Sentence Openers

This quiz is going to concentrate on the use of sentence openers in complex sentences. Instead of starting your sentences with 'the' all the time, try using some different sentence openers. First, you need to know what a simple sentence is: it's a sentence that consists of a single subject and a single predicate; there are no clauses, e.g. 'David likes rugby': 'David' is the subject, 'likes rugby' is the predicate and 'likes' is the predicate verb.

A complex sentence consists of a simple sentence joined with one or more dependent clauses, e.g. 'He was early for work because he caught the 7 o'clock train'. A dependent clause is a clause that is not a complete thought; therefore, it cannot stand alone as a sentence, e.g. 'because he caught the 7 o'clock train' makes you ask 'What happened?' Always try to use complex sentences in your writing: it will be more interesting than just using simple and compound sentences. It would be a good idea to do the Clauses and Phrases and the Complex Sentences quizzes before you do this 11-plus English quiz. Enjoy yourself!