A loose sentence is a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. The meaning of a loose sentence can be easily understood in the very beginning of the sentence, unlike a periodic sentence where the subject-verb of the base sentence is completed at the end.

It adds modifying elements after the subject, complement, and verb.

Loose sentences may make a work seem informal, relaxed, and conversational. However, according to Strunk and White's The Elements of Style(2000), a succession of loose sentences, especially those of two clauses, is to be avoided because of "mechanical symmetry and sing-song".

Examples

• He went into town to buy groceries, to visit his friends, and to go to the bookstore.
• "Bells rang, filling the air with their clangor, startling pigeons into flight from every belfry, bringing people into the streets to hear the news." (From the English Reviewer)
• She drove her car to go to the movie, and get gas.

A complex sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Contrast

• I ate the meal that you cooked.

I ate the meal is an independent clause and that you cooked is a relative clause.

More examples of a complex sentence are:

I enjoyed that apple pie that you bought for me.

I like the pomegranate juice that my father poured into the cup.

• I was scared, but I didn't run away.

Both clauses are independent. Therefore, this is a compound sentence but not a complex sentence.

• The dog that you gave me barked at me, and it bit my hand.

This is a compound-complex sentence with two independent clauses (The dog that you gave me barked at me and The dog that you gave me bit my hand) and one dependent clause (that you gave me).