The Compound Sentence

Filed in English Grammar

Read the following sentence:
John went to the station and boarded the train.

This sentence has two parts: John went to the station and John boarded the train. These two parts are joined by the co-coordinating conjunction and. Each one of these two parts has its own subject and predicate and therefore each one is a clause. Moreover, these are clauses of equal rank or importance and are independent of each other. Clauses of this kind are called coordinate clauses.

Now read the following sentence:
You can go by bus or by train.

This sentence too has two parts or two clauses: You can go by bus and You can go by train. These two parts or clauses are connected by the coordinating conjunction or.

Now consider this sentence:
He went to Mumbai, got his visa and came back.

This sentence has three independent clauses of equal rank – He went to Mumbai, he got his visa and he came back – and these are joined together by the co-coordinating conjunction and.

A sentence which consists of two or more co-ordinate clauses is called a compound sentence.

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