Strategies for Joining Sentences
Make your writing more sophisticated by joining independent statements.
In last week’s newsletter, I described Simple Sentences. These sentences are direct and powerful; they make one statement, and they often have one subject and one verb. I also showed how you could add specific details by adding additional components such as transitions, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, direct objects, and indirect objects.
Here is an example of a simple sentence with many other components:
But sometimes, you may want to make your language even more complex. One reason for doing that is so you can connect related statements. With simple sentences, you can connect related statement by adding a smooth transition in between them. But that’s not the same as joining two ideas or two statements into one sentence.
Another reason is to show relationships between ideas. When you are trying to explain complex things, you may need to add descriptive information, or you may need to use qualifying statements such as “in the event that” or “because” or “after.”
I’ll show you how to combine simple sentences accurately and easily. I taught college English courses for about 10 years, and I helped students improve their writing. I also wrote a book about writing, I developed online classes, I delived many presentations, and I created handouts to help students learn strategies for better writing. Here are some of the strategies I taught them.
Strategies for Joining Sentences
One simple strategy for joining sentences is to replace the period at the end of the first sentence with something else. Basically, you are using a semicolon or a conjunction to make two separate sentences look like one sentence with two parts.
Unfortunately, you can’t always do this. This works only for sentences that are related to each other. The two sentences need to have the same topic, or they need to have some kind of logical connection.
Strategy #1 - Replace the Period with a Semicolon
A semicolon (;) is a substitute for a period. You can use the semicolon, instead of a period, to join two complete sentences. Here is an example:
The example shows a simple substitution. Again, this works only when the two sentences are related. In this case, the second sentence provides information about the best time to email.
Use a Semicolon and a Transition or a Prepositional Phrase
On many occasions, simply replacing the period does not provide enough of a connection. Instead, the two sentences need a transition in between them. Add a transition or a prepositional phrase such as however, first, additionaly, as a result, for example, afterwards, on the other hand, and others after the semicolon, then add a comma after the transition.
Here is a YouTube video that provides a list of transitions:
Here is an example:
The example shows that the period is replaced with a semicolon, and the second sentence has a transition or prepositional phrase at the beginning. This transition helps the flow of reading, and it describes the logical relationship between the two statements.
But there is a challenge in using a transition. You have to select an appropriate transition. You can’t add any word in between the two sentences; instead, the transition has to make sense. It has to describe the logic between the two statements accurately. Here are some different versions of this combined sentence; some transitions work better than others.
Strategy #2 - Replace the Period with a Comma and a “Coordinate Conjuction”
Another way to join two complete sentences is to use a comma, but, unlike a semicolon, a comma is not powerful enough to hold together two sentences on its own. It needs the support of a “coordinate conjuction.”
A coordinate conjuction is a word that describes the logical relationship of the two sentences. There are only seven of them, and we use the acronym FANBOYS to remember them: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Again, the two sentences you join have to be related somehow; otherwise, they can’t be connected logically with one of the FANBOYS. Here is an example:
The example shows that the period was replaced with a comma and “but.” “But” is an appropriate word because it qualified the original statement by showing that “any time” is not all the same - mornings are better.
The challenge with this strategy is to select the correct FANBOY because each conjuction implies a different logical relationship. For example, “and” suggests “both,” while “or” and “nor” suggest “either one” or “none.” Here is an example:
Using “but” and “and” makes the second part sound like a qualifying statement, but “but” sounds like a bigger warning or qualifier than “and.” Meanwhile, “or” seems incorrect.
In some cases, you may need to switch the order of the sentences in order for a coordinate conjunction to work more effectively.
Strategy #3 - Use a “Subordinate Conjunction”
Another strategy for combining two sentences is to use a “subordinate conjuction” and no comma. “Subordinate conjunctions” show the logical relationship between sentences, and they include words like because, before, after, since, if, although, and many others.
Why does a coordinate conjuction (a FANBOY) need a comma but a subordinate conjuction does not? I don’t know. I guess a subordinate conjuction is more powerful; it can hold together two sentences, while a FANBOY cannot.
Here is a list of 50 common subordinate conjunctions:
Here are a couple examples in a sentence:
The example shows that the two sentences are joined with “because” or “since” instead of a period. Again, the challenge here is to find an appropriate conjunction; otherwise, the combined statement won’t make sense.
In some cases, you may need to switch the order of the sentences in order to combine them with an appropriate conjunction. Here is an example:
“Because” and “if” suggest a different logical relationship. As a result, you have to change the order of the sentence in order to use “because” or “if” in the middle of the sentence.
Review
You can make your make your writing more sophisticated by joining sentences with words that describe a logical relationship. Doing this changes your writing from a series of independent statements to a collection of ideas that flow together smoothly and logically.
Here is a summary of the strategies from today’s newsletter:
Thank you for reading my newsletter. I taught writing for over 10 years, and I now offer editing and proofreading services for others. Have you always wanted to write your book, website, or social media profile? Do you have ideas and rough drafts, but you don’t know how to put the together? Contact me, and let’s make a plan. And subscribe to the newsletter for more writing strategies.