What is the best way to combine two sentences?

Índice Show

What about the dash?
Combining Sentences Practice Quiz
Compounding Sentences
Compounding Sentence Elements
Subordinating One Clause to Another
Using Appositives to Connect Ideas
Using Participial Phrases to Connect Ideas
Using Absolute Phrases to Connect Ideas

The ability to combine sentences correctly is a key step to expressing an individual’s ideas and heading towards a better understanding and utilization of the English language. With that said, many ESL students face difficulties when understanding the “rules” of sentence combining. I understand the pieces but how can I put a sentence together without it sounding repetitive or simple? How do I go from “I went to the store. I tried to buy apples and grapes. I did not have enough money” to “I went to the store and tried to buy apples and grapes, but I did not have enough money”? How do I make my writing sound more academic? Do not stress. Many native English speakers face a similar dilemma and by practicing when and how to combine

sentences, you will be able to express your ideas clearly and allow your written voice to come through.

When would someone combine sentences?

To connect ideas/thoughts
To expand upon a thought or idea
To eliminate repetition
To create sentence variety
To write more academically

*Remember: The key here is to connect ideas. If two sentences do not make sense or do not go together, than do not combine them.
It is more important to have ideas that match then to have a specific sentence count.

The basic definition of a sentence: A sentence is the combination of an independent and dependent clauses used in a variety of
ways to create four basic sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

Think of an independent clause as an idea/thought/concept that can be understood by itself. The clause is independent from the other sentences. Think of an independent clause in conversation. If a friend approached you and said, “I am really happy today because I

bought a puppy,” you understand that your friend is saying that they are happy after purchasing their new puppy.

In contrast, a dependent clause cannot be understood by itself. Dependent clauses are missing a main idea/thought/concept. Dependent clauses depend on the rest of the sentence to make sense. Yet again, think about a dependent clause in conversation. If your friend approached you and said, “Before I was really unhappy,” you find yourself asking many questions: Is your friend still unhappy? Before what? What made

your friend so unhappy?

Below are the four basic sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. Each sentence type has a different way of combining
sentences to join ideas together.

Simple – A simple sentence has one independent clause. One main thought, idea, or concept.

Example: Either my mother or my sister bought this DVD player.
Explanation: Even though there are multiple people involved, my mother and my sister, there is only one main concept,
that someone has purchased a DVD player.

Compound – A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses. Compound sentences are combined using a comma followed by a
conjunction.

Example (sentence not combined): Joan went to the movies. Phil stayed home with the children.
Example (using a conjunction): Joan went to the movies, but Phil stayed home with the children.

A semicolon can also be used but the conjunction must be omitted.

Example: (Using a semicolon): Joan went to the movies; Phil stayed home with the children.
Explanation: Both independent clauses are connecting together two ideas. Joan was able to go to the movies because Phil stayed home with the children. Even though both examples combine sentences differently, both are correct because the
ideas are connected to one another.

Complex- A complex sentence has one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses. The independent clause contains
the main idea/concept of the sentence while the subordinate clause is not considered vital information.

*Note: Subordinate clauses are similar to dependent clauses. The only real difference is that subordinate clauses use “transition words.” These are words like: furthermore, since, because, for example, although, therefore, thus, in conclusion, etc. “Transition words” push the

sentence forward to the main idea/concept. A better way to understand this concept is in the Explanation below.

Example: Before I drove home from work, I realized that my car was out of gas.
Explanation: The best way to distinguish an independent clause from a dependent clause is to do the cover-up trick. Cover up the portion of the sentence before the comma, without knowing the next part of the sentence, does this portion make sense by itself? If not, then it is a dependent clause. If yes, then it is an independent clause. Try it with the sentence example above. Did you notice that when you read before I drove home from work you found yourself asking questions? Like, what happened before you drove home? What happened after work? Whereas with the later part of the sentence I realized my car was out of gas, you understand the problem. If the portion of a sentence makes sense on it’s own then it is independent from the rest of
the sentence not needing the rest of the sentence to make sense.

Compound-Complex- A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
These sentences are a combination of #2 & #3 and you should use the the same tips/rules from those sections.

Example (Not Combined): Phil stayed home with the kids. Joan was able to go to the movies. She was very pleased with the film.
Example (Using a semicolon): Since Phil stayed home with the kids, Joan was able to go to the movies;
she was very pleased with the film.
Example (Using a Conjunction):
Since Phil stayed home with the kids, Joan was able to go to the movies, and she was very pleased with the film.
Explanation: In order to combine these three sentences correctly, you still use some of the same steps from the previous sentence types.

*Remember: Combining sentences focuses on the #2, 3, & 4 sentence types.

To Summarize. There are three main ways to combine sentences.

Using Conjunctions: FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
*When using conjunctions, you are combining two independent clauses (IC) with a comma and then a conjunction.

Example (Using a Conjunction): Joan went to the movies, but Phil stayed home with the children.

