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Sentence variety: simple, compound and complex

By Michael Ukwuma

Raters reward a mix of sentence types. How to build longer sentences without losing control.

Both Readability and Listenability mention sentence structure and variety. A paragraph of only short sentences sounds basic. A paragraph of only long sentences gets messy. You want a mix.

Three types

• Simple: one idea. The park is crowded on weekends.
• Compound: two ideas joined by and, but, so, or. The park is crowded, but it is still my favourite place.
• Complex: a main idea with a linked idea using because, although, when, if, which, who. Although the park is crowded on weekends, I still go every Sunday because my children love the playground.

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