Sentences that do a job
English · Key Stage 3 · The School
Three shapes, and what each is for
A simple sentence has one clause: The door opened. A compound joins two equal clauses with and, but or so: The door opened and the room went cold. A complex hangs a subordinate clause off a main one: When the door opened, the room went cold. Complex is not a compliment and simple is not an insult — they are shapes, and each is right somewhere.
Length is a tool, not an accident
A run of long sentences reads as calm, considered, unhurried, and after a while as slightly airless. Then a short one lands. That contrast is the effect — and it only works because of what came before, which is why a whole paragraph of short sentences is not tense, just breathless.
The comma splice, and why it matters
It was late, we went home. Two complete sentences joined by nothing but a comma, and a comma is not strong enough to do that. It is the single most common punctuation error in secondary writing, and examiners notice it because it signals a writer who has not yet heard where sentences end.
Three ways to mend one
Take “It was late, we went home.” Use a full stop: It was late. We went home. Add a conjunction: It was late, so we went home. Or use a semicolon, which is exactly strong enough to join two related complete sentences: It was late; we went home. All three are correct, and they sound different — which is the point of having three.