This definitive guide gives you a complete overview of what compound sentences are with the help of simple and clear examples. At the end we have discussed some important rules to correctly from compound sentences.
What are Compound Sentences?
A sentence that contains two or more Principal clauses is called a Compound Sentence.
These Independent or Principal Clauses are joined by coordinating conjunctions such as therefore, or, else, while etc. to form a complete sentence.
As these sentences have multiple Independent clauses therefore they also have more than one finite verbs (i.e a verb with a subject) and can act as a simple sentence in themselves.
The clauses of these compound sentences joined by coordinating conjunctions like for, while, and etc. are called coordinate clauses.
Example – She is good and She has a car.
‘She is good’ is one principal clause and ‘She has a car’ is another principal clause. ‘and’ here is a coordinating conjunction that joins two Independent or principal clauses ‘She is good’ and ‘She has a car’.
Examples of Compound Sentences
Let’s see some examples that will help you build a solid understanding of compound sentences. Here the principal clauses are Italicized and bold words are coordinating conjunctions joining two Independent clauses.
- Stand here or get out.
- It was hot, however we went out.
- It is tough indeed, but I will do it.
- He is not well therefore he will not come.
- My father came and he asked me to close the door.
All of the five examples above have two or more Main clauses and one coordinate clause joining them. Hence All of these sentences are Compound sentences.
Rules for Compound Sentence Formation
Following are three rules which will help in correct compound sentence formation.
- Principal / Independent clauses are like simple sentences in themselves as they have a subject and a verb.
- A Compound sentence can start any with of the the independent clause, there is no specific order.
- Two or more Independent clauses are linked using coordinate conjunctions like and, while, still etc. to form a complete compound sentence.
Stick to these rules and you’ll have a proper sentence at the end.
Keep exploring EnglishBix to learn more about different types of sentences and how to form them.
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