Using three main types of punctuation. The comma, the colon, and the semicolon.
*Notice how the comma still needs a conjunction.
*For more info on specific comma usage rules, see Comma Usage.

Example (Using a comma with a conjunction): Joan went to the movies, but Phil stayed home with the children.
Example (Using a semicolon): Joan went to the movies; Phil stayed home with the children.
Example (Using a colon): Joan went to the movies and purchased many snacks. Specifically: Hot Tamales, popcorn, and soda.

*Colons are used after an independent clause and are used to list items.

Using a subordinate clause (“transition words/phrases”).

Example: Learning the English language can be difficult. For example, there are many different ways to combine sentences and
understanding which combination to use can be tricky.

What about the dash?

Occasionally you may come across a dash in the middle of a sentence. These are normally meant to represent a side note/side comment that is not relevant to the development of the sentence. Essentially, if you took the phrase between the dashes out, you would still

understand the sentence. The same rule applies to ideas between two commas.

Example (Using Dashes): My mother went to Aunt Wendy’s house – the bright blue house on the corner – to prepare for the birthday party.
Example (Using Commas): My mother went to Aunt Wendy’s house, the bright blue house on the corner, to prepare for the birthday party.
Explanation: If you removed the words between the dashes (the bright blue house on the corner), you would still understand all of
the important components of the sentence. You know the noun, my mother, and you also know what the noun has done, went to Aunt Wendy’s house,
and, you even know what the noun did, prepared for the birthday party. You still understand exactly what happened.

Here are some books that I would recommend for further reading:

They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff & Cathy Berkenstein (Norton and Company, 2009)
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss (Penguin Publishing, 2004)

Combining Sentences Practice Quiz

Sentences have to be combined to avoid the monotony that would surely result if all sentences were brief and of equal length. (If you haven't already read them, see the sections on Avoiding Primer Style and Sentence Variety.) Part of the writer's task is to employ whatever music is available to him or her in language, and part of language's music lies within the rhythms of varied sentence length and structure. Even poets who write within the formal limits and sameness of an iambic pentameter beat will sometimes strike a chord against that beat and vary the structure of their clauses and sentence length, thus keeping the text alive and the reader awake. This section will explore some of the techniques we ordinary writers use to combine sentences.

Compounding Sentences

A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses. That means that there are at least two units of thought within the sentence, either one of which can stand by itself as its own sentence. The clauses of a compound sentence are either separated by a semicolon (relatively rare) or connected by a coordinating conjunction (which is, more often than not, preceded by a comma). And the two most common coordinating conjunctions are and and but. (The others are or, for, yet, and so.) This is the simplest technique we have for combining ideas:

Meriwether Lewis is justly famous for his expedition into the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and beyond, but few people know of his contributions to natural science.
Lewis had been well trained by scientists in Philadelphia prior to his expedition, and he was a curious man by nature.

Notice that the and does little more than link one idea to another; the but also links, but it does more work in terms of establishing an interesting relationship between ideas. The and is part of the immediate language arsenal of children and of dreams: one thing simply comes after another and the logical relationship between the ideas is not always evident or important. The word but (and the other coordinators) is at a slightly higher level of argument.

Click here to review the rules of comma usage when you combine two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction.

Compounding Sentence Elements

Within a sentence, ideas can be connected by compounding various sentence elements: subjects, verbs, objects or whole predicates, modifiers, etc. Notice that when two such elements of a sentence are compounded with a coordinating conjunction (as opposed to the two independent clauses of a compound sentence), the conjunction is usually adequate and no comma is required.

Subjects: When two or more subjects are doing parallel things, they can often be combined as a compounded subject.

Working together, President Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis convinced Congress to raise money for the expedition.

Objects: When the subject(s) is/are acting upon two or more things in parallel, the objects can be combined.

President Jefferson believed that the headwaters of the Missouri reached all the way to the Canadian border.
He also believed that meant he could claim all that land for the United States.
President Jefferson believed that the headwaters of the Missouri might reach all the way to the Canadian border and that he could claim all that land for the United States.

Notice that the objects must be parallel in construction: Jefferson believed that this was true and that was true. If the objects are not parallel (Jefferson was convinced of two things: that the Missouri reached all the way to the Canadian border and wanted to begin the expedition during his term in office.) the sentence can go awry. Click here to review the principles of parallelism.

Verbs and verbals: When the subject(s) is/are doing two things at once, ideas can sometimes be combined by compounding verbs and verb forms.

He studied the biological and natural sciences.
He learned how to categorize and draw animals accurately.
He studied the biological and natural sciences and learned how to categorize and draw animals accurately.

Notice that there is no comma preceding the "and learned" connecting the compounded elements above.

In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart the movement of the stars.
He also learned to analyze their movements with mathematical precision.
In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart and analyze the movement of the stars with mathematical precision.
OR — In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart the stars and analyze their movements with mathematical precision.

