Complex sentences | Syntax | Khan Academy Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hello grammarians hello Rosie hi Paige
so in this video we're going to talk
about complex sentences we've talked in
another video about simple and compound
sentences so that is like one
independent clause or two independent
clauses and with a complex sentence
we're going to introduce something
called a dependent clause so a sentence
needs at least one independent clause to
function as a sentence but with complex
we're going to add this dependent clause
so rosy what's an example of a complex
sentence when we buy his birthday cake
we have to make sure it's lemon so the
sentence when we buy his birthday cake
we have to make sure it's lemon is made
up of two clauses and I've written them
in different colors here so the second
one the pink one can stand on its own as
a sentence we could just say we have to
make sure it's lemon it works it
functions as as an independent clauses
its own sentence we have some
information that might be missing from
this sentence because we don't
necessarily know what it's is but we do
have all the components of an
independent clause here we've got we've
got a subject we and a verb half-half -
and well we have multiple verbs yeah got
a lot of have to make sure so the the
sentence is relying on some information
that's not provided but it does still
stand as its own sentence right like we
can have a sentence before it that's
like we're going to go buy a birthday
cake we have to make sure it's lemon
right those can be two separate
sentences in this case we have this
other clause this what's called a
dependent clause we can't just say when
we buy his birthday cake as a sentence
that doesn't really stand on its own it
doesn't convey the information that a
sentence needs to needs to convey so we
could have an independent clause or a
sentence that's just we buy his birthday
cake it's kind of a weird construction I
don't know that I would say
that you could maybe say we are buying
his birthday cake right but we buy his
birthday cake still works as a sentence
it has a subject we and a verb by and it
expresses a complete idea it's it's an
action that's happening and it tells you
who is doing it but we add this thing
called a subordinating conjunction
that's this word when here and that
makes this into a dependent clause it
can't be a sentence by itself so it
depends on the later clause we have to
make sure it's lemon to be part of a
sentence
okay so rosy what's another example of a
complex sentence although our tent was
zipped up the sound of hyenas in the
distance still frightened us so again
the sentence starts with a dependent
clause although our tent was zipped up
this would be independent if it said our
tent was if DUP but again we have this
subordinating conjunction although at
the beginning and there's kind of a
whole bunch of different subordinating
conjunctions they're sort of just
something that you need to remember but
essentially their job is to connect
clauses in sentences but also make
things into dependent clauses one other
thing we were showing you two sentences
where the dependent clause is coming
before the independent clause but that's
not necessarily always going to be the
case like for example we could have said
the sound of hyenas in the distance
frightened us even though our tent was
zipped up right that would still be a
complex sentence it would be an
independent clause and a dependent
clause but just in a different order
they don't have to be in this order that
we've that we've done twice okay so
Rosie what if I do something like this
like when we buy his birthday cake we
have to make sure it's lemon because
it's his favorite I think because it's
his favorite is a dependent clause right
that's right and this sentence still
completely works as a complex sentence
because you still just have this one
independent clause we have to make sure
it's lemon
but the thing about complex sentences is
you can add more than one dependent
clause if you want and it's still
considered a complex sentence okay so it
has to have just one independent clause
right but I guess as many dependent
clauses as you want yeah you can go
crazy okay cool
so I think that's that's complex
sentences it's an independent clause
that can be a sentence by itself and one
or more dependent clauses which can't be
sentences by themselves all put together
in one big sentence does that sound
right Rosie
sounds good to me page cool you can
learn anything page out Rosie out