COMPOUND SENTENCE. A SENTENCE consisting of two or more main CLAUSES. The clauses may be linked by a coordinating conjunction: and in The power failed for the third time that day, and once again we sat in darkness. There may be no connectives between them, as in Smooth cotton sheets feel cold; fleecy blankets feel warm; or they may be linked by a conjunct, as with however in I telephoned at least ten times yesterday; however, the line was never free. In SPEECH, such compounding goes unnoticed; in formal writing, a semicolon (as here) is used to unite the two clauses. In more relaxed styles, a comma is used. A period is generally used when a clear-cut division is required, in which case the clauses are taken to be separate sentences. See COORDINATION.

com·pound sen·tence • n. a sentence with more than one subject or predicate.