Compound Sentences for intermediate learners

and but conjunctive adverbs coordinating conjunctions for independent clauses nor or punctuation sentence structure so yet

In this lesson, we will study compound sentences and learn how to create them by joining two or more independent clauses together.

intermediate advanced

"Compound Sentences" in the English Grammar

What Are Compound Sentences?

Compound sentences are those that have at least two independent clauses. Compound sentences are used to join related ideas or thoughts together, and to show a relationship between them.

Compound Sentences: Structure

As mentioned above, compound sentences are made of at least two independent clauses. An independent clause consists of a subject and a verb, has a complete meaning on its own, and does not rely on any other clause to be complete. So, a compound sentence has two or more subjects and verbs. Take a look at the following examples:

I like sweets and my mother hates them.

As you can see, we have a subject and a verb in each clause and each clause can be used separately.

I wanted to go to school and talk to the professor.

Here, the sentence is not compound because we have one subject and one of the clauses is incomplete without the other.

Uses

When we want to write fluently and to the point, we can use compound sentences. Study the following examples:

She is my friend. (Simple sentence 1)

Her name is Sarah. (Simple sentence 2)

She is my friend and her name is Sarah. (Compound sentence)

Punctuation

If the sentences are connected without any coordinating conjunctions, a semicolon (;) is used between them. Take a look at the following example:

Ross is there; he's talking to that fat, old guy.

Tip!

When coordinating conjunctions are used to connect two simple sentences, a comma is used before them. some of the most common coordinating conjunctions in English are But, And, So, Yet, and For.

She is my classmate ,and she is 23 years old.

I want to have coffee, but he wants orange juice.