COMPOUND
SENTENCES
Wr it ing 1
Sar i Hidayat i, M. A
A Compound Sent ence :
cont ains t w o independent clauses
joined by a coordinat or.
The coor dinat or s ar e as f ollows:
Helpf ul hint : The f ir st let t er of each of t he
coor dinat or s spells
FANBOYS
.
Except f or ver y shor t sent ences,
coordi nat ors are always preceded by a
comma.
In t he f ollowing compound sent ences,
A.
I
t r ied
t o speak Spanish
,
and
my f r iend
t r ied
t o
speak English.
B.
Alej andr o
played
f oot ball
,
so
Mar ia
went
shopping.
C.
Alej andr o
played
f oot ball
,
f or
Mar ia
went
shopping.
The above sent ences are compound sent ences. Each sent ence cont ains t wo independent cl auses, and t hey are j oined by a coordinat or wit h
Not e how t he conscious use of coordinat ors can change t he rel at ionship bet ween t he cl auses.
Sent ences B and C, f or exampl e, are ident ical
except f or t he coor di nat or s.
In sent ence B, whi ch act ion occured f irst ?
Obviously, "Alej andro pl ayed f oot bal l" f irst , and
as a consequence, "Maria went shopping.
In sent ence C, "Maria went shopping" f irst .
In sent ence C, "Alej andro pl ayed f oot ball"
There are t hree ways t o j oin t he cl auses :
1.
Wit h a coordinat or/ conj unct ionSal t wat er boils at a higher t emperat ure t han f reshwat er, so f ood cooks f ast er in salt wat er.
2.
Wit h a conj unct ive adverbSal t wat er boils at a higher t emperat ure t han f reshwat er; t heref ore, f ood cooks f ast er in salt wat er.
3.
Wit h a semicol onQuest ions t o consider :
How can t he use of ot her coordinat ors change
t he rel at i onshi p bet ween t he t wo cl auses?
v
WRITING PRACTICE
