A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. It combines the clause patterns of compound and complex sentences.
Break a compound-complex sentence into clauses
When the rain stopped, Mina opened the windows, and Omar carried the chairs outside.
- When the rain stopped is a dependent clause. It tells when Mina opened the windows.
- Mina opened the windows and Omar carried the chairs outside are the two independent clauses. Each can stand alone.
The first comma follows the opening time clause. The second comes before and, which joins the two independent clauses.
The dependent clause can go inside a main clause
In The guest who found the keys called Mina, and Omar picked them up, the highlighted relative clause identifies the guest. The two main clauses are The guest who found the keys called Mina and Omar picked them up. The identifying relative clause takes no commas.
See sentence structure for a side-by-side comparison of the four patterns.
