What is the structure of the sentence? Alexa lost a bright green folder that contains sheets of blank paper.

Question

A.

complex

B.
compound-complex

C.
simple

D.
compound

Answer 1

Alexa lost a bright green folder that contains sheets of blank paper.

In order to identify the structure of a sentence, begin by finding the main subject/verb pair. In this case, the subject is "Alexa" and the corresponding verb is "lost". If you stopped at "Alexa lost a bright green folder.", then you could characterize it as a simple sentence. Because this sentence includes a dependent clause: "that contains sheets of blank paper" it can be characterized as a complex sentence.

Simple sentence= 1 independent clause

Compound sentence= 2 or more independent clauses separated by a conjunction.

Complex sentence= 1 independent clause + at least 1 dependent clause