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It sounds a bit basic and simple question but I want to learn if a sentence as the following can be classified as simple sentence?

They decided that it was a good idea to invest in the company.

And if there is a special name for this part of sentence when a "independent sentence" , what I mean is that the part it was a good idea to invest in the company, follows that or is it simply called as object.


Edit :

Another sentence could be as the following:

I liked the book that I bought last weekend.

or

It tasted so good that I could not help but have another one.

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    No, it is not a simple sentence. And that's not a relative clause, either. It's a complement clause, the direct object of decided. The fact that there are 3 clauses (because there are 3 verbs -- decided, was, and invest) means that it is a complex sentence. Most sentences are complex. Simple sentences are rare. Nov 18, 2016 at 3:32
  • @JohnLawler well I see what you mean, but this also makes me confused more. That is, as you know complex sentence technically means that a sentence that has at least one independent clause and one dependent clause and if there is a dependent clause , probably there needs a subordinating conjunction.When we look at the sentence, I cannot see subordinating conjunction.
    – Mrt
    Nov 18, 2016 at 3:48
  • @JohnLawler so do you think the part "that it was a good idea to invest in the company." is independent or dependent clause?
    – Mrt
    Nov 18, 2016 at 3:49
  • What makes you think there is no conjunction? What is "that" doing there?
    – user140086
    Nov 18, 2016 at 4:56
  • "They decided." What? "that it was a good idea" For what? "to invest..."
    – user140086
    Nov 18, 2016 at 4:58

1 Answer 1

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Could a sentence with relative clause be simple sentence?

No.

There are three types of sentences in English.

  1. Simple: One independent clause with a subject and a verb (predicate).

  2. Compound: Two independent clauses joined by a coordinator such as for, and, but, etc.

  3. Complex: One independent clause with one or more dependent clauses. A dependent clause could be

(1) a noun clause. One example is a clause with the complementizer that:

They decided that it was a good idea to invest in the company.

(2) a relative clause with relative pronouns such as which, that, who and whom, etc.

I liked the book that I bought last weekend.

(3) an adverbial clause with conjunctions such as because, if, as, since and when, etc.

I couldn't finish homework because it was too late.

As John Lawler commented, a simple sentence is rare in English and you can Google its examples.

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