§ 496. The clauses of compound sentences are of equal rank, but usually the clause preceding the conjunction is regarded as the initial clause to which the other clause is related. These relations are mostly determined by the conjunction and are accordingly copulative, adversative, disjunctive, causal, resultative 1 (see 'Conjunctions').
As to clauses linked asyndetically, their relations are likewise of different nature, though, for the most part, copulative or causal-resultative, as in.
His eyes were bloodshot and heavy, his face a deadly white ... (Dickens).
Next day his knee was badly swollen, his walking tour was obviously over. (Galsworthy).
§ 497. The compound sentence usually describes events in their natural order, reflecting the march of events spoken of in the sequence of clauses. '2
E. g. He got the hitcher instead, and reached over, and drew in the end of the tow-line; and they made a loop in it, and put it over their mast, and then they tided up the sculls, and went and sat down in the stern» and lit their pipes. (J. Jerome).
Herein lies the great expressive force of the compound sentence. It is extensively used in colloquial speech and is often resorted to when events are described in a stately or impressive way.
1 For details see M. Ganshina and N. Vasilevskaya, op. cit. p.
322 -324; Êàóøàíñêàÿ and others, op. cit. p. 277—279.
2 See G. Curme, op. cit., p. 173.