Part 3. The compound sentence

A compound sentence consists of two or more clauses of equal rank which form one syntactical whole in meaning and intonation. Clauses that are parts of a compound sentence are called coordinate, as they are joined by coordination.

Coordinate clauses may be linked together with or without a connector; in the first case they are joined syndetically.

Syndetic coordination is realized with a number of connectors – conjunctions, such as and, but, or, nor, for, etc., or with conjunctive adverbs, such as moreover, besides, however, yet, still, otherwise, therefore, etc.

In writing coordinate clauses may be marked off by a comma, a semicolon, a colon or occasionally a dash. Sometimes they are not separated graphically at all. In speaking they are separated by pauses.

Exercise 1. Analyze the following sentences and state the type of connection: syndetic or asyndetic.

1. Mrs. Red and I were left alone: some minutes passed in silence; she was sewing and I was watching her. (S. Bronte). 2. Silent, like sorrowing children, the birds have ceased their song, and only the moorhen’s plaintive cry and the harsh croak of the corncrake stirs the awed hush around the couch of waters. (J.K. Jerome). 3. The nail would be found at last, but by that time he would have lost the hammer. (J.K. Jerome). 4. The thunder rumbled overhead and the rain me down steadily. (I. Murdoch). 5. He was very emotional, yet his feeling, so easily aroused, had in it something absurd.
(S. Maugham).

From the point of view of the relationship between coordinate clauses, we distinguish four kinds of coordinate connection: copulative, adversative, disjunctive and causative-consecutive (tab. 2).

Table 2

Exercise 2. Point out the coordinate clauses and comment on the way they are joined.

1. His face was red, he twisted his black moustache over a thick finger, his eyes were shallow and restless. (D. Lawrence). 2. He had asked her to come; he owed her, he felt, after all the years she had been with them, this token of consideration. (V. Woolf). 3. I was spending two or three days on an island on the north coast of Borneo, and the District Officer had kindly offered to put me up. (S. Maugham). 4. I am sure he performed his various duties admirably, but he did everything he could to avoid the official demeanor. (S. Maugham). 5. She looked healthy and she had high spirits.
(S. Maugham). 6. Their jokes were neither very good nor very new, but they thought them so killing! (S. Maugham). 7. She gives very good parties and she always asks you to meet the people you want to see. (S. Maugham). 8.Women try their luck; man risk theirs. (O. Wild). 9. Nowadays all married men live like bachelors, and all the bachelors like married men. (O. Wild). 10. Superstition was with me at that moment; but it was not yet her hour f or complete victory: my blood was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave still bracing me with its bitter vigour. (S. Bronte). 11. Returning, I had to cross before the looking-glass; my fascinated glance involuntarily explored the depth it revealed. (S. Bronte). 12. Steps came running along the outer passage; the key turned, Bessie and Abbot entered. (S. Bronte). 13. The grass was drenching wet, so he descended to the road. (Galsworthy). 14. Hers was not a soul that ever loved passionately, hence she could not suffer passionately. (Dreiser). 15. There was no news, nevertheless she went on hoping. (Hornby).

Exercise 3. Combine the simple sentence into compound sentences using various connectives as suggested in brackets.

1. I’ve always been jealous. I trained myself never to show it (но). 2. There was a pencil on the table. He unconsciously drew a head on the blotting-paper (и). 4. I wanted to kill him. I only made a fool of myself (и, но). 5. She must have been away. Nobody answered the bell (поскольку, поэтому). 6. There were three men against him. He kept his courage to the last (однако, все же). 7. The younger brother is always playing with his toys. The elder brother is always playing about the house (в то время как). 8. The proposed resolution could not be agreed upon. It had to be dropped (следовательно). 9. He is not preserving enough. He is not bright. He failed at the examination (также не, следовательно, поэтому). 10. We argued him to take her advice. He persisted in doing things in his own way (тем не менее).

Exercise 4. Translate the following extracts paying attention to the use of connectives in the compound sentences.