A compound sentence is made by joining two independent clauses together with a conjunction.

Some examples:

• John bought some new shoes, and he wore them to a party.
• Lydia liked her new house, but she didn't like the front yard.
• We can go see a movie, or we can get something to eat.

Notice that in each example, there is a subject and a verb in each independent clause. These sentences can be changed by removing the subject:

• John bought some new shoes and wore them to a party.
• Lydia liked her new house but not the front yard.
• We can go see a movie or get something to eat.

These are still good sentences, but by removing the subject from one part of them, they are no longer compound sentences.

Compound sentences are often formed with these coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, yet, so, and ; (the semi-colon). Learn more about conjunctions in Red Level Lesson Fifteen.

1. The two women washed the dishes, and then the man dried them.

3. The apples weren't selling very well, so he decided to have a sale.