Compound Subjects and Predicates

In this video, we are going to learn about combining sentences using compound subjects and compound predicates. A compound subject is two or more subjects that are joined by a conjunction, and a conjunction is adjoining word, such as and & or. Here's an example, John and Arthur play football every afternoon. The two subjects are John Arthur, the conjunction is and. So our compound subject is John and Arthur. If three or more subjects are joined by a conjunction in a compound subject, we use commas to separate them. For example, articles, photographs, and advertisements are included in magazines. The three subjects are articles, photographs, advertisements, and the conjunction is and. You'll notice that after each of these words, articles, photographs, there's a comma to separate the different subjects. If the conjunction only joins two nouns, we do not use a comma. For example, stories or poems appear in each issue. The two nouns or the two simple subjects are stories, poems, and the conjunction is or. You'll notice there are no commas in this compound subject. Two or more sentences with similar predicates can sometimes be combined by using a conjunction to form a compound subject. So let's look at how we could create a compound subject. In this example, we start with two sentences. Books can be made into movies, plays can also be made into movies. You'll notice that our subject in our first sentence is books. The subject in our second sentence is plays. Let's look at the rest of the sentence. In the first sentence the predicate is can be made into movies. In the second sentence, it's almost identical. The predicate is can also be made into movies. This lets us combine these two sentences by making a compound subject. I have books and plays can be made into movies. I've gotten rid of a lot of extra words to make a much simpler sentence. Now we're going to look at compound predicates. A compound predicate is two or more predicates that have the same subject. The simple predicates in a compound predicate are usually joined by conjunction such as and but or. For example, Alicia goes to the library and studies every day. The two simple predicates are goes, studies, the conjunction is and. If there are three or more predicates in a compound predicate, we use commas to separate them. For example, sometimes Nick and I talk about art shop for supplies or visit museums. So the three simple predicates are talk, shop, visit, and the conjunction is or. You'll notice after the first predicate talk about art, I have a comma after the next shop for supplies, and I have another comma there to separate the three predicates. And after the last predicate, of course, I have a period to end the sentence. We do not use a comma when there are only two predicates. For example, my sister paints pictures and draws cartoons. The two predicates are paints, pictures, draws cartoons, and there is no comma between them. Sometimes two or more sentences have the same subject, but different verbs. We can combine the sentences into one sentence by creating a compound predicate. For example, we're going to start with these three sentences. My brother and I stopped at a gift shop, we bought postcards, we went to an art show. The subject in the first sentence is my brother and I. In the second sentence, it's we, which is really just a word to replace my brother and I, and in the third sentence, it's also we. So what I can do is take all of these sentences and put them together. The subjects that I'm going to use is my brother and I, and then I'm going to look for those predicates. So my brother and I stopped at a gift shop. Bought postcards. And went to an art show. These are great strategies you can use to simplify your own writing and get rid of a lot of extra unnecessary repetition.