The Simple Sentence

A simple sentence contains only one independent clause.

This means that it doesn't contain more than one independent clause, and it doesn't contain any subordinate clauses. It expresses only one main idea. Shall we look at some examples? Great!

Simple	Not Simple
I love kumquats.	I love kumquats, and you love bananas.
Maria loves limes.	Although she hates lemons, Maria loves limes.
Maria served punch.	Maria served punch because it is delicious, and it contains lime juice.

Compound Elements

Do you know what compound means? It means more than one. We say that a sentence is compound when it contains two or more independent clauses. Well, listen to this! Simple sentences may contain compound words or phrases!

Compound Element	Still Simple? Yes!
Subject	Marshall and Allie play basketball.
Verb	The players dribbled and shot the basketball.
Direct Object	The team won the game and the tournament.
Predicate Adjective	They felt happy and elated.
Object of the Preposition	The team ate at Dairy Queen and McDonalds.

Sometimes seeing what something isn't can help us figure out what something is. Check out this page on compound sentences, and you might just learn a little more about the simple ones!

Diagramming the Simple Sentence

Sentence diagramming gives us a way to show the structure of sentences. Diagramming is super cool! Check it out! This is how to diagram any sentence classified as simple. The subject and verb go on the same horizontal line. Draw a vertical line between the subject and verb.

simple sentence diagram

Compound Subjects & Compound Verbs

Here are examples of how you would diagram a compound subject and verb.

compound subject sentence diagram

Elizabeth O'Brien from Grammar Revolution

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