Final answer:
A compound sentence consists of two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.
Step-by-step explanation:
A compound sentence consists of two independent clauses. An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a sentence. These two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (such as and, but, or, so, for, nor, or yet) or a semicolon.