Compound Sentences

Index


Compound Sentences

Sometimes when we are writing or speaking, we may want to express two closely related ideas.  We might show the close relationship by "gluing" the two statements together into one longer sentence.  Here's an example:

I don't want to hear about your operation now, and I will not want to hear about it in the future.

There are two statements about the writer's lack of interest in the operation.  Each one could have been a separate sentence, but they are put together in one longer sentence since they are closely related.  Two related shorter sentences joined to form one longer sentence are called a compound sentence.

Here are some more examples of compound sentences:

Badapple was a politician, and he would do anything to get elected.

He made all kinds of promises, but he never kept them.

He would promise to lower your taxes, or he would promise to build a public works project in your town.

After the election the building project would be forgotten, and the taxes would be raised rather than lowered.

The Glue

We said above that a compound sentence was made by "gluing" two shorter sentences together.  If you look at the four sentences about Badapple the politician, you will easily recognize the "glue."  Each of these compound sentences contains two shorter sentences and a comma in front of a word like and, but, or or.  These words are conjunctions.  Conjunctions are words that join two sentence parts together.    Conjunctions can join words or phrases or clauses.  Conjunctions that join constructions of equal weight in a sentence are called coordination conjunctions.  There are only a few coordinating conjunctions:  and, but, so, or, nor, yet, for.

Since the flow of thought changes at the end of the first clause, we intuitively pause in speaking and mark that pause with a comma.