A simple sentence is also called an independent clause and it contains a subject and a verb.

A simple sentence contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence can also contain compound subjects or verbs.

simple sentence examples

“The dog likes to chase squirrels.”
“Didi visits her grandmother and reads to her on Sundays.”

Ernest Hemingway used simple sentences a lot and this style is associated with his writing. He believed the shorter and simpler, the more powerful the writing:

“You’re an expatriate. You’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed with sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You’re an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes.”  from The Sun Also Rises

Here, the language style is economical, rather than flowery.Sentences are short, sweet, and to the point, with the simple style masking a lot of complexities going on underneath the surface.

Short sentences can be used to create  tension, as in this text:
“It is dark. He is outside Umbridge’s window. He didn’t ask when he could stop. He was wearing a watch.
He didn’t check the time. He knew someone was watching him. He knew it was a female. She was looking for weakness. He refused to show any. It was night-time. He was prepared to say all night.” JK Rowling Harry Potter

Bite-size sentences are used to create surprise, but to be effective they should not be used exclusively without any compound sentences in there somewhere – this makes for monotonous reading.

A simple sentence is easier to understand and easier to write than a complex sentence.