Page 4 - Lesson notes- Synthesis of sentences

Examples of dependent clauses include the following:

 because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon
 while he waited at the train station
 after they left on the bus
 Dependent clauses such as those above cannot stand alone as a sentence, but they can be added
to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.

Dependent clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions. Below are some of the most common
subordinating conjunctions:

 after,although,as,because, before,even though,if,since, though,unless, until,
when,whenever,whereas, wherever,while

 A complex sentence joins an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses.The
dependent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the independent clause, as in the
following-

 Because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, I did not see them at the
station.
 While he waited at the train station, Joe realized that the train was late.

Conversely, the independent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the dependent clause, as
in the following:

Tip: When the independent clause comes first, a comma should not be used to separate the
two clauses.

 I did not see them at the station because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before
noon.
 Joe realized that the train was late while he waited at the train station.

4. A compound-complex sentence is comprised of at least two independent clauses and
one or more dependent clauses. Because compound-complex sentences are normally
longer than other sentences, it is very important to punctuate them correctly.