."Ezekiel 17:4
"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." Ecclesiastes 7:14
The complex sentence is a sentence that contains one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
"The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits." II Timothy 2:6
"Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword." Ezekiel 30:5
"Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered." Matthew 21:18
"And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem." II Chronicles 12:4
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." Jonah 2:8
The compound-complex sentence is a sentence that contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses.
"He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch." Proverbs 11:28
"The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant." Psalm 25:14
"The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter." Mark 7:26
"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." Proverbs 11:30
"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." Nahum 1:7
Instructions:
Try underlining the subjects and the verbs in all the independent clauses which can stand alone.
Place brackets around the dependent clauses or subordinate clauses which cannot stand alone.
Try memorizing these scriptures, and
be blessesd!
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