COMBINING SENTENCES
I. Directions: Add appropriate coordinating conjunctions, transitional words or phrases,
or correlative conjunctions as indicated to combine each pair of sentences into one wellconstructed compound sentence that retains the meaning of the original pair.
Coordinating conjunctions – for, and, nor, but, or, yes, and so
Transitional words – however, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, finally, still, thus,
for example, in fact, on the other hand, and for instance
Relative pronouns--that, what, whatever, which, who, whose, whom, whoever,
whomever
Correlative pronouns—not only …but also, either … or, both … and, just as … so,
whether … or
1. The average American consumes 128 pounds of sugar each year. Most of us eat much
more sugar than any other food additive, including salt. (transitional word or phrase)
2. Many of us are determined to reduce our sugar intake. We have consciously
eliminated sweets from our diets. (transitional word or phrase)
3. Unfortunately, sugar is not found only in sweets. It is also found in many processed
foods. (correlative conjunction)
4. Processed foods like puddings and cake contain sugar. Foods like ketchup and
spaghetti sauce do too. (coordinating conjunction)
5. We are trying to cut down on sugar. We find limiting sugar intake extremely difficult.
(coordinating conjunction)
6. Processors may use sugar in foods for taste. They may also use it to help prevent
foods from spoiling and to improve the texture and appearance of food. (correlative
conjunction)
7. Sugar comes in many different forms. It is easy to overlook on a package label.
(coordinating conjunction)
8. Sugar may be called sucrose or fructose. It may also be called corn syrup, corn sugar,
brown sugar, honey, or molasses. (coordinating conjunction)
9. No sugar is more nourishing than the others. It really does not matter which is
consumed. (transitional word or phrase)
10. Sugars contain empty calories. Whenever possible, they should be avoided.
(transitional word or phrase)
(Adapted from Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book)
USING SUBORDINATION TO JOIN SENTENCES
II. Directions: Use a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun to combine each of
the following pairs of sentences into one complete sentence. Be sure to choose a
connecting word that indicates the relationship between the two sentences. You may
have to change or reorder words.
Subordinating conjunctions—after, although, as, as if, as though, because, before, even
though, in order that, now that, once, rather than, since, so that, that, though, unless, until,
when whenever, where, whereas, wherever, while
1. Many high school graduates are currently out of work. They need new skills for new
careers.
2. Talented high school students are usually encouraged to go to college. A college
education does not always guarantee them a job.
3. A college education can cost a student more than $100,000. Vocational education is
becoming an increasingly attractive alternative.
4. Vocational students complete their work in less than four years. They can enter the
job market more quickly.
5. Nurses’ aides, paralegals, and computer technicians do not need college degrees.
They can often find work.
6. Some four-year colleges are experiencing growth. Public community colleges and
private trade schools are growing much more rapidly.
7. The best vocational schools try to meet the needs of local businesses. They train
students for jobs that actually exist.
8. For instance, a school in Detroit might offer advanced automotive design. A school in
New York City might focus on fashion design.
9. Other vocational schools offer courses in horticulture, respiratory therapy, and
computer programming. They are able to place their graduates early.
10. Laid-off workers, returning housewives, recent high school graduates, and even
college graduates are reexamining vocational education. They all hope to find
rewarding careers.
USING COORDINATION AND SUBORDINATION TO JOIN
SENTENCES
III. Directions: Combine each of the following sentence pairs into one sentence without
creating comma splices or fused sentences. In each case, either connect the clauses into a
compound sentence (with a semicolon or with a comma and a coordinating conjunction)
or subordinate one clause to the other to create a complex sentence. You may have to
add, delete, reorder, or change words or punctuation.
Compound-complex sentence – one independent clause (sentence) and one dependent
clause (a group of words that cannot stand alone). Example: Because I grew up at the
New Jersey shore, people think I’m lucky.
1. Several recent studies indicate that many high school students have little knowledge of
history. This is affecting our future as a democratic nation and as individuals.
2. Surveys show that nearly one-third of American seventeen-year-olds cannot identify
the countries the United States fought against in World War II. One-third think
Columbus reached the New World after 1750.
