Complex sentence: One of nine children, Elliot was educated at Dalkeith grammar school and from 1735 at Edinburgh University; a period of study at the University of Utrecht (1743) was followed by a tour of the Netherlands and the German states during 1744--5.
Split into simpler sentences: One of nine children, Elliot was educated at Dalkeith grammar school and from 1735 at Edinburgh University. A period of study at the University of Utrecht (1743) was followed by a tour of the Netherlands and the German states during 1744--5.