What Is a Compound Sentence?
A compound sentence is a sentence that contains at least two independent clauses connected to each other with either a semicolon or a comma that is followed by a coordinating conjunction.
Compound Sentence Structure and Examples
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Compound Sentence Structure
A compound sentence must have at least two independent clauses and must be connected in one of the following ways:
- a comma that is followed by a coordinating conjunction
- a semicolon
An independent clause is a clause that makes sense on its own, does not require more information for a reader to understand, and contains a subject and verb. For example, when examining the sentence:
Kai studies at Arizona State University
In this example,
- Kai = subject.
- studies = verb.
- The clause makes sense by itself.
- The audience does not wait for more information.
Therefore, this is an independent clause.
If two or more independent clauses can be identified in this way within one sentence, it is a compound sentence. The most common way to form compound sentences is to connect two independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction.
Below is a list of common coordinating conjunctions:
- For (means “because” or shows cause)
- And (implies addition or further information)
- Nor (adds further negation to the previous clause)
- But (shows contradiction)
- Or (presents choice)
- Yet (shows contradiction to previous clause)
- So (indicates result or cause)
The acronym FANBOYS can be used to remember these coordinating conjunctions.
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Compound Sentence Examples
Below is a list of compound sentence with explanations of their coordinating conjunctions. The first independent clause is in bold, and the second independent clause is in italics.
Example #1:
John accepted this job, for he needed the money.
In this sentence, “for” means “because” and suggests why John accepted the job.
Example #2:
Every day I eat my breakfast, and I listen to NPR.
In this sentence, “and” shows the addition of two activities.
Example #3:
Many Muslims do not drink alcohol, nor do they eat pork.
In this sentence, “nor” shows that Muslims do not eat pork in addition to not drinking alcohol (further negation).
Example #4:
Mormons are not allowed to drink alcohol, but they are allowed to eat pork.
The use of “but” in the second independent clause shows a contrast with the first independent clause.
Example #5:
People speak English, or they speak French in New Brunswick.
“Or” in this sentence shows that people in New Brunswick have two choices of languages.
Example #6:
Erica was very hungry, yet she could not eat.
In this sentence, “yet” shows an unexpected contradiction.
Example #7:
Tourists could not find any rental cars, so they rented U-Hauls instead.
In this sentence, “so” shows result or causality.
Compound Sentences with Semicolons
There is another way to make a compound sentence. Two independent clauses can be connected to each other by a semicolon. If a semicolon is used, there is no comma and no coordinating conjunction.
Example:
Barak Obama was the 44th President of the United States; he was the first African American to hold the office of U.S. Presidency.
Comparing Sentence Types
Compound sentences are one of four kinds of sentences.
Below are the four sentence categories:
- Simple (contains one independent clause)
- Compound (contains at least two independent clauses connected either by a semicolon or a comma that is followed by a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon)
- Complex (contains at least one independent clause and one dependent clause)
- Compound-complex (contains a compound sentence and a dependent clause)
Examples of Sentence Types
Hedi graduated from Arizona State University.
This is a simple sentence as it contains only one independent clause.
Compound Sentence:
Zora Neale Hurston attended Howard University, but she graduated from Barnard.
Hedi studied at Arizona State University; she graduated in 2009.
Both of these sentences are examples of compound sentences. They both have two independent clauses connected by
- a comma and a coordinating conjunction (“but”) OR
- a semicolon
Since Hazel spoke Spanish, she landed a job in Mexico City.
In this example, there is one independent clause and one dependent clause. A dependent clause is a clause that does not make sense by itself, making the reader anticipate more information. When the sentence starts with a dependent clause it is followed by a comma.
In the example above, Since Hazel spoke Spanish, is a dependent clause because it is incomplete and suggests that there is more information coming related to Hazel speaking Spanish.
In this example, She landed a job in Mexico City, is an independent clause because it makes sense by itself and contains a subject and a verb.
Compound-complex sentence:
Although Zora Neale Hurston attended Howard University, she did not graduate from Howard University; she graduated from Barnard.
This sentence contains a compound sentence and a dependent clause followed by a comma.
She did not graduate from Howard University; she graduated from Barnard is a compound sentence. Although Zora Neale Hurston attended Howard University is a dependent clause (see explanations for a compound sentence and dependent clause above).
Compound Sentence Problems
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When compound sentences are written improperly, they often become run-on sentences or sentences with two, incorrectly connected independent clauses. There are two common ways to create run-on sentences:
- Comma splices
- Fused sentences
Comma Splices
This happens when two independent clauses are connected with a comma as in the following example:
Omar studies at Mesa Community College, he works there too.
This is a run-on sentence because it contains two independent clauses connected with a comma without a coordinating conjunction.
Possible corrections of the above example:
- Omar studies at Mesa Community College. He works there too.
- Omar studies at Mesa Community College; he works there too.
- Omar studies at Mesa Community College, and he works there too.
Fused Sentences
This happens when two independent clauses are written one after the other in a sentence with no punctuation or coordinating conjunction as in the example below:
Omar studies at Mesa Community College he works there too.
Possible corrections of the above example:
- Omar studies at Mesa Community College; he works there too
- Omar studies at Mesa Community College, and he works there too.
Variations on the Compound Sentence
Sometimes compound sentences are formed with multiple independent clauses. In this case, multiple independent clauses can be connected to one another with a comma and a coordinating conjunction as well as a semicolon.
For example:
Zora Neale Hurston attended Howard University, but she did not graduate from Howard University; she graduated from Barnard.
In this sentence, there are three independent clauses. The first two are connected to each other by a comma and coordinating conjunction (“but”). The third independent clause is connected to the previous two with a semicolon.
Lesson Summary
- A compound sentence is a sentence with at least two independent clauses connected in one of the following ways:
- a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction
- a semicolon
- An independent clause is a clause that makes sense by itself and contains a subject and a verb.
- There are several coordinating conjunctions that are commonly used to link independent clauses together in compound sentences:
- For (means “because” or shows cause)
- And (implies addition or further information)
- Nor (adds further negation to the previous clause)
- But (shows contradiction)
- Or (presents choice)
- Yet (shows contradiction to previous clause)
- So (indicates result or cause)
- There are four kinds of sentences.
- Simple sentences
- Compound sentences
- Complex sentences
- Compound-complex sentences
- Run-on Sentences are compound sentences that are incorrectly formed because of the following two mistakes:
- Comma splices
- Fused sentences