Combining Sentences
One plus one equals
one.
􀁹 Why should we know about sentence
combining?
♦To build clarity
♦To avoid wordiness
♦To avoid redundancy
Consider the following
paragraph:
The boy struggled to ride his bike. The
boy is four years old and he is feisty. The
bike is new and it is alight blue color. The
boy received the bike for his birthday. He
struggled for two hours. However, he was
unsuccessful in riding the bike.
The feisty four-year-old boy struggled
unsuccessfully for two hours to ride his new
light blue birthday bike.
The animal trainer dove into the pool.
The trainer was skilled and athletic. She
was excited when she dove into the pool.
She swam with two dolphins. The dolphins
were babies. The dolphins were playful. The
trainer swam with the dolphins for over an
hour. When the trainer swam with the
dolphins, she was happy.
The skilled, athletic animal trainer excitedly
dove into the pool and happily swam for over
an hour with two playful baby dolphins.
The blizzard contained strong winds and
heavy snow. During the snowstorm, the
roof of the town library collapsed. The roof
of the post office did the same. The blowing
snow covered the county roads. Schools
cancelled classes due to the white-out
conditions.
The blizzard, containing strong winds and
heavy snow, caused the roofs of the town
library and the post office to collapse, created
white-out conditions on county roads, and
forced schools to cancel classes.
Problems that crop up when
combining sentences
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Fragments
Run-ons
Adjectives
Adverbs
Series in a sentence
Prepositional phrases
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s/v agreement
Appositives
Compound sentences
Complex sentences
Relative pronouns
Problems that crop up when
combining sentences (contd.)
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Comma splices
Misplaced modifiers
Dangling modifiers
Parallelism
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Tense shifts
Overuse of passive
voice
Floating pronouns
Combining Sentences
Sentence combining is making one smoother,
more detailed sentence out of two or more
shorter sentences.
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Combining with key words
Combining with phrases
Combining with longer sentences
Combining with KEY WORDS
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Use a key word:
Ideas included in short sentences can be
combined by moving a key word from one
sentence to the other.
Use an adjective
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Short sentences:
Kelly’s necklace sparkles.
It is beaded.
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Combined with an adjective:
Kelly’s beaded necklace sparkles.
Try it!
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Short sentences:
The women always have to wait in a line.
The line is long.
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Combined with an adjective:
The women always have to wait in a long line.
Use an adverb
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Short sentences:
I am going to a sleepover.
I ‘m going tomorrow.
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Combined with an adverb:
Tomorrow I am going to a sleepover.
Try it!
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Short Sentences:
You are supposed to sit on the bus.
You are supposed to sit quietly.
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Combined with an adverb:
You are supposed to sit quietly on the bus.
Use a series of words or phrases
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Short sentences:
The reading teacher is organized.
The reading teacher is funny.
The reading teacher is helpful.
Combined with a series of words:
The reading teacher is organized, funny,
and helpful.
Try it!
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Short sentences:
On Thanksgiving, we have turkey.
We also have stuffing.
We also have gravy.
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Combined with a series of words:
On Thanksgiving, we have turkey, stuffing, and
gravy.
REMEMBER!
All of the words or phrases in a series should be
parallel (stated in the same way).
Otherwise, the sentences will be unbalanced.
Incorrect: My dog is friendly, playful, and he is
smart, too. (The modifiers in the series are not parallel.)
Correct: My dog is friendly, playful, and
smart. (All the words in the series are single-word adjectives.
They are parallel.)
Correct it!
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Incorrect:
We can hike, ski, or we can snowboard down
the mountain, too.
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Correct:
We can hike, ski, or snowboard down the
mountain.
Combining with PHRASES
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Use phrases:
Ideas from short sentences can be combined
into one sentence using phrases.
Combined with a prepositional
phrase
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Short sentences:
Our cat curls up.
He curls up on top of my homework.
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Combined with a prepositional phrase:
Our cat curls up on top of my homework.
Try it!
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Short sentences:
He signed his name.
He signed it on a football.
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Combined with a prepositional phrase:
He signed his name on a football.
Combined with an appositive
phrase
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Short sentences:
Mrs. Brown makes the best cookies on the
block.
Mrs. Brown is our next-door neighbor.
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Combined with an appositive phrase:
Mrs. Brown, our next-door neighbor, makes the
best cookies on the block.
Try it!
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Short sentences:
Sam wants to be a professional baseball
player.
He is my brother’s best friend.
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Combined with an appositive phrase:
Sam, my brother’s best friend, wants to be a
professional baseball player.
Use compound subjects and/or
compound verbs
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A compound subject is two or more subjects
connected by a conjunction.
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A compound verb is two or more verbs
connected by a conjunction.
Combined with a compound
subject
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Short sentences:
Jamie danced around the room.
Mary danced around the room, too.
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Combined with a compound subject:
Jamie and Mary danced around the room.
Try it!
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Short sentences:
Sue rode her horse today.
Scott rode his horse today.
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Combined with a compound subject:
Sue and Scott rode their horses today.
Combined with a compound verb
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Short sentences:
Janet skated onto the pond.
She made a perfect figure eight.
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Combined with a compound verb:
Janet skated onto the pond and made a perfect
figure eight.
