Complex sentence: Benny Bates, a poor boy from the Liverpool slums, is ten years old when the story begins and scrapes a living running errands in the streets; his beloved but fragile sister Nelly, who is a year younger, sells matches.
Split into simpler sentences: Benny Bates, a poor boy from the Liverpool slums, is ten years old when the story begins. He scrapes a living running errands in the streets; his beloved but frail sister Nelly, a year younger, sells matches.