{"id":5631,"date":"2021-11-29T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=5631"},"modified":"2021-11-16T10:48:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T16:48:18","slug":"compound-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/commas\/compound-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Compound Sentence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might vaguely recall learning about compound sentences at some point earlier in your education. There’s also a chance a refresher may help, because review and practice are good for remembering grammatical guidelines.<\/p>\n

In this post we’ll revisit what a compound sentence is and how it is formed.<\/p>\n

How Do We Create a Compound Sentence?<\/h2>\n

A compound sentence is one that includes at least two independent clauses<\/a>\u2014that is, clauses that can stand alone as sentences. You’ll often find that a compound sentence features a word such as \u201cand\u201d or \u201cbut\u201d that joins the independent grammatical units.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at an example:<\/p>\n

It was sunny on Thursday, but<\/u> it wasn’t that warm.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice that if we remove the word \u201cbut,\u201d we still have two sentences that can operate separately:<\/p>\n

It was sunny on Thursday.<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn’t that warm.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can probably also see the difference in effect between joining the sentences and separating them. In this case, a compound sentence brings the thoughts closer together by establishing an observation and then immediately offsetting it with another observation that contrasts with the first: It was sunny, but<\/em>, contrary to expectations, it wasn’t that warm.<\/p>\n

If we separate the two sentences, we make them more declarative than interpretive as they are in the compound sentence.<\/p>\n

How to Recognize a Compound Sentence<\/h2>\n

Because compound sentences feature separate sets of complete ideas, you will often see them with conjunctions (joining words) that tie them together. They may be separated by either a comma or a semicolon depending on the conjunction used.<\/p>\n

It was sunny on Thursday, but<\/u> it wasn’t that warm. <\/em>(comma, coordinating conjunction)<\/p>\n

It was sunny on Thursday, yet<\/u> it wasn’t that warm. <\/em>(comma, coordinating conjunction)<\/p>\n

It was sunny on Thursday; however<\/u>, it wasn’t that warm. <\/em>(semicolon, coordinating conjunction)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The independent clauses in a compound sentence also can be separated by a semicolon alone.<\/p>\n

It was sunny on Thursday; it wasn’t that warm. <\/em>(semicolon alone)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These are main ways you will recognize compound sentences. Simply remember that compound sentences join at least two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction with a comma or a semicolon or by a semicolon alone.<\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Now that you’ve reviewed compound sentences, let’s see if you can find them on your own. Determine whether each sentence is compound by answering yes or no.<\/p>\n

1. I wanted to have pasta for dinner, but the restaurant was closed. [Yes\/No]<\/p>\n

2. Shirley never leaves early enough for work. [Yes\/No]<\/p>\n

3. Jamie is going to the conference, and I’m going to manage the office staff. [Yes\/No]<\/p>\n

4. All of our practice was wasted; the power went out before a big performance. [Yes\/No]<\/p>\n

5. We should go out for dinner and then have dessert at home. [Yes\/No]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. I wanted to have pasta for dinner, but the restaurant was closed. Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Shirley never leaves early enough for work. No<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Jamie is going to the conference, and I’m going to manage the office staff. Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. All of our practice was wasted; the power went out before a big performance. Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. We should go out for dinner and then have dessert at home. No<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking for More Grammar Tips and Advice?<\/h2>\n

Getting grammar right isn’t always easy, but it’s something we can achieve if we have interest and we practice. We want to help you be an even more precise and eloquent communicator, so we make sure we’re always adding content you can learn from and practice with. Whenever you have a question about grammar or simply want to make yourself more informed, simply browse our large archive of grammar posts and articles. You’re also welcome to leave us a comment about this post below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might vaguely recall learning about compound sentences at some point earlier in your education. There’s also a chance a refresher may help, because review and practice are good for remembering grammatical guidelines. In this post we’ll revisit what a compound sentence is and how it is formed. How Do We Create a Compound Sentence? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clauses-sentences","category-commas","category-semicolons"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5631"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5634,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631\/revisions\/5634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}