Simple Sentence: 3 Examples of Simple Sentences

A simple sentence contains a subject (a person or thing performing an action) and a predicate (a verb or verbal phrase that describes the action) and expresses a complete thought as an independent clause. Simple sentences do not contain dependent or subordinate clauses.

An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and expresses a clear meaning on its own. By contrast, dependent clauses and subordinating clauses might contain subjects and predicates, but they do not express complete thoughts. Therefore, they only make sense when paired with independent clauses.

Simple sentence structures can contain punctuation, such as commas, in addition to a period, exclamation mark, or question mark at their end. Simple sentences can also contain modifiers like adjectives (which describe nouns) and adverbs (which complement verbs). Prepositions and prepositional phrases are additional parts of speech in English grammar you can use to create basic sentences.

Simple sentences and complex sentences differ mainly in the types of clauses they include but still share commonalities.

• Compounds: Independent clauses can contain compound parts of speech, which occur when two words or phrases perform the same function in a sentence. Examples include compound subjects, compound verbs, or compound predicates. Since both simple sentences and complex sentences contain independent clauses, both types of sentences can contain compound parts of speech.
• Clauses: A simple sentence contains a single independent clause and must not include any dependent or subordinate clauses. By contrast, a complex sentence includes at least one dependent or subordinate clause that you must pair with an independent clause.
• Conjunctions: Simple sentences and complex sentences can both use conjunctions, albeit different types. While simple sentences use coordinating conjunctions (examples include: and, but, or), complex sentences use subordinating conjunctions (examples include: although, unless, whereas).

A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb and communicates a single, complete thought. Here are steps to take when you’re trying to identify a simple sentence.

1. 1. Identify the subject and the predicate. A simple sentence must have at least one subject (someone or something performing an action) and a predicate (a verb or verbal phrase describing that action).
   
2. 2. Look for a conjunction. You might have a simple sentence if a coordinating junction (and, but, or) joins two words or phrases that are equal parts of speech performing the same function in a sentence—for example, a compound subject. (If you identify a subordinating conjunction, then it is not a simple sentence but instead a complex sentence.)
3. 3. Note any mid-sentence punctuation. A simple sentence contains at most one clause, but punctuation can indicate the joining of two clauses. For example, if a colon, a semicolon, or a comma paired with a coordinating conjunction appear mid-sentence, you have a compound sentence (the pairing of two independent clauses) rather than a simple sentence.
4. 4. Check for a complete thought. If the clause ends with punctuation and needs no additional supporting material to communicate its message, the sentence is an independent clause and therefore a simple sentence.

There are many different ways to construct simple sentences, but a simple sentence must always contain a subject and a predicate in addition to expressing a complete thought. Here are a few examples:

1. 1. The car drove fast and erratically. This sentence has a single subject (“car”), a single verb (“drove”), and a compound adverb (“fast” and “erratically”) in its predicate.
2. 2. Tom and Mary walked to the store. The compound subject here consists of both Tom and Mary. The predicate is “walked to the store,” with “walked” as the verb.
3. 3. The bagels smell and taste fresh. This simple sentence contains a subject (“bagels”) and a compound verb (“smell” and “taste”).

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