Compound Sentence: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what a compound sentence is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on compound sentences, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is a compound sentence?

According to Your Dictionary and Collins English Dictionary, a compound sentence is a sentence that has two or more independent clauses about related ideas. These can either by joined by a semicolon or a coordinating conjunction: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. There are other types of sentence structure such as a compound-complex sentence, simple sentences, imperative sentences, and complex sentences. 

A compound sentence can be made up of an independent and a dependent clause. An independent clause is a complete thought while a dependent clause or subordinate clause is a fragment. These can be connected through punctuation like a semi-colon to attache the second clause to the first sentence, conjunctive adverbs, a subordinating conjunction, and more to coordinate independent clauses. The advantage of compound sentences is that they can say more in just one sentence. These main sentence structures of independent sentences take a compound subject and compound predicate, the compound elements, to create variety in length and meaning in our sentences.

Many different languages also contain words that mean compound sentence. You may notice that some of these translations of compound sentence look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of compound sentence is provided by Word Sense

  •  French: phrase complexe‎ (fem.)
  •  Armenian: բարդ նախադասություն‎
  •  Korean: 병렬문‎
  •  Japanese: 重文‎ (jūbun)
  •  Hungarian: összetett mondat‎
  •  German: Satzreihe‎ (fem.), Satzverbindung‎ (fem.)
  •  Dutch: samengestelde zin bestaande uit 2 nevengeschikte zinnen (masc.)
  •  Russian: сложносочинённое предложе́ние‎ (neut.)
  •  Thai: อเนกรรถประโยค‎, ประโยคความรวม‎
  •  Polish: zdanie złożone‎ (neut.)
  •  Tagalog: tambalang pangungusap‎

What is an example of a compound sentence?

There are many examples of compound sentences below from Your Dictionary. The first example and second example/second sentence combine clauses through a semicolon.

  •  The sky is clear; the stars are twinkling.
  •  John finished the worksheets in the classroom ; he decided to work on his biology project on the eagle.
  •  Jessica was nearly struck by lightning; the fanboys got her to safety. 
  •  Cats are good pets, for they are clean and are not noisy.
  •  Should we start class now, or wait for everyone to get here?
  •  Malls are great places to shop; I can find everything I need under one roof.
  •  You need to pack the appropriate things for camping; for example, a sleeping bag will keep you warm.
  •  There were white-out conditions in the town; therefore, the roads were impassable.
  •  I have paid my dues; as a result, I expect to receive all the privileges listed in the bylaws.
  •  He didn’t want to go to the dentist, yet he went anyway.
  •  Jenny rang the doorbell of her friend who worked at the supermarket because she was running late for high school and needed a ride.
  •  He ran out of money, so he had to stop playing poker.
  •  It was getting dark, and we weren’t near the cabin yet.
  •  They had no ice cream left at home, nor did they have money to go to the store.
  •  She did not cheat on the test, for it was the wrong thing to do.
  •  She only paints with bold colors; indeed, she does not like pastels at all.
  •  I thought the promotion was mine, but my attendance wasn’t good enough.
  •  He turned in the research paper on Friday; he would have not passed the class otherwise.
  •  The waves were crashing on the shore; it was a lovely sight.
  •  We did not pay special attention to the builders of the pyramid, but rather treated everyone with equal value.
  •  We have never been to Asia, nor have we visited Africa.
  •  I am happy to take your donation; any amount will be greatly appreciated.
  •  Everyone was busy, so I went to the movie alone.
  •  Joe made the sugar cookies; Susan decorated them.
  •  Check back tomorrow; I will see if the book has arrived.
  •  He said he was not there yesterday; many people saw him there.
  •  She works two jobs to make ends meet; at least, that was her reason for not having time to join us.
  •  They got there early, and they got really good seats.
  •  Italy is my favorite country; I plan to spend two weeks there next year.
  •  I am counting my calories, yet I really want dessert.
  •  I really need to go to work, but I am too sick to drive.
  •  It was a difficult assignment; however, Kelly was up to the challenge.

What are other literary techniques and devices?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  •   interrogative
  •   intensifier
  •   appositive
  •   count noun
  •   complementary
  •   superlative
  •   attributive
  •   bare infinitive
  •   conjunction (conj.)
  •   head
  •   present tense
  •   zero
  •   non-finite
  •   locative
  •   first person
  •   pleonasm | pleonastic
  •   noun (n.)
  •   adjective
  •   possessive
  •   optative
  •   copular verb | copula
  •   cataphoric
  •   that-compound sentence
  •   compound sentence
  •   person
  •   periphrasis | periphrastic
  •   anaphoric
  •   indirect speech
  •   vocative
  •   subjunctive
  •   dual
  •   reflexive
  •   genitive
  •   proper noun | proper name
  •   verbal noun
  •   positive
  •   subordinate compound sentence
  •   relative
  •   preposition (prep.)
  •   compound sentence
  •   imperative (imper.)
  •   article
  •   compound sentence
  •   infinitive
  •   construed (const., constr.)
  •   progressive
  •   phrase (phr.)
  •   indirect question
  •   parasynthetic
  •   postmodify | postmodifier
  •   accusative
  •   apposition
  •   present participle
  •   construction
  •   active
  •   predicative
  •   demonstrative
  •   nominal relative | nominal relative compound sentence
  •   adverb (adv.)
  •   pro-form
  •   feminine
  •   main verb
  •   antecedent
  •   comparative
  •   agent noun
  •   declarative
  •   morpheme
  •   perfect
  •   finite
  •   interjection
  •   prepositional passive
  •   verb (v.)
  •   non-referential
  •   compound | compounding
  •   indefinite
  •   stem
  •   determiner
  •   prefix
  •   passive infinitive
  •   complement
  •   participle | past participle | present participle
  •   dative
  •   possessive adjective
  •   object | direct object | indirect object
  •   ellipsis | elliptical
  •   singular
  •   abstract
  •   mass noun
  •   neuter
  •   instrumental
  •   adverbial | adverbially
  •   possessive pronoun
  •   agree | agreement
  •   tense
  •   anticipatory
  •   concrete
  •   phrasal verb
  •   causative
  •   indirect object
  •   personal pronoun
  •   modify | modifier
  •   case
  •   common noun
  •   simple
  •   indicative
  •   third-person
  •   similative
  •   combination
  •   transitive
  •   double object
  •   plural
  •   direct question
  •   subject
  •   conditional
  •   passive
  •   quasi-
  •   gender
  •   masculine
  •   noun phrase
  •   premodify | premodifier
  •   collective noun
  •   mood
  •   inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •   impersonal (impers.)
  •   cognate object
  •   sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
  •   gerund
  •   to-infinitive
  •   subjective
  •   combining form (comb. form)
  •   special use
  •   apodosis and protasis
  •   base form
  •   direct speech
  •   absolute (absol.)
  •   part of speech
  •   protasis
  •   objective
  •   unmarked genitive
  •   intransitive
  •   definite article
  •   prepositional phrase
  •   indirect passive
  •   auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •   filler
  •   nominative
  •   main compound sentence
  •   parenthetical | parenthetically
  •   direct object
  •   modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
  •   pronoun (pron.)
  •   second person
  •   past tense
  •   past participle
  •   number
  •   element
  •   participial adjective
  •   collocation | collocate
  •   prepositional object

Overall, a compound sentence is a sentence that has at least two independent clauses joined by a semicolon or a coordinating conjunction with a comma.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED 
  2. compound sentence: meaning, translation | Word Sense 
  3. Compound Sentence Examples | Your Dictionary