Internal Sentence Variety
At this point in the course, most of your have been working on the various techniques of initial sentence variety that I presented in my earlier style lecture. On this page, I wish to present the first of three strategies of what I call internal sentence variety that will allow you to better combine ideas and shorter sentences into larger units that more clearly indicate logical relationships between your ideas.
Frequently labelled "coordination" on grammar pages and other comp resources, the use of coordinating conjunctions to connect independent clauses is an essential writing skill.
To talk about this, we need to understand two terms:
An independent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that does not rely on any other clauses to express a complete idea. Although an independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, many sentences have more than one independent clause and sometimes several dependent clauses as well (you remember dependent clauses from our initial variety lecture, don't you?).
Example 1: An independent clause has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a sentence.
A simple sentence is typically a sentence made up of one independent clause, just like the example I just presented. This particular example has a subject ("clause") and a compound verb ("has" and "can stand").
Example 2: A dependent clause has a subject, verb, and conjunction or pronoun that makes the clause dependent upon another clause to stand alone as a sentence.
This second example is a complex sentence. It has a subject ("clause") and a verb ("has") in its first clause ("A dependent clause has a subject, verb and conjunction or pronoun").
As you can see, this clause is independent because it does not require meaning or content from another clause to make sense. If I put a period after the word "pronoun," this would be a simple sentence.
But the sentence is complex because I have attached a dependent clause ("that makes the clause dependent upon another clause to stand alone as a sentence") to that independent clause. But why is that second clause dependent, you ask. Good question!
Technically speaking, the relative pronoun "that" makes this a dependent clause. Logically speaking, we can see how that works if you we try to make this clause its own sentence: "That makes the clause dependent upon another clause to stand alone as a sentence."
This does not express a complete idea (What makes the clause dependent?); this clause needs the information that appears in the independent clause before it. The independent clause (or IC) provides the information (in this case, the word "conjunction or pronoun" that completes the logic of the dependent clause of (DC).
Do you have all that? No? Ok, just try reading that last section over ten times fast. That should help. Kidding aside, understanding clauses is worth some investment of your time. You can study my explanation further, but you can also use the web links I embedded in this discussion to help you a bit as well.
But now let's move on to the second concept you need: coordinating conjunctions!
Coordinating conjunctions, also know as the FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), are astonishingly powerful sentence composition tools. These simple words can help us link together complex ideas in ways that make our prose stronger by clarifying connections and logical relationships.
In a breathtaking performance of verbal dexterity, I will now use the simple coordinating conjunction "but" to combine the two example sentences that I provided above.
"An independent clause has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a sentence, but a dependent clause has a subject, verb, and conjunction or pronoun that makes the clause dependent upon another clause to stand alone as a sentence."
Right now, you are probably laughing at me. Big deal, so I used "but" to combine two sentences. You are right; we all learned how to do this long ago. But if you go back into your drafts and previous essays, you will be shocked to see how often you left two or three shorter sentences (or independent clauses) that could have been logically connected by "but" or another coordinating conjunction separate from each other.
Sometimes you may have done this to break up a series of longer sentences--and that kind of strategic choice is often a good one--but more often than not, you probably simply did not make the connection between your ideas. And trust me on this one; if you did not make the connection, your readers will not either. Combing independent clauses and sentences using coordinating conjunctions helps your reader better understand your logic and the relationship between your ideas.
Crucial punctuation note:
You must always put a comma before a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) when that conjunction connects two independent clauses.
In fact, this is actually the only time that you must put a comma before a coordinating conjunction. So here's the rule: IC, fanboys IC.
Or "Use a coordinating conjunction to connect independent clauses, but always remember to put a comma in front of that conjunction."
Still not impressed! Already using "and" and "but" in many of your sentences to connect corresponding or contrasting ideas?
Ok, smarty pants, but are you using the other coordinating conjunctions? Here are some examples to stimulate your creative expansion of your coordinating conjunction repertoire:
F
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Try using coordinating conjunctions to better connect ideas, for you will find that when you do so, your readers better understand your logic. |
A
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Coordination allows you to expand your ideas, and commas help you properly separate those ideas within your sentences. |
N
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You will not find a simpler way to connect ideas than a coordinating conjunction, nor will you find an easier memory tool than "fanboys" to help you remember such a useful set of words. |
B
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Combining sentences can improve your prose, but you should avoid becoming to carried away, for such sentences will disorient your reader, and your reader will begin to lose the train of your thought, or other distractions will intrude themselves upon your sentence, yet we should all rise above those intrusions, so the people of the world may live in harmony with each other. |
O
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Simple sentences can stand alone and isolated from each other, or coordinating conjunctions can connect them and their ideas in ways that clarify your prose. |
Y
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I always teach students to use coordinating conjunctions to improve their sentences, yet so few students every employ more than "and" or "but" in their writing. |
S
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I spent quite a bit of time composing these thoughts on coordination, so I hope you will take a few minutes to study them. |
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