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My mother tongue is German and we frequently continue our independent sentences with "and" and/or other conjunctions forever. I just want to know if this is also possible in English:

"I have learned English for 6 years now and still encounter a lot of grammatical problems."

Is this one independent clause or should I split it into 2 independent clauses by adding an "I":

"I have learned English for 6 years now, and I still encounter a lot of grammatical problems."

Or what about this:

"I have learned English for 6 years now and still encounter a lot of grammatical problems and also a lot of other issues as well."

Thanks

Marcin Nowak
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    Hey, fellow German, I think "as well" is superfluous in your last sentence, as you use "also" in the same subclause. – bee guy Feb 25 '18 at 07:12
  • I think it is very bad precedent to close answers as "exact duplicates" when they are not. This question is asking about clauses and how and when to join them. In the process of asking, an example of a compound predicate was given, in the spirit of "am I joining independent clauses when I do this?" But the other question is specifically about compound predicates, the asker's preference when choosing between that and repeating the subject. While they overlap in scope, I do not see them as duplicates. – Aster Feb 27 '18 at 13:56
  • @Aster Compound sentences and compound predicates have other duplicates on ELU, and are arguably too basic here in any case. This obviously addresses the 'Are both structures acceptable grammatically?' query. There is an answer at the specified duplicate addressing the 'Both being grammatical, is either sometimes preferable?' query. // By the way, do you prefer to be addressed as 'Aster' (which would seem the obvious deduction) or 'aster'? – Edwin Ashworth Feb 27 '18 at 14:15
  • I'll answer to either, capped or not. :-) I agree that this question is a bit basic for this site. It might be a better fit for the English learners SE. Moving a question there would at least get the questioner to a group of people whose goal is to help with the basics. I am just getting my sea legs on SE, but it has bothered me how many questions are closed on SE as "exact duplicates" when that is not true. In retrospect, I'm not sure this one was closed, so if it was just being linked to a related question, that is a good thing, even if "exact duplicate" is a stretch. – Aster Feb 27 '18 at 14:58

1 Answers1

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The continuation using "and" is fine in all three constructions. Good job putting the comma between the clauses in the middle one. As an aside, I would either say "I have been learning English for six years" or "I have studied English for six years."

ETA:

You edited the title to add "should I and is it one clause or two?"

Should you? Yes, it is fine.

A clause has a subject and a predicate (note, sometimes a subject is "understood" such as in the sentence "Be careful" where "you" is understood). If a clause can stand alone as a sentence, it's an independent clause.

In the second sentence you have as an example, it is a compound sentence: two independent clauses joined by a conjunction.

In your first and third sentences, you have just one clause with a compound predicate because the additional predicates share the main subject. The added bit in the third sentence is an additional direct object of encounter (...encounter problems and issues).

A note on your "should I" question: although you can keep putting independent clauses together "forever" by joining them with coordinating conjunctions, it becomes tiresome after a while. I think that's true in German, too, though, isn't it? :-)

As to supporting evidence: Here is a webpage with some info on the difference between a compound sentence and a compound predicate, but I think you are more interested in clauses, so here is another pages that has perhaps a little better explanation of compound sentences and clauses in general, though it doesn't mention compound predicates at all. I couldn't find a page that I thought had a good description of both.

Aster
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  • Hello, Aster. If this weren't a duplicate, an answer with supporting evidence would be required. As @tchrist has said: "We are looking for more substantial answers with documented references, not merely [statements that may possibly be no more than] personal opinion. Those are just comments, not answers." – Edwin Ashworth Feb 25 '18 at 09:08
  • @Aster Yes, it would be great if you could explain why! – Marcin Nowak Feb 25 '18 at 12:16
  • Could you also explain if these examples are one clause or many clauses!? – Marcin Nowak Feb 25 '18 at 14:54
  • Funny, @edwin-ashworth. I didn't see any particular supporting evidence in the question you linked to. Just an explanation by a native speaker, which is what I've done here. If this isn't good enough, delete it. (I can't figure out how to tag a person whose name has a space in it; hope that worked.) – Aster Feb 27 '18 at 06:35
  • I've asked the author of the original to add supporting evidence; you're quite right on that point. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 27 '18 at 10:56
  • @edwin-ashworth I do not see this as a duplicate. See my note on the question. – Aster Feb 27 '18 at 13:59