Learning about compound sentences is a great place to begin thinking about grammar effects, because analyzing and composing compound sentences is so easy!
Here is a compound sentence:
Egypt is a country in Africa, and Greece is a country in Europe.
This sentence can easily be analyzed as two sentences.
You simply...
Egypt is a country in Africa. Greece is a country in Europe.
That is super easy, don't you think?
Here is another very simple example:
Upper Egypt is in the south, and"And" is a conjunction. Lower Egypt is in the north.
Again, you just...
Upper Egypt is in the south. Lower Egypt is in the north.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
Here are two sentences:
Memphis was an important city in Egypt. Athens was an important city in Greece.
These sentences can easily be composed as one compound sentence.
Here is what you do:
Memphis was an important city in Egypt, and Athens was an important city in Greece.
That is super easy, too, don't you think?
Here is another example:
The Ionian Sea is to the west of mainland Greece. The Aegean Sea is to the east of mainland Greece.
These are longer sentences. Do they make you nervous? Just remember these simple directions:
The Ionian Sea is to the west of mainland Greece, and the Aegean Sea is to the east of mainland Greece.
We changed the period to a comma.
We added "and."
Did you notice that we also made the "t" in "the" lowercase?
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
Have you ever thought about why writers even use compound sentences? Let's think about that in a little bit.
Sometimes a sentence has three or more clauses.A clause is a part of a sentence that can stand by itself as a complete sentence.:
Cyprus is an island north of Egypt, Crete is an island close to mainland Greece, and Sicily is an island south of Rome.
Now it is easy to see that the compound sentence was really just a list of sentences.
A compound sentence with three or more clauses is easy to analyze:
Cyprus is an island north of Egypt. Crete is an island close to mainland Greece. Sicily is an island south of Rome.
A sentence can also have four, five, or more sentences.
If you focus on just one of those sentences at a time, it will be easier to understand.
Now let's think about why writers use compound sentences. Did you notice anything about the three sentences that were joined together to make one sentence?
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
Sometimes you have three or more sentences that go together:
Menes founded Memphis. Theseus founded Athens. Romulus founded Rome.
Do you see why these sentences go together? They are comparing three people—Menes, Theseus, and Romulus. Each of these people founded a city.
Or the sentences are comparing three cities—Memphis, Athens, and Rome. It depends on your point of view.
It is easy to compose a compound sentence using these three sentences. Here is what you do:
Menes founded Memphis, Theseus founded Athens, and Romulus founded Rome.
Notice that we use commas where the first two periods went.
Before we talk about this next sentence, why don't you count to see how many clausesA clause is a part of a sentence that can stand by itself as a complete sentence. it has.
Rome is at about the same latitude as Denver, Athens is at about the same latitude as San Francisco, Alexandria is at about the same latitude as Houston, and Constantinople is at about the same latitude as Chicago.
Did you count two clauses? Me neither. Three clauses? Nope, neither did I. It's four clauses.
Look back and see whether you think each clause is difficult.
Here is that same sentence analyzed into four sentences:
Rome is at about the same latitude as Denver. Athens is at about the same latitude as San Francisco. Alexandria is at about the same latitude as Houston. Constantinople is at about the same latitude as Chicago.
If you read each sentence one at a time, they are pretty easy to understand. Give it a try.
The sentences all do the same thing: each sentence is comparing two cities. A list of similar sentences like these are often joined together to make a compound sentence. It is a very commonly used grammar effect.
Using this grammar effect, you can break some pretty large sentences into smaller sentences that are easier to understand.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
How many clausesA clause is a part of a sentence that can stand by itself as a complete sentence. are listed here?
Memphis was founded in about 3100 B.C.E. Athens was founded before 3000 B.C.E. Rome was founded in 753 B.C.E. Constantinople was founded in 324 C.E.
Did you say four? Was that because you counted or because your read it in the C-3 heading?
Either way, good job!
