Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences Worksheets

Every sentence is built from clauses. A clause has a subject and a verb. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence ("the river flooded"), and a dependent clause cannot, because it starts with a word like because, when, although, or if ("because the river flooded"). A simple sentence has one independent clause: "The heron caught a fish." A compound sentence joins two independent clauses with a comma and a conjunction such as and, but, or, or so: "The heron caught a fish, and the frogs hid." A complex sentence has an independent clause and a dependent clause: "The frogs hid when the heron landed."

Two common mix-ups trip children up. First, the word and does not always make a compound sentence: "Nell and Gus raked and bagged the leaves" has two subjects and two verbs, but it is still one clause, so it is simple. Second, a short phrase is not a clause: "After lunch, we read" is simple, while "After we ate lunch, we read" is complex, because "we ate" has its own subject and verb.

These worksheets grow with your child. In 3rd grade, children tell the three kinds apart using and, but, or, and so for compound sentences and because, when, after, before, and if for complex ones. In 4th grade, they learn the words independent and dependent clause, combine sentences with a word bank, and turn one pair of sentences into both a compound and a complex sentence. In 5th grade, they meet relative clauses with who, which, and that, find the dependent clause in a sentence, fix run-ons and comma splices, and write each kind of sentence on their own.

Every practice page has an answer key, and the cut-and-paste sort has a matching no-cut version for days without scissors and glue.