Question

Read this extract and select all the complex sentences:

I peered out the window at the lengthening shadows of the trees. We had been on the road for six hours, but it felt like sixty given the appalling surface. I was now worried that we wouldn’t arrive before nightfall, and my fears weren’t helped by the driver’s eccentric behaviour. Although it was dark, he still hadn’t turned the van’s lights on. Through my translator I enquired why, yet I immediately wished I hadn’t. There weren’t any. Fearing that we might all have to spend a night in the jungle, I ventured another question beloved of children everywhere. “Are we nearly there yet?” Just one more hour was the reply. I checked my watch. Sunset was in 10 minutes. Fifty minutes on an unmade trail at 40 miles per hour. In the jungle. In the dark. Just great.

Answer 1

• We had been on the road for six hours, but it felt like sixty given the appalling surface.

• I was now worried that we wouldn’t arrive before nightfall, and my fears weren’t helped by the driver’s eccentric behaviour.

Step-by-step explanation:

The phrases above are two examples of complex phrases that can be found in the text.

A complex sentence is one that is formed by an independent clause and one or two dependent clauses. As you may already know, dependent clauses are those that cannot convey a complete thought on their own and therefore need a complement to make sense, unlike the independent clauses that can conclude a thought and convey a complete meaning without the need for complement.