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ELA 3: Complex Sentences 177 Views


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Description:

How do you feel about complex sentences? It's complicated, right? Well luckily for you we've got a video that'll take care of that right away. Goodbye awkward Facebook status.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:13

Sometimes it's nice to keep things simple... [A pizza appears]

00:16

A simple pepperoni pizza.

00:17

A simple bright red bicycle.

00:19

A simple haircut. [Man riding a bike]

00:20

But other times, it's fun to complicate things a little bit.

00:23

Every single topping ever!

00:25

A jet pack, rocket launcher and disco ball bike!

00:29

And a fully-functioning flying drone weaved right into your hair! [Man riding a bike with a drone flys off with his hair]

00:32

Okay, we might have gone a little too far on that last one.

00:35

Anyway, the point is, complicating things can be fun!

00:38

And we already know about simple and compound sentences so today, let's complicate it! [Finger transforms painting of stickman to assorted colors]

00:42

But because we're nice, we'll give you a recap…

00:45

Simple sentences have one compete thought with a noun, a verb, a capital letter and [Coop discussing simple sentences]

00:49

an ending punctuation mark.

00:52

A compound sentence, on the other hand, is when two complete thoughts are glued together

00:55

with a comma and conjunction. [Dino teaching about compound sentences]

00:59

So you know about conjunctions – but maybe you're having a hard time remembering all of them.

01:04

And hey, it is a lot to remember, so we get it.

01:06

We barely remember our own name!

01:08

But we know it now!

01:10

It's…it's… [People sitting in a meeting room]

01:12

….Shoot.

01:13

We forgot it again.

01:14

Why does this keep happening?!

01:15

…Anyway!

01:16

If you're having trouble remembering all the conjunctions, we have one more trick up our [Hand removes piece of paper from up sleeve]

01:19

sleeves for ya…

01:20

Just remember the word FANBOYS!

01:21

That's...

01:22

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

01:26

Fanboys!

01:27

Any time you see one of these after a comma, voila, you've got yourself a compound sentence.

01:31

Nifty, huh?

01:33

Phew.

01:33

Recap over!

01:34

You can take those stylish caps off now. [Girl has cap taken off her head and stands by painting]

01:36

It's time to get a little more complex…

01:39

With complex sentences!

01:40

Here's the thing about complex sentences.

01:41

They have a comma, just like a compound sentence... [Dino teaching complex sentences]

01:44

But plot twist!

01:45

This comma isn't followed by a conjunction.

01:47

Instead, the comma is used to separate a dependent and independent clause.

01:52

Confused?

01:53

We don't blame you.

01:54

So let's get to an example.

01:55

“If I turn in all my homework this week, my teacher will give me a piece of candy.” [Example of complex sentence]

02:00

See how the comma separates the sentence into two sentences?

02:02

Well, if this was simply a compound sentence, then those two sentences should be complete ideas.

02:08

But look at the first half...

02:10

“If I turn in all my homework this week.” [First half of sentence highlighted yellow]

02:12

That's certainly not a complete thought.

02:14

We call that a “dependent clause” since it depends on the second half of the sentence.

02:18

Meanwhile, the second half, “My teacher will give me a piece of candy” is a complete

02:21

thought, so we call that an independent clause since it can be independent, aka stand all

02:27

by itself, and still make sense.

02:29

Here's a few more examples…

02:31

After five years, she still had feelings for him. [Examples of complex sentences]

02:34

See how, "after five years," isn't a complete sentence, but "she still had feelings for him," is?

02:39

Yup!

02:40

Complex sentence.

02:41

And one more…

02:42

Even though my sister invited me, I decided not to go to the party.

02:45

"Even though my sister invited me," isn't complete, "I decided not to go to the party" is! [Dependent clause highlighted yellow]

02:50

Phew.

02:51

Easy as pie.

02:52

Complex sentences...

02:53

Not so complex after all, huh? [Person draws a line through complex and replaces with simple]

02:55

One could say complex sentences are actually pretty simple.

02:58

Except don't say that.

03:00

They're definitely complex.

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