(Notice in this second version that we don't have to repeat the "to" of the infinitive to maintain parallel form.)

Modifiers: Whenever it is appropriate, modifiers such as prepositional phrases can be compounded.

Lewis and Clark recruited some of their adventurers from river-town bars.
They also used recruits from various military outposts.
Lewis and Clark recruited their adventurers from river-town bars and various military outposts.

Notice that we do not need to repeat the preposition from to make the ideas successfully parallel in form.

Subordinating One Clause to Another

The act of coordinating clauses simply links ideas; subordinating one clause to another establishes a more complex relationship between ideas, showing that one idea depends on another in some way: a chronological development, a cause-and-effect relationship, a conditional relationship, etc.

William Clark was not officially granted the rank of captain prior to the expedition's departure.
Captain Lewis more or less ignored this technicality and treated Clark as his equal in authority and rank.
Although William Clark was not officially granted the rank of captain prior to the expedition's departure, Captain Lewis more or less ignored this technicality and treated Clark as his equal in authority and rank.

The explorers approached the headwaters of the Missouri.
They discovered, to their horror, that the Rocky Mountain range stood between them and their goal, a passage to the Pacific.
As the explorers approached the headwaters of the Missouri, they discovered, to their horror, that the Rocky Mountain range stood between them and their goal, a passage to the Pacific.

When we use subordination of clauses to combine ideas, the rules of punctuation are very important. It might be a good idea to review the definition of clauses at this point and the uses of the comma in setting off introductory and parenthetical elements.

Using Appositives to Connect Ideas

The appositive is probably the most efficient technique we have for combining ideas. An appositive or appositive phrase is a renaming, a re-identification, of something earlier in the text. You can think of an appositive as a modifying clause from which the clausal machinery (usually a relative pronoun and a linking verb) has been removed. An appositive is often, but not always, a parenthetical element which requires a pair of commas to set it off from the rest of the sentence.

Sacagawea, who was one of the Indian wives of Charbonneau, who was a French fur-trader, accompanied the expedition as a translator.
A pregnant, fifteen-year-old Indian woman, Sacagawea, one of the wives of the French fur-trader Charbonneau, accompanied the expedition as a translator.

Notice that in the second sentence, above, Sacagawea's name is a parenthetical element (structurally, the sentence adequately identifies her as "a pregnant, fifteen-year-old Indian woman"), and thus her name is set off by commas; Charbonneau's name, however, is essential to the meaning of the sentence (otherwise, which fur-trader are we talking about?) and is not set off by a pair of commas. Click here for additional help identifying and punctuating around parenthetical elements.

Using Participial Phrases to Connect Ideas

A writer can integrate the idea of one sentence into a larger structure by turning that idea into a modifying phrase.

Captain Lewis allowed his men to make important decisions in a democratic manner.
This democratic attitude fostered a spirit of togetherness and commitment on the part of Lewis's fellow explorers.
Allowing his men to make important decisions in a democratic manner, Lewis fostered a spirit of togetherness and commitment among his fellow explorers.

In the sentence above, the participial phrase modifies the subject of the sentence, Lewis. Phrases like this are usually set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

The expeditionary force was completely out of touch with their families for over two years.
They put their faith entirely in Lewis and Clark's leadership.
They never once rebelled against their authority.
Completely out of touch with their families for over two years, the men of the expedition put their faith in Lewis and Clark's leadership and never once rebelled against their authority.

Using Absolute Phrases to Connect Ideas

Perhaps the most elegant — and most misunderstood — method of combining ideas is the absolute phrase. This phrase, which is often found at the beginning of sentence, is made up of a noun (the phrase's "subject") followed, more often than not, by a participle. Other modifiers might also be part of the phrase. There is no true verb in an absolute phrase, however, and it is always treated as a parenthetical element, an introductory modifier, which is set off by a comma.

The absolute phrase might be confused with a participial phrase, and the difference between them is structurally slight but significant. The participial phrase does not contain the subject-participle relationship of the absolute phrase; it modifies the subject of the the independent clause that follows. The absolute phrase, on the other hand, is said to modify the entire clause that follows. In the first combined sentence below, for instance, the absolute phrase modifies the subject Lewis, but it also modifies the verb, telling us "under what conditions" or "in what way" or "how" he disappointed the world. The absolute phrase thus modifies the entire subsequent clause and should not be confused with a dangling participle, which must modify the subject which immediately follows.

Lewis's fame and fortune was virtually guaranteed by his exploits.
Lewis disappointed the entire world by inexplicably failing to publish his journals.
His fame and fortune virtually guaranteed by his exploits, Lewis disappointed the entire world by inexplicably failing to publish his journals.

Lewis's long journey was finally completed.
His men in the Corps of Discovery were dispersed.
Lewis died a few years later on his way back to Washington, D.C., completely alone.
His long journey completed and his men in the Corps of Discovery dispersed, Lewis died a few years later on his way back to Washington, D.C., completely alone.