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How can we improve the style and logic of our writing? Coordinating ideas presented in short clauses or sentences and assembling those ideas into larger sentences and logical units is the first step. As you peruse this web lecture, remember that blue text indicates a link that you may find a useful way to review a key term or concept.
This page presents three basic coordination techniques in their order of importance and frequency:
Strategy #1: IC, fanboys IC.
Using Coordinating Conjunctions to Join Indpendent Clauses
Strategy #2: IC; transitional word/phrase, IC.
Using a Semicolong and Transitional Phrases
to Connect Independent Clauses
Strategy #3: IC; IC.
Using semicolons to Connect Closely Related Independent Clauses.
Frequently identified as "coordination" on grammar pages and other comp resources, the use of coordinating conjunctions to connect independent clauses is an essential writing skill.
Coordinating Conjunctions / FANBOYS
Also known as the FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), coordinating conjunctions are 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.
An Example:
In a breathtaking performance of linguistic dexterity, I will now use the simple coordinating conjunction "but" to combine two independent clauses:
"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 grammatically and logically dependent upon another clause."
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. |
While IC, fanboys, IC. is without a doubt the best way to use coordination, using semicolons and transtional phrases can be an effective variation to this pattern, especially when you are negotiating more complex relationships between ideas and clauses:
This approach, which uses conjunctive adverbs such as however, therefore, and accordingly or other transitional phrases such as "for this reason," "as a result," "on the contrary, and "for example" (among many other possibilities) has the advantage of offering more subtle gradations of the relationship between the clauses. In other words, this structure can allow you to even further clarify your logic.
As you review these sentences, note the careful use of a semicolon before and a comma after the conjunctive adverb or transitional phrase: IC; transitional word/phrase, IC.
I wanted to demonstrate how to write better sentences; however, I found that students could only learn by practicing this skill themselves.
The extra language in the writer's sentence confused me; for this reason, I proposed that he eliminate unnecessary, empty, and redundant words from his prose.
I established active voice as a key criteria for evaluating student prose; consequently, the students began using more active verbs in their writing.
Active verbs improve sentences; for example, "Mr Smith went to Washington" is a better sentence than "There was a man named Mr. Smith who went to Washington."
A third technique for combining independent clauses into compound or compound-complex sentences is to simply connect two independent clauses with a semicolon. You should use this technique sparingly, typically only to connect closely related clauses.
Clauses frequently present closely connected ideas; often one clause springs quite logically from the other.
Although I did not enjoy hernia surgery, I do feel like I learned a valuable lesson; I have got to lose weight soon!
If you see me at the school cafeteria trying to wolf down a delicious fatty sandwich or meal, you should intervene dramatically by slapping the food off my tray or out of my hand. Do not feel bad; you will be adding years to my life. More importantly, we will both have a good laugh!
Try semicolons, but do not become some kind of semicolon extremist who uses them so often that the rest of the class has to gather and conduct some kind of group internvention.
Experiment with these variations on basic coordination as you revise your film paper and rewrite your other essays. But remember, these techniques used occasionally in an essay work well. If you find yourself using them frequently (multiple times on each page of an essay), then you should probably review the subordination techniques presented in the initial sentence variety lecture or the fanboys based approaches presented in our first coordination lecture.
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