Section A: This week we practiced working with complex sentences. Let’s see if you can recognize a complex sentence – a sentence with a subordinate clause word in it. For each sentence below, write Complex or NO.
1. I will be at your house at 8:00 unless you call and tell me not to come.
2. Before we eat dinner, I want to mail this letter.
3. Mom made a roast for dinner, and I baked a pie for dessert.
4. I hope you like it.
5. If you don’t like the pie, you don’t have to eat it.
6. The dogs are barking, so someone must be in the yard.
7. Although we have a fence, people still intrude.
8. I built a fence because I didn’t want the dogs to run away.
9. Until I had a dog, I didn’t care about a fence.
10. You should get a dog, too.
Section B: Each complex sentence below begins with a subordinate clause. Rearrange each sentence so that the independent clause comes first. Remember to take out the comma.
11. When the bell rings, school is dismissed.
12. While you read your book, I will work on my knitting.
13. Unless you need, I’m going home.
14. Until it gets dark, we can play catch.
15. Because my little sister likes dolls, I bought a doll buggy.
Answers: 1-complex; 2-complex; 3-no; 4-no; 5-complex; 6-no; 7-complex; 8-complex; 9-complex; 10-no;
11-School is dismissed when the bell rings. 12-I will work on my knitting while you read your book.
13-I’m going home unless you need me. 14-We can play catch until it gets dark. 15-I bought a doll buggy because my little sister likes dolls.