3. Several reasons have been given for this decline in historical literacy. The main
reason is the way history is taught.
4. This problem is bad news. The good news is that there is increasing agreement among
educators about what is wrong with current methods of teaching history.
5. History can be exciting and engaging. Too often, it is presented in a boring manner.
6. Students are typically expected to memorize dates, facts, and names. History as
adventure—as a “good story”—is frequently neglected.
7. One way to avoid this problem is to use good textbooks. Textbooks should be
accurate, lively, and focused.
8. Another way to create student interest in historical events is to use primary sources
instead of so-called comprehensive textbooks. Autobiographies, journals, and diaries
can give students insight into larger issues.
9. Students can also be challenged to think about history by taking sides in a debate.
They can learn more about connections among historical events by writing essays than
by taking multiple-choice tests.
10. Finally, history teachers should be less concerned about specific historical details.
They should be more concerned about conveying the wonder of history.
REVISING UNWARRANTED SHIFTS
IV. SHIFTS IN TENSE
Verb tense in a sentence or in a group of related sentences should not shift without good
reason—to indicate changes of time, for example. Unwarranted shifts in tense can be
confusing.
I registered for the advanced philosophy seminar because I wanted a challenge.
However, by the first week, I start having trouble understanding the reading. Need to
change start to started so that both will be in the past tense.
Discussions of literary works generally use the present tense.
V. UNDERSTANDING VOICE
Verbs may be either in active or passive voice. When the subject of the sentence
performs the action of the verb, the verb is in active voice. When the action of the verb
is performed on the subject, the verb is in passive voice.
Karla and Miguel purchased the tickets. (active voice)
The tickets were purchased by Karla and Miguel. (passive voice)
The tickets were purchased. (passive voice)
Because your writing is clearer and more concise in the active voice, you should use it
most of the time.
When deciding whether to use the passive or active voice, consider what you want to
focus on. In sentence 1, the focus is on Karla and Miguel. In sentences 2 and 3, the
focus is on the purchasing of the tickets rather than who purchased them.
VI. SHIFTS IN VOICE
Unwarranted shifts from active voice to passive voice (or from passive to active) can be
confusing.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise, and later The Great Gatsby was written.
(shift from active to passive).
Note: Sometimes a shift from active to passive voice within a sentence may be necessary
to give the sentence the proper emphasis.
Example: Even though consumers protested, the sales tax was increased. (to say the
legislature increased the sales tax would draw the emphasis away from consumers to the
legislature).
VII. UNDERSTANDING MOOD
Mood is the form a verb takes to indicate whether the writer is making a statement or
asking a question (indicative mood), giving a command (imperative), or expressing a
wish or a contrary-to-fact statement (subjunctive).
Indicative mood: Jackie Robinson had a great impact on professional baseball.
Imperative mood: Use a dictionary. (The word you is the understood subject). This is
a command.
Subjunctive mood: Consists of present and past subjunctive;
VIII. FORMING THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Example 1: Dr. Gorman suggested that I study the Cambrian Period. (present
subjunctive)
Example 2: The sign recommended that we be careful. (present subjective)
Example 3: I wish I were going to Europe. (past subjunctive)
IX. USING THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
The present subjunctive may be used in that clauses after words such as ask, suggest,
require, demand, recommend, and insist.
Example 1: The report recommended that the juveniles be given mandatory counseling.
Example 2: Captain Ahab insisted that his crew hunt the white whale.
The past subjunctive may be used in conditional statements (statements beginning with
if that are contrary to fact, including statements that express a wish).
Example 1: If John were here, he could see Marsha. (John is not here.)
Example 2: The father acted as if he were having the baby. (The father couldn’t be
having the baby.)
Example 3: I wish I were more organized. (I am disorganized.)
X. SHIFTS IN MOOD
Unwarranted shifts in mood can also create awkward sentences.
Next, heat the mixture in a test tube, and you should make sure it does not boil.
(unwarranted shift from imperative to indicative).
