Compound Sentence

Read the following sentences!

·         A giraffe’s coat is patched in brown on cream, and each giraffe has its own unique pattern.

·         The reticulated giraffes of East Africa have triangular patches, but the South African Cape giraffes have blotchy markings.

·         When first born, a baby giraffe is very wobbly on its legs, so it cannot stand up for at least its first half an hour.

A compound sentence has at least two subjects and two verbs; therefore, it has two independent clauses. An independent clause is a clause which consists of one subject and one verb, and each can stand by itself. We join two or more independent clauses with a conjunction or semicolon. Some conjunctions that we can use are ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’ and ‘so’.

Note:

·         And means both clauses convey the same idea.

·         But means the second clause is the opposite of the first.

·         Or means both clauses are equal.

·         So means the second clauses is the outcome or result of the first.