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Every English sentence question — error spotting, sentence improvement, fill in the conjunction, transformation, name the sentence type — is one question wearing different clothes: how many clauses are in this sentence, and how are they joined?
A clause is a group of words with its own subject and its own finite verb. A phrase has no finite verb. 'Having finished his work' is a phrase; 'when he finished his work' is a clause. That one difference decides most of the marks.
Count the finite verbs and the sentence classifies itself. One finite verb, one clause — simple. Two or more clauses that could each survive alone — compound. One clause that can stand alone plus one that cannot — complex.
The same count tells you which conjunction is legal, which transformation is being asked for, and why the fixed pairs — no sooner…than, hardly…when, lest…should — never vary from paper to paper.
1. Fill in the blank: "No sooner had the bell rung ______ the students rushed out."
2. Identify the type of the sentence: "Although he was tired, he finished the work."
3. In the sentence "I do not know where he lives", the clause "where he lives" is a:
4. Fill in the blank: "Scarcely had he sat down ______ the telephone rang."
5. Fill in the blank: "He hid the letter ______ his father should see it."
6. Choose the correct completion: "She not only sings well ______."
7. Transform into a complex sentence: "He is too weak to walk."
8. Which of the following is a SIMPLE sentence?