Example

Original sentence: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
(George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949)

Imitation: It was a dark, snowy morning in Watertown, and the schools were closing for the
day.

1. Everyone knows how to talk, but hardly anyone knows what to say.

2. "The grass was wet, and the earth smelled of springtime."

(E.B. White, Charlotte's Web, 1952)

3. A long time ago, there was no such thing as school, and children spent their days
learning a trade.

4. Harry was holding the door open for Nick, but he drifted through the wall instead.

1. "Momma opened boxes of crispy crackers, and we sat around the meat block at the
rear of the store.

2. "The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards
had long since ended."
(Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)

3. Every year thousands of salmon swim up the stream near my house, yet I have
scarcely ever seen one.

4. "I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have
succeeded fairly well."
(attributed to Robert Benchley)
 5. "You can't control all the outside events in your life, but you can change how you
handle them emotionally and psychologically."
(Abigail R. Gehring, Homesteading, 2009)

6. "Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him
just as much."
(Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit, 1922)

7. "The birds jumped onto their perches, the animals settled down in the straw, and the
whole farm was asleep in a moment."
(George Orwell, Animal Farm, 1945)

8. "Some automatic device clicked in her big brain, and her knees felt weak, and there
was a chilly feeling in her stomach."
(Kurt Vonnegut, Galpagos, 1985)

9. Life is full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over
much too quickly.
(adapted from Woody Allen, Annie Hall, 1977)

10. His hands are mittened, his ears are muffed, and his body is cased with thermal
underwear, but the damp sock on his right foot is really uncomfortable.
(adapted from "You Can Tell a Hunter by What He Hunts" by Vance Bourjaily)

11. "The sidewalk and the parkway were both very wide, and in the parkway were three
white acacias that were worth seeing."
(Raymond Chandler, The High Window, 1942)

A complex sentence is a sentence that contains an independent clause and at least one
dependent clause. This sentence-imitation exercise will give you practice in connecting
independent clauses with dependent clauses using subordinating conjunctions.

Instructions
Use each of the ten complex sentences below as the model for a new sentence of your own.

Example:
Original sentence: Whenever I look at a mountain, I expect it to turn into a volcano.

Imitation: Whenever I bite into an apple, I expect a worm to crawl out any minute.
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1. The air whistled around me as I ran down the dark street.

2. The dog hid in the bedroom and whimpered while Chris played his violin.

1. When I was a child, I would place the covers over my head before I went to sleep.

2. One hot summer evening, my sister and I watched in awe as bolts of lightning from a
distant storm lit up the sky.

3. "It is difficult, when faced with a situation you cannot control, to admit you can do
nothing."
(Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid, 2007)

4. "When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth."
(Kurt Vonnegut)

5. "As she walked down the stairs into the club, she was looking forward to a seething,
teeming, wriggling, wiggling throng of dancers."
(Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked, 2009)

6. "There is love enough in this world for everybody, if people will just look."
(Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, 1963)

1. "As Pecola put the laundry bag in the wagon, we could hear Mrs. Breedlove hushing
and soothing the tears of the little pink-and-yellow girl."
(Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, 1970)

2. "Miracles are like pimples, because once you start looking for them you find more
than you ever dreamed you'd see."
(Lemony Snicket, The Lump of Coal, 2008)

3. There are three types of sentences in English: Simple, compound and complex
sentences. This worksheet focuses on writing complex sentences and is ideal for
intermediate to upper intermediate level classes. Teachers can feel free to print-out
this page to use in-class.

4. Complex Sentences - What are They?

5. Complex sentences are made up of two clauses - an independent clause and and a
dependent clause. Independent clauses are similar to simple sentences.
6. They can stand alone and function as a sentence. Dependent clauses, however, need to
be used together with an independent clause to make sense. Here are some examples:

7. Independent Clauses

8. We didn't pass the test. Angela won the competition. The doctor will go ahead with the
operation.

9. Dependent Clauses

10. continue reading below our video

11. Quick Tip: What is a Conjunction?

12. Although we had studied for a long time Because she had practiced for weeks If he
gets positive test results

13. Notice how the first group of sentences, the independent clauses, can be used as
complete sentences. The dependent clauses, on the other hand, are missing an element
(the independent clause) to make sense.

14. Here are the two clauses combined to make complex sentences:

15. Although we had studied for a long time, we didn't pass the test. Angela won the
competition because she had practiced for weeks. The doctor will go ahed with the
operation if he gets positive test results.

16. Complex sentences are written by using subordinating conjunctions to connect the
two clauses. These subordinating conjunctions fall into different categories.

17. Here are the most common subordinating conjunctions based on their function. When
beginning a sentence with a subordinating conjunction, place a comma at the end of
the clause. There is no need for a comma if the subordinating conjunction introduces
the dependent clause in the middle of the sentence.

18.