Sentence Type's - HELP NEEDED!

A2 coursework (ENB4?) requires me to analyse some text for Simple, Compound and Complex sentences. Now I understand what these are in principle, but it's harder than it seems! Like, when there's a comma, but no connective, what's that?

what would this be?

So, before we tell you why 'Up All Night' is such a great record, let's indulge in the noble art of knocking the lad down a peg or two.

and this?

For this we should applaud him: it's entertaining, makes NME's job a piece of piss and is everything we demand of a well-cheekboned rock star

Help much appreciated

Reply 1

Rogue275

I'm afraid sentence types were never my strongest point in English but I'll have a go.

I'm pretty sure the second sentence is complex, as one clause is subordinate to the other. In a compound sentence both clauses would be able to stand alone.

I think the first sentence is complex too, because the first clause doesn't really make sense without the second due to the use of the word 'Before'

Hope that helps a little, but I agree that knowing the theory doesn't seem to help sometimes.