‫Welcome to your first grammar lesson for the aout speaking section of this course, today, we are going
‫to focus on three main types of sentence structures that you can easily learn and use to score a higher
‫score in the out speaking test.
‫Now, before we move on, I understand that for many students, grammar is a big worry, but there really
‫isn't any need to be really worried about it.
‫It's true that you do not have to be 100 percent accurate to get a good score in the ALTS test.
‫It is expected that you may make some small mistakes, so relax and have confidence in your speaking
‫skills.
‫Let's return to the band descriptors to help us to understand why those three main types of sentence
‫structures can be very helpful.
‫Again, if we take a look at the seven band score, it simply says use a range of complex structures
‫flexibly.
‫An easier way to understand what complex structures is, is to think of it as just adding a lot more
‫detail into your sentences when you are speaking.
‫Now, that doesn't necessarily mean using lots of adjectives, but adding extra pieces of information.
‫And that's what you will learn in this lesson.
‫To help you understand what complex structures are, here are a few examples, and this is around the
‫topic of transportation.
‫Let's take a look at the first example.
‫The ferry leaves at 10, 30 a.m. tomorrow morning.
‫I hope we can make it now.
‫There are two simple sentences in there speaking part.
‫A simple sentence is a sentence that only has one main point of information.
‫The ferry leaves at 10 30.
‫Tomorrow morning is one piece of information.
‫I hope we make it.
‫That's another piece of information so we can see that they are simple sentences.
‫Let's take a look at more of a complex structure.
‫The ferry leaves at 10, 30 a.m. tomorrow morning, which is earlier than usual.
‫I hope we can make it, although I'm not sure we will.
‫Now, it's quite easy to see that there is more detail in this example, and you should be trying to
‫do this quite often in the speaking test.
‫I've highlighted the part which is earlier than usual, and that is another piece of information.
‫So that sentence now has two pieces of information.
‫I hope we can make it, although I'm not sure we will.
‫I used a connective and an extra part of the sentence.
‫I'm not sure we will to add some extra detail.
‫This is a great example of a complex structure.
‫So there we have some examples to highlight the differences between simple and complex structures.
‫Now let's take a look at the three main sentence types that you should be using in the ALP speaking
‫test.
‫We have a simple sentence, a compound sentence and a complex sentence.
‫A simple sentence has one clause.
‫Now, I should explain what a clause is.
‫And quite simply, a clause is one piece of information.
‫So we can see that in this example, a simple sentence has one clause.
‫There is only one clause there.
‫So what about compound sentences are compound sentences, has two clauses and adds more detail.
‫I've highlighted the two clauses in this sentence.
‫Now let's take a look at a complex sentence.
‫A complex sentence has an independent and dependent clause which doesn't make sense on its own.
‫I might say that making complex sentences is the more challenging of the three sentence types in red
‫I've highlighted, which doesn't make sense on its own.
‫Now on its own, that part of the sentence, you wouldn't really understand what the point is.
‫But when the red part is added to the blue part or the dependent clause to the independent clause,
‫it does make sense.
‫A complex sentence has an independent and dependent clause which doesn't make sense on its own.
‫I'll show you some more examples later on in this video.
‫So let's take a look at some examples for simple sentences.
‫A simple sentence has one clause and I'll show you examples on the topic of travel.
‫I love travelling to Spain.
‫Christmas is my favorite time to travel.
‫The plane tickets are very cheap today.
‫Try and visit me in your vacation.
‫These are all examples of simple sentences where there is only one clause or one main piece of information.
‫Let's move on to compound sentences.
‫A compound sentence has two clauses and adds more detail.
‫Now, you may have noticed that I've underlined and and is a connective and a compound sentence will
‫always use a connective.
‫I'll show you some examples around the topic of food.
‫Cooking is a real passion of mine, but I'm not sure my food always tastes great.
‫It's probably also worth noting that in compound sentences there are two independent clauses.
‫Instead of the connective, if you simply add a full stop, it would still make sense.
‫It would actually turn them into simple sentences without the connective, let's say another example.
‫The food in India is so delicious because they have a strong food culture.
‫British food can be quite bland, although English pies are very filling and warming.
‫I'm not an adventurous eater, really, and I usually enjoy eating familiar foods, so that's all for
‫compound sentences.
‫Remember to use a connective to join those two simple sentences together.
‫Now, let's take a bit of a further look at complex sentences.
‫So a complex sentence has an independent and dependent clause which doesn't make sense on its own.
‫Let's see an example now around the topic of money and finance.
‫At the end of the month, I often try and save some money.
‫At the end of the month is a dependent clause, it needs the independent clause to make sense.
‫Let's take a look at a second example.
‫Hopefully one day I'll be rich, but maybe it's just a dream, and again, the dependent clause is in
‫red, but maybe it's just a dream.
‫Does that make sense on its own as it's the dependent clause?
‫It doesn't make sense and it is not a full sentence without the independent clause.
‫So there we have the three sentence types that you should be using in the speaking test, it's important
‫to note that you should use all three types as well.
‫If you were only to use compound sentences for the whole test, you would score lower marks as a practice
‫activity.
‫Go to the Q&A section and try writing all three main types of sentence structures.
‫If you see some of the students responses, remember to give them some feedback.
‫Now we'll move on to another grammar lesson for Al speaking.
‫See you there.