Which sentence best describes the central idea of the passage? A.
"Instead of becoming a meaningless addition to the highway, this lovely piece of property could be turned into a museum."
B.
"The Willshires were among the first families to settle in Fairview, and their home has been the site of many historic events."
C.
"She was born into a poor family in 1867, and early in her life she worked as a laundress and earned less than a dollar a day."
D.
"My family has owned land in this area for generations, and we have always taken pride in being active in the local community."

answer: c

explanation:

sentences vary by structure as well as by function. there are compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

simple sentence

i like to read.

a simple sentence has one independent clause.

compound sentence

i like to read, and i also like to write.

a compound sentence includes more than one independent clause, connected by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, or yet).

complex sentence

i prefer to read books that are bestsellers.

a complex sentence includes one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. (a dependent clause is one that cannot stand alone.) types of dependent clauses include relative clauses (i kicked the boy who pinched me), adverb clauses (i am going home now because i have a curfew), and noun clauses (i don't know what to do next).

compound-complex sentence

although i prefer to read current bestsellers, i do like to read old agatha christie mysteries, and i also like some 20th-century science fiction.

compound-complex sentences take a bunch of clauses (multiple independent clauses, and one or more dependent clauses) and toss them together like a salad. although these sentences take practice to write in a grammatically correct fashion, they can hold a tremendous amount of meaning, and are common in academic writing.