Bristol English for Academic Purposes (BEAP) Grammar
3. Sentences
Complex Compound Sentences
Complex-compound sentences are made up of a combination of complex and compound sentences. The compound part contains two main clauses, while the complex part contains one or more subordinate clauses.
Complex-compound sentences show good control of sentence structure, and allow writers to express sophisticated connections between ideas. However, there is a danger that the overuse of complex-compound sentences can make essays difficult to read and maybe confusing to the reader. A good writer will use a range of simple, compound, complex and complex-compound sentences to express themselves.
Examples:
- Researchers at MIT have developed carbon filters, which fit in the engine, and this has been further developed by a team of researchers in the Netherlands.
- The houses were well built and there are several sites in the area which abound with excavation possibilities.
- That would not be translation, yet that is what is happening when we translate Adam as man early in Genesis.
- Fougere (2003) goes on to argue that most individuals do not find a place in the new order and individuals therefore “make do.”
- A phenomenological view of space is concerned with how individuals make sense of their environment and is closely related to the concept of otherness.
Test Yourself
Can you identify the different parts of the following complex-compound sentences?
[3] If Barack Obama is re-elected this November , [4] he'll serve another four years , but it won't be an easy contest to win.
[5] Although I like to go camping , I haven't had the time to go lately and [6] I haven't found anyone to go with .
Individuals start making the long-term connections [7] that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, [8] yet this period of life is often characterised by uncertainty.
Ryan et al. (2008) note [9] that migrant networks may be dispersed over a wide geographical area [10] and they emphasise the importance of electronic communication in maintaining social ties .
[11] Daraganova, et al. (2012) note that the probability of accepting someone as a social contact scales with distance and Latane et al. (1996) found that [2] there is a “remarkable regularity” in the relationship between distance and memorable social interactions .