Difference between compound and complex sentences

Complex and compound sentences aren’t complex at all. There is a preconceived notion that understanding these types of sentences is difficult. Usually, an adolescent learns them during the school days, but is it a topic to comprehend in a few minutes? No, but it gets better with practice and proper understanding. However, exceptions could be there. Thus, to make it easy, try to understand these sentences from some examples.

First, let us look at this definition of complex sentence: A complex sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. These are joined by subordinating conjunctions. Here, this definition can be compared to the adolescence stage of one’s life. An adolescent can go to any nearby place on her/his own. Take a situation when s/he visits a nearby shop to buy something. S/he is independent in this scenario. While, the same adolescent is dependent on her/his parents for various things like food, money. Therefore, s/he acts like a complex sentence that is independent in one case and dependent in more than one case.

For example: They rested when evening came.

Here, ‘when evening came’ is a dependent clause and ‘they rested’ is an independent clause.

Now, the definition of the compound sentence states that it is a sentence consisting of at least two independent clauses. These are joined by coordinating conjunctions. Doesn’t it look like the stage of an adult? An adult is independent as s/he earns, cooks food and can do various other chores independently. Thus, s/he acts like a compound sentence who is independent in all the cases.

For example: John is honest but Robert is dishonest.

Here, ‘John is honest’, ‘Robert is dishonest’ are independent clauses.

Hence, it is expected that the understanding of complex and compound sentences might get easier after reading the above words. In short, compound sentences consist of more than one independent clause while complex sentences consist of one independent clause and more than one dependent clause.