Each of the clausesA clause is a part of a sentence that can stand by itself as a complete sentence. is about a city and when it was founded. So all of the clauses go together. It makes sense to join them into a compound sentence:
Memphis was founded in about 3100 B.C.E., Athens was founded before 3000 B.C.E., Rome was founded in 753 B.C.E., and Constantinople was founded in 324 C.E.
Each of the clausesA clause is a part of a sentence that can stand by itself as a complete sentence. was short, but the compound sentence we made out of them has 25 words. That makes it a pretty long sentence.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
So far we have been writing compound sentences that use "and" as the conjunction. These sentences have been showing how things are similar.
Now we will think about compound sentences that emphasize how things are different.
There are many islands in the Aegean Sea, but the Ionian Sea has only a few islands.
This compound sentence is showing how the Aegean Sea is different from the Ionian Sea.
It may be easier to notice the contrast if we analyze the sentence into its clauses:
There are many islands in the Aegean Sea. However, the Ionian Sea has only a few islands.
Did you notice that word, "However"? It replaces the word, "but."
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
The two sentences below make a contrast:
The Roman Emperor Constantine named the new capital of the Roman empire Constantinople. However, that city is now known as Istanbul.
The contrast is between what a certain city was named to start with and what it is called now.
The word "However" is used to show the contrast. If we join the two sentences, we will use "but" as the conjunction. The word "but" shows contrast.
The Roman Emperor Constantine named the new capital of the Roman empire Constantinople, but the city is now known as Istanbul.
"However" and "but" have the same grammar effect of showing contrast.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
This is a longer compound sentence. Does it make a contrast?
Earlier in their history the Egyptians were powerful and defeated many of their neighbors, but they were later defeated by the Greeks and then by the Romans.
You may have skipped right to the conjunction"And" is a conjunction--and so are "but" and "or." to see that the sentence makes a contrast. If you did, congratulations!
This sentence is a little longer, and it only has two clauses. Each of those clauses is longer and more complicated than the ones you have dealt with so far.
That's okay. We will just do the same things we've been doing:
Earlier in their history the Egyptians were powerful and defeated many of their neighbors. However, they were later defeated by the Greeks and then by the Romans.
It doesn't matter that the clauses are long. You just treat them the same way you do shorter sentences and make separate sentences. Then you can focus on them one at a time.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
The first of these two sentences is pretty long, isn't it?
The Egyptians could travel on the Nile River from the Nile Delta in the north to the first cataract in the south. However, they would have to stop there because of the rapids.
We will do the same things as usual:
The Egyptians could travel on the Nile River from the Nile Delta in the north to the first cataract in the south, but they would have to stop there because of the rapids.
I'll bet you are getting the hang of this so well that you don't need the reminders when you try the grammar effect yourself. What do you think?
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
See if you can find immediately where to break this sentence and whether it makes a contrast:
Some Greek cities had fertile lands that produced barley and wheat, but other Greek cities had to trade to get the grain they lacked because of their dry and rocky soil.
You probably found the word "but" right away. That shows us where to break the sentence. It also shows us that a contrast is being made.
See if you can list the things we have done to analyze the sentence.
Some Greek cities had fertile lands that produced barley and wheat. However, other Greek cities had to trade to get the grain they lacked because of their dry and rocky soil.
Comma to period? Check. "However" instead of "but"? Check. Comma after "However"? Check.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?
No reminders this time!
These two sentences are a little complicated, especially the second one:
In early Egypt the bodies of the dead were buried in holes in the sand. However, the sand would eventually blow away, exposing the bodies to jackals and other kinds of wild dogs.
See if you can list the things we do to compose a compound sentence from them.
In early Egypt the bodies of the dead were buried in holes in the sand, but the sand would eventually blow away, exposing the bodies to jackals and other kinds of wild dogs.
Did you notice that there are two commas? Don't let that bother you. Just put a comma before the conjunction as usual.
Are you ready to try this grammar effect yourself?