Types of Sentences by Structure

• Simple Sentence – “I love chocolate.” One independent clause (underlined).

• Compound Sentence - “I love chocolate, and I love eating chocolate.” Two or more independent clauses.

• Complex Sentence – “I love chocolate because it’s decadent.” One independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (italicized). Note: according to Wikipedia, a sentence like “The dog chewed up the shoes that I just bought” is a simple sentence, not a complex sentence, because the relative clause “that I just bought” simply modifies the noun without performing any other function. I’m not sure how accurate this is, however.

• Complex-Compound Sentence – “I love chocolate because it’s decadent, and I love eating chocolate because it’s delicious.” Two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

LINK: http://learningnerd.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/english-grammar-types-of-sentences/