Joining Sentences Together
( Part 1 )
Constant use of short sentences can be a bit strange to read.
To make your writing more interesting, you can use two other sorts of longer sentences. The simplest of these is the compound sentence.
How do I make a compound sentence?
When you have two or more short, independent, simple sentences which are of equal weight you can join them together using special words called conjunctions.
e.g. 'I hate curry.' is a simple sentence.
'I like Thai food.' is also a simple sentence.
You can put these together to make one, longer and more interesting compound sentence using a conjunction
-
'I hate curry' + but + 'I like Thai food' = 'I hate curry, but I like Thai food.'
Conjunctions
[/URL][/URL]
- Junctions join two or more roads together, so we use conjunctions to join two or more short sentences together
We sometimes call conjunctions 'joining words'. Can you think why
Commas are not conjunctions and they should never be used to join short sentences together (commas aren't sticky, so you can't use them to stick information together!).
These are the most common conjunctions:
and, as, but, or, so
- Try to avoid using the same conjunction over and over again. It is much better to 'mix and match'.
BEWARE!
The conjunction that you use may change the meaning of your sentence!
Conjunctions don't just stick sentences together, they show the relationship between the pieces of information.
e.g. Note the slightly different meaning in these sentences:
I walked home. I was tired.
I walked home and I was tired.
I walked home as I was tired.
I walked home but I was tired.
I walked home so I was tired.
I walked home or I was tired.
The final sentence, using or doesn't really make sense. You can't use every conjunction everywhere - so choose wisely!