631. Comma Rules – In a Compound Sentence

A simple sentence is a statement about one subject doing one thing.
Here are two examples of a simple sentence: Bob plays basketball. Sue plays tennis.

When you join two simple sentences together, you make a compound sentence, like this:
Bob plays basketball, and Sue plays tennis.
Notice that we used a comma and a conjunction – and – to connect the two simple sentences.

Here are more examples of a comma with a compound sentence:
Jack is my dad, and Rhoda is my mom.
I rode my bike to school, and my sister took the bus.

Always use a comma and a conjunction when joining two simple sentences into a compound sentence.

It’s your turn. Find a place for a comma in this sentence: Sarah likes dogs and Jim likes bunnies. Did you put the comma just before the conjunction and? Good for you!