XI. Shifts in Person
Person indicates who is speaking (first person—I, we), who is spoken to (second
person—you), and who is spoken about (third person—he, she it, one, or they). Most
unwarranted shifts occur between the second and third person.
When one looks for a car loan, you compare the interest rates of several banks.
(unwarranted shift from third to second person)
XII..Shifts in Number
Number indicates one (singular—novel, it) or more than one (plural—novels, they,
them). Singular pronouns should refer to singular antecedents and plural pronouns to
plural antecedents. Note: An antecedent is the noun to which a pronoun refers.
If a person does not study regularly, they will have a difficult time learning a foreign
language. (unwarranted shift from singular to plural). There are two ways to correct
this sentence:
If a person does not study regularly, he/she will have a difficult time learning a
foreign language. The antecedent is person, which is singular. Therefore, the
pronouns he/she must be used.
OR
If people do not study regularly, they will have a difficult time learning a foreign
language. The antecedent is people, which is plural. Therefore, the pronoun they must
be used.
REVISING AWKWARD OR CONFUSING SENTENCES
XIII. Directions: Read the following sentences and eliminate any shifts in tense, voice,
mood, person, or number. Some sentences are correct, and some can be revised in more
than one way.
1. Some historians see World War II and women’s work in the factories as the beginning
of the push toward equal rights for women.
2. Women went to work in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, in the late 1800s,
and her efforts at reforming the workplace are seen by many as the beginning of the
equal rights movement.
3. Farm girls from New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Massachusetts came to
Lowell to make money, and they wanted to experience life in the city.
4. The factories promised the girls decent wages, and parents were promised by them
that their daughters would live in a safe, wholesome environment.
5. Dormitories were built by the factory owners; they are supposed to ensure a safe
environment for the girls.
6. First, visit the loom rooms at the Boot Mills Factory, and then you should tour a
replica of a dormitory.
7. When one visits the working loom room at the factory, you are overcome with a sense
of the risks and dangers the girls faced in the mills.
8. For a mill girl, moving to the city meant freedom and an escape from the drudgery of
farm life; it also meant they had to face many new social situations for which they
were not always prepared.
9. Harriet Robinson wrote Loom and Spindle, the story of her life as a mill girl, and then
a book of poems were published.
10. When you look at the lives of the loom girls, one can see that their work laid part of
the foundation for women’s later demands for equal rights.
SHIFTS FROM DIRECT TO INDIRECT DISCOURSE
XIV. Direct discourse reports the exact words of a speaker or writer. It is always
enclosed in quotation marks and is often accompanied by an identifying tag (he says, she
replied).
Indirect discourse summarizes the words of a speaker or writer. No quotation marks are
used, and the reported words are often introduced with the word that or, in the case of
questions, with who, what, why, whether, how, or if.
Direct Discourse: My instructor said, “I want your paper by this Friday.”
Indirect Discourse: My instructor said that he wanted my paper by this Friday.
Important: Unwarranted shifts between indirect and direct discourse can be confusing.
During the trial, John Brown repeatedly defended his actions and said that I am not
guilty. (shift from indirect to direct discourse)
My mother asked, if I was ever going to get a job. (indirect discourse)
My dad inquired was I ever going to clean the garage. (neither indirect nor direct
discourse)
Directions: Change the sentence, as indicated, by the prompts.
1. Sally Thane Christensen, advocating the use of an endangered species of tree, the yew,
as a treatment for cancer asked if the tree was worth a life. (change to direct
discourse)
2. Stephen Nathanson, considering the morality of the death penalty, asked, “What if the
death penalty did save lives?” (change to indirect discourse)
3. Martin Luther King Jr. said he had a dream that one day this nation would rise up and
live out the true meaning of its creed. (change to direct discourse)
4. Benjamin Franklin once stated that the older he grew, the more apt he was to doubt his
own judgment of others. (change to direct discourse)
5. Thoreau said, “The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be
preserved only by the most delicate handling.” (change to indirect discourse)
Source: The Wadsworth Handbook by Kirszner & Mandell (9th ed.)