Try it!
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Short sentences:
My teacher dropped her glasses.
My teacher laughed.
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Combined with a compound verb:
My teacher dropped her glasses and laughed.
Combining with LONGER
SENTENCES
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Use compound sentences
Use complex sentences
Use compound sentences
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A compound sentence is made up of two or
more simple sentences joined together. The
conjunction and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet
are used to connect the simple sentences.
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Remember to place a comma before a
conjunction!
Use compound sentences
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Simple sentences:
My dog has hair hanging over his eyes.
He looks just like a dust mop.
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Combined with and:
My dog has hair hanging over his eyes, and he
looks just like a dust mop.
Try it!
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Simple sentences:
Mary wrote a book about the seasons.
It was interesting.
Combined with and:
Mary wrote a book about the seasons, and it
was interesting.
Use complex sentences
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A complex sentence is made up of two ideas
connected by a subordinating conjunction
(because, when, since, after, before, though,
although, if, unless, when, where, while, etc.).
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A complex sentence can also be combined by
a relative pronoun (who, whose, which, and
that).
Combine sentences using a
subordinating conjunction
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Simple sentences:
My friend shares her lunch with me.
She doesn’t like what her dad packs.
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Combined with because:
My friend shares her lunch with me because
she doesn’t like what her dad packs.
Try it!
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Simple sentences:
We took the elevator to the second floor.
The stairs were closed for repairs.
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Combined with because:
We took the elevator to the second floor
because the stairs were closed for repairs.
Combine sentences using a relative
pronoun
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Simple sentences:
Very cold weather closed school for a day.
The cold weather came down from Canada.
Combined with which:
Very cold weather, which came down from
Canada, closed school for a day.
Try it!
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Simple sentences:
Jack ran all the way to school.
Jack was late this morning.
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Combined using who:
Jack, who was late this morning, ran all the
way to school.
The Comma Splice
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A writer creates a comma splice by joining 2
independent clauses with a comma instead of
a conjunction.
–
Comma splice- It was a pleasure to meet you, I
hope we can get together again soon.
–
Comma splice- The Internet has revolutionized the
publishing business, online sales of books have
skyrocketed in the past few years.
3 Fixes for the Comma Splice
1.Add a conjunction between the 2 clauses.
2.Start a new sentence.
3.If the independent clauses have a closely
related topic, insert a semicolon between the
two.
It was a pleasure to meet you, and I hope we
can get together again very soon.
3 Fixes for the Comma Splice
(contd.)
1.Add a conjunction between the 2 clauses.
2.Start a new sentence.
3.If the independent clauses have a closely
related topic, insert a semicolon between the
two.
The Internet has revolutionized the publishing
business; online sales of books have
skyrocketed in the past few years.
Misplaced Modifiers
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Modifiers should be kept next to the word(s) to
which they refer.
Too great of a physical distance between
modifier and object causes confusion because
it’s not clear to which word the modifier is
referring.
Misplaced Modifiers
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Modifiers are words (adjectives or adverbs) that limit,
qualify, or describe another word.
Adjectives modify nouns - New car, old book,
interesting class
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
◦ She walked slowly.
◦ He drove a very fast car.
◦ The bride moved quite slowly down the aisle.
Misplaced Modifiers & Cousins
Dangling and Squinting
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I almost failed every art
class I took.
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I failed almost every art
class I took.
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We only collected 27
signatures on the petition.
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We collected only 27
signatures on the petition.
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Dangling: trying to
modify something that
has been left out of the
sentence.
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Squinting: placing the
modifier between two
likely choices.
Dangling Modifiers
Most often occur at the beginnings and ends of
sentences
♦ Usually indicated by an -ing verb or a to +
verb phrase
Example: Hiking the trail, the birds chirped loudly.
(Were the birds hiking the trail?)
Example: Walking to the campsite in February, my nose
began to run.
(Was your nose out of breath after it broke into a
run? Did your nose get to the campsite before the
rest of your body?)
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Dangling modifiers can be
repaired
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By making the subject of the modifier the
subject of the independent clause:
I was walking to the campsite in February, and my
nose began to run.
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By placing the subject of the action within the
dangling phrase:
As our group was hiking the trail, the birds
chirped loudly.
Squinting Modifier a modifier
sandwiched between two possible targets
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Children who laugh rarely are shy.
–
Did the writer mean children who laugh infrequently
are often shy, or that children who laugh often are
typically not shy?
–
It’s impossible for the reader to figure out what the
writer intended to say.
Misplaced Modifiers
The other day I shot an elephant in my
pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never
know.
-- Groucho Marx
Misplaced Modifiers
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One-word modifiers are easily misplaced. Be
sure to keep these words beside the word(s)
they are modifying.
only
just
hardly
simply
even
nearly
merely
almost
Explain the meaning of each
sentence:
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Almost everyone in the class passed the
calculus exam.
Everyone in the class almost passed the
calculus exam.
Which sentence indicates that everyone in the
class failed the exam?
Location, Location, Location:
It’s not just important for real
estate!
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Which of these projects is unlikely to pay you
as a research assistant?
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Our project received a grant for nearly one
million dollars.
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Our project nearly received a grant for one
million dollars.