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Is the below sentence a compound sentence?

Historically, the Lenape inhabited lands that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York, and they settled along the rivers and bays.

I don't think "The Lenape..." is an independent clause. Is it?

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  • Yes: compound sentences are linked by coordination, usually with one of the coordinators "and", "or" or "but". Complex sentences, by contrast, are linked by subordination using such words as "that", "whether" or "if".
    – BillJ
    Dec 11, 2022 at 17:49
  • Note that the relative clause that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York is a subordinate clause in noun phrase structure, not in clause structure, so it has no relevance to the status of the sentence as a compound one. The two independent clauses are historically, the Lenape inhabited lands that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York + they settled along the rivers and bays.
    – BillJ
    Dec 11, 2022 at 18:17
  • No. It's a sentence adverb and a noun phrase, that you have for some reason concatenated.
    – Colin Fine
    Dec 11, 2022 at 18:40

2 Answers 2

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That is a compound sentence: two separate sentences joined by an and.

Historically, the Lenape inhabited lands that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York, and they settled along the rivers and bays.

  1. Historically, the Lenape inhabited lands that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York.

  2. They settled along the rivers and bays.

[I have dyslexia where two items are concerned, so I wrote complex instead of compound but that is now corrected.]

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  • Isn't a complex sentence supposed to also have a dependent clause in it?
    – Neon
    Dec 11, 2022 at 17:42
  • No. These sentences are completely independent of one another and joined by an. The boy ran home and the girl walked to school.
    – Lambie
    Dec 11, 2022 at 17:47
  • Thanks for the edit. I was curious whether the first part of the sentence is an independent clause or not because of "lands that are".
    – Neon
    Dec 11, 2022 at 17:53
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    that are now part of a, b and c is a dependent clause. The clause starts with the word that. And cannot stand on its own as a sentence. :)
    – Lambie
    Dec 11, 2022 at 17:57
  • In your main answer is (1.) an independent clause?
    – Neon
    Dec 11, 2022 at 18:00
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[ Historically, the Lenape inhabited lands that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York ], and [ they settled along the rivers and bays ].

This is a compound sentence consisting of two independent clauses. Compound sentences are linked by coordination, usually with one of the coordinators "and", "or" or "but".

Note that the relative clause that are now parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York is a subordinate clause in noun phrase structure, not in clause structure, so it has no relevance to the status of the sentence as a compound one.

I've bracketed the two independent clauses.

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