Now let's read the following passage :
You must have heard that Hazrat Rabeya Basri was a great saint. She was born in the city of Basra in Iraq. Her parents were very poor. They died when she was a little girl. Rabeya was the youngest of the four sisters. As they had none to look after them, they became helpless. Once there was a great famine in Basra. A man who was a robber took away Rabeya from her sisters. She was sold to a rich man who was very cruel. The man always tortured her for no fault. One day Rabeya was serving food to some guests of her master. One guest told her master that he had never seen the bone of a man or woman. Her master cut out a bone from her left leg. Rabeya could not imagine how a man could become so cruel. She was very kind and pious. Though it was very painful; she did not pray for his punishment. She prayed for forgiveness.
Questions :
□ Are there some sentences having one Clause, one Finite verb and only one Subject? Again are there some sentences having more than one principal clause and one or two subordinate clauses? Are the sentences having more clauses joined by connective words or relative conjunctions?
□ In the previous lesson you read about a simple sentence. Now identify the simple sentences. The other sentences with two clauses are complex sentences. Identify them.
□ Let's know what a complex sentence is.
A complex sentence is one that contains one principal clause with one or more subordinate clauses.
□ Here are some examples showing principal and subordinate clauses joined by conjunctions.
Principal clause Conjunction
Subordinate clause
a. We know when he will come.
b. They returned home. after the sun had set.
c. He cannot come because he is ill
d. Wait here. until I come back.
e. Tell me the way how you did it.
f. I know the reason why he said so.
g. You cannot succeed if you do not work hard.
[Note: A complex sentence must contain the following conjunctions: that, when, why, who, which, where, how, if, whether, because, as, though, until, unless, before, after etc.]
Read the text about Rabeya again and fill in the gaps with connective words joining the principal clause with the subordinate one.
Hazrat Rabeya was a great saint
(i) - was born in the city of Basra in Iraq. She lost her parents
(ii) - she was a little girl. She was the youngest of four sisters. A robber took him away. He sold her to a rich man
(iii) - was very cruel
(iv) - she was in the master's house, she worked hard. one day
(v) - she was serving food, one of the guests saw her. He told her master
(vi) - he had never seen the bone of a man or woman. To satisfy him, her master cut out a bone of her left leg to show it to the guest. Rabeya could not imagine (vii) - a man could be so cruel She did not curse the man
(viii) - she was kind. (ix) - she suffered pain, she prayed
(x) - Allah might forgive him.