Things Every Writer Should Know (but Most Don't)

Compound Sentences

Welcome to my rant on compound sentences. Actually, it isn't a rant so much as it is a brief primer on the technicalities of compound sentences.

In short, a compound sentence is a sentence that has more than one independent clause. This means that each part of the sentence would make perfect sense on its own if it were somehow separated from its other half.

There are a few different ways to connect the clauses in a compound.

You can use a comma and a coordinating conjunction. The conjunctions are as follows: for, and, nor, but, and, yet, so. It is easy to remember these with the acronym FANBOYS. Use a comma right before a coordinating conjunction to link the clauses.

· I love ice cream, but I'm trying to watch my calorie intake.

· He lectured me about getting home by curfew, and then he handed me the keys to the car.

· The washing machine broke, so I had to go all the way to the laundry mat.

Notice that each clause of each sentence has a subject and a verb. As noted earlier, each clause could stand on its own.

Many writers are in the practice of forsaking the coordinating conjunction and using only a comma. They might write something like:

· I knew I couldn't do it on my own, I had to ask for help.

· The washing machine broke, I had to go all the way to the laundry mat.

Is this a technically correct thing to do? No. A comma isn't strong enough to serve as sufficient glue between the clauses. However, this is often accepted in informal forms of writing. Whether or not you want to risk it in your own work is up to you.

You can also use a semicolon to connect the clauses. A semicolon is basically a comma on steroids. It is convenient to use in place of conjunctions like so and and.

· I knew I couldn't do it on my own; I had to ask for help.

· The washing machine broke; I had to go all the way to the laundry mat.

As a side note, semicolons can also be used to separate items in a list of each of those items is long or contains commas. For example:

· I had so much work to do. I had to sweep, mop, and polish all the floors; wash the windows; scrub the toilet; change the bed linens; and cook dinner for the family.

Some people hate semicolons, arguing that they are an outdated punctuate mark and that a comma works just fine. However, I believe that semicolons are important. I adore them because they are awesome.