Compound and Complex Sentences Questions and Answers
Question 1 : What do we call a main clause that stands alone?
Answer : We call such a clause a simple sentence.
Question 2 : If a sentence has a compound subject, is it necessarily a compound sentence?
Answer :No, it is not necessarily a compound sentence. A compound sentence consists of two or more main clauses. A compound subject just consists of two or more subjects. A compound sentence may contain a compound subject, but a compound subject also can be a part of a simple sentence.
Question 3 : What is wrong with the following sentence: “The rain fell, the streets flooded”?
Answer :The sentence contains a comma splice. We could correct it to read, “The rain fell, and the streets flooded.”
Question 4 : How does a compound sentence differ from a complex sentence?
Answer :A compound sentence consists only of main clauses, while a complex sentence is a mixture of main and subordinate clauses.
Question 5 : What type of connecting word is the word that when it introduces a relative clause?
Answer : Introducing a relative clause, the word that is a relative pronoun. In this role, it links clauses and replaces a noun in the relative clause. That can also be a subordinate conjunction in adverbial and nominal clauses, but there it only plays a connecting role.
Question 6 : What meanings can adverbial clauses indicate?
Answer : Adverbial clauses can indicate place, time, manner, cause, degree or comparison, intention, and possibility or conditionality.
Question 7 : What do we call the group of words that a nominal clause completes?
Answer : We call this group of words a host clause.
Question 8 : Which relative pronoun does this sentence need: “Who/whom we might see affects what I will wear”?
Answer : In the sentence, the relative pronoun functions as a direct object of the verb see, so we need the objective case form, whom. The sentence should read, “Whom we might see affects what I will wear.”
Question 9 : Is this a complex sentence: “My grip is stronger than his grip”?
Answer : This is a complex sentence, but part of the adverbial clause beginning with the conjunction than has been omitted.
Question 10 : How do we determine the number of a relative pronoun when this pronoun is the subject of a relative clause and we are concerned about subject-verb agreement?
Answer : We look to the antecedent to determine the number of the relative pronoun.