Simple and compound sentences
About this video
David and Paige explain that a simple sentence has one subject and one predicate (one independent clause), while a compound sentence joins two or more simple sentences, often with a comma and and. They show that a compound predicate (I visited the beach and got a sunburn) or a compound subject does not make a sentence compound; it is compound only if both parts could stand alone as sentences.
You'll be able to
- tell the difference between a simple sentence and a compound sentence.
- recognise a compound predicate or compound subject inside a simple sentence.
- test whether a sentence is compound by checking if both parts can stand alone.
Key words
- simple sentence
- A sentence with one subject and one predicate; one independent clause.
- compound sentence
- Two or more simple sentences (independent clauses) joined together.
- compound predicate
- One subject doing two or more actions, like visited the beach and got a sunburn.
- compound subject
- Two or more subjects sharing one predicate, like Paige and I.
- independent clause
- A subject and predicate together that can be a sentence.
Transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello Grammarians. Hello Paige.
- [Voiceover] Hi David. - [Voiceover] I say hello to you and I say hello to the grammarians.
- [Voiceover] That was an interesting thing to say.
- [Voiceover] Yeah, it's cause there's a compound sentence.
- [Voiceover] I see. - [Voiceover] So there's this distinction made in grammar, between simple and compound sentences. And today Paige, you and I are going to cover those differences.
- [Voiceover] Let's do it. - [Voiceover] So, a simple sentence is really just what it says on the tin. A simple sentence consists of one subject and one predicate, and that's it.
- [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] So in the sentence, I bought my friends some candy, alright we got our one subject, I. And then we have our one predicate, bought my friends some candy.
- [Voiceover] Mhmm. - [Voiceover] Now all of this together is what we call an independent clause. I don't wanna hit that too hard right now. But you know, when you have this set of subject and a predicate together, and it can be a sentence, that's called an independent clause.
I'm not even gonna write that down. - [Voiceover] Yeah.
- [Voiceover] But a compound sentence is basically two or more simple sentences joined together. So that would be two subjects plus two predicates. Or more, two, three, a bajillion.
- [Voiceover] Sure. - [Voiceover] That would be a very long sentence to read, but you could do it, it would be a very very compound sentence. So I visited the beach and I got a really bad sunburn. When we're looking at this, this is really two sentences together, joined by the comma and this and.
Alright, so we have our subject, I visited the beach, I got a really bad sunburn. And we have our two predicates, I visited the beach, got a really bad sunburn.
- [Voiceover] So the subject in both these cases is I right, but it's sort of separate. It's like, I'm doing two different actions.
- [Voiceover] Correct. - [Voiceover] What's important is even if it's the same subject, if it's I both times. Well I don't know how to say this, but just, if it were, I visited the beach and got a really bad sunburn.
- [Voiceover] Then it would be a simple sentence.
- [Voiceover] Then it's simple. - [Voiceover] Okay so Paige, I'm looking at this and I see I twice. What if I wanted to condense this sentence further?
- [Voiceover] Okay. - [Voiceover] What does that give us? Is this a simple sentence or a compound sentence? Because this looks like what you would call a compound predicate.
- [Voiceover] Right, since there's only one subject in this sentence, there's only I and it's only said once. Right, you don't have, I visited the beach and I got a really bad sunburn. That whole thing, visited the beach and got a really bad sunburn, is you're right, it is a compound predicate.
- [Voiceover] But what you're saying is I couldn't divide this up into two sentences, unless I put in another subject. Right, you can say, I visited the beach, and that could be a sentence on its own. But you can't say, and got a really bad sunburn, as its own sentence.
- [Voiceover] Okay, so both of these things are simple. So even though this is a compound predicate, it's technically one predicate.
- [Voiceover] Right, it's -- - [Voiceover] And even if I'd written, Paige and I visited the beach and I got a really bad sunburn, that would still be a compound subject, but it wouldn't be two sentences squished together, it would be one kind of long sentence.
- [Voiceover] Right. You can have a compound subject or a compound predicate, but that doesn't make it a compound sentence. What makes it a compound sentence, is you have two parts that can stand on their own as individual sentences, and they're sort of being put together.
- [Voiceover] So let me change what I wrote here, to just say, instead of two subjects and two predicates. Cause I think that's confusing in light of this information, let's just say it is two simple sentences.
- [Voiceover] Right, or two independent clauses. You know, that terminology.
- [Voiceover] Or two, yeah. And if you don't, never fear, we'll cover it, and you can learn anything. David out.
- [Voiceover] Paige out.
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