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A compound subject is when more than one person or thing performs an action in a sentence. The verb conjugation can change, and conjunctions can alter the meaning. A sentence can have two subjects without being a compound subject if there are two distinct verbs.
The term “compound subject” is used to refer to a type of sentence structure in which more than one person or thing is performing an action. The subject of a sentence is the “doer” of the sentence, or the person or thing that does the thing. The word “compound” refers to something that is made up of more than one part. A compound subject is therefore more than one person or thing combined to perform an action. When using such a structure, the conjugation of the verb can change due to the presence of more than one actor or agent.
Here is an example of a single subject sentence:
John went to the shop.
In this sentence, the subject is John; the verb is gone. There is only one person or thing doing the action; in this case, that single person is John. To form a compound subject, another person or thing must act together with John. Here is an example of a sentence that has a compound subject:
John and Mary went to the shop together.
In this sentence there are two actors or actors: John and Mary. Together, they went. Gone, in this case, is the verb, or action. Both subjects are performing the same action, which means, therefore, that both subjects are assigned to the same verb. Note also that the two subjects are joined by a conjunction, which in this case is the word “and”. Other conjunctions can be used to change the meaning of that sentence. For example:
John or Mary went to the shop.
Note that the use of the conjunction “or” changes the meaning of the sentence, although both subjects are still assigned to the same verb.
It is possible to have two subjects in a sentence without creating a compound subject. This sentence, for example, has two distinct subjects, but also two distinct verbs:
John went to the shop, but Mary stayed at home.
This is a compound sentence, but there is no compound subject here. In the first part of the sentence the subject is John; he left, which is the verb. In the second part of the sentence, the subject is Mary. She stayed, which is the verb. If there are two subjects in a sentence but there is more than one identifiable verb – one verb for each subject – then the sentence may not have a compound subject but instead could be a compound sentence.
