Compound sentence

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete idea, thought, statement or question. These are complete sentences:

1. The company secretary has resigned.
2. Has the company secretary resigned?

But this is not, because it leaves you waiting for more information:

3. If the company secretary resigns,

You can join two complete sentences together with "and" or "but" to make one longer, compound sentence. Here are two examples:

4. You think that we are underestimating his abilities, but we are not sure that he is ready to be promoted.
5. It will be a relief when the negotiating is over, and I think we are nearly there.

Do not join sentences with "however" like this:

6. You think that we are underestimating his abilities, however we are not sure that he is ready to be promoted.

"However" is not a conjunction and should not be used to replace "but" in this way.

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