Sometimes a simple sentence is long, and we want to think it is more than just simple. However, a sentence is always simple if it has just one subject doing one thing. Look at these simple sentences that contain multiple phrases. The phrases make the sentence seem long, but it is still simple.
After school on Wednesday, John rode his bike slowly through the park near his house.
This sentence is very long – and at first glance, we might thing it is more than a simple sentence. However, there is only one person doing one thing: John riding his bike. |
All the other words in the sentence are phrases that tell when and where John rode:
after school
on Wednesday
through the park
near his house
The only subject is John. The only verb is rode. This is a simple sentence.
Sometimes a simple sentence seems longer than we would expect, but if there is only one subject and one verb, it is still a simple sentence.
It’s your turn. Figure out which of these sentences is the simple sentence:
John slept until Mom woke him up.
The very tall trees at the end of the island were blowing crazily in the gusty wind.
Did you figure out that the second sentence has only one subject and one verb? Good for you!