SENTENCE COORDINATION

There are three methods of joining two or more independent clauses (IC) into a compound sentence.

1. comma + conjunction

2. semicolon

3. semicolon + adverbial conjunction

1. Comma + Conjunction

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION	MEANING
and	adds an idea
but	contrasts two opposing ideas
or	provides a choice
for	introduces a reason
so	introduces a result
nor	adds an idea when the first clause is in the negative
yet	contrasts two opposing ideas

Correlative conjunctions are those used in pairs:

• either/or
• neither/nor
• both/and
• not only/but also

2. Semicolon

For this method, two independent clauses are joined by a semicolon. Note that the first word of the second IC is not capitalized.

Two independent clauses can be joined by a semicolon; the first word of the second clause is not capitalized.

3. Semicolon + Adverbial Conjunction

With this method, the first IC ends with a semicolon. The second IC begins with an adverbial conjunction, followed by a comma.

Two independent clauses can be joined by a semicolon; however, the first word of the second clause is not capitalized.

ADVERBIAL CONJUNCTIONS

ADDITION (AND)	ALTERNATIVE (OR)	COMPARE	CONTRAST (BUT, YET)	EMPHASIS	RESULT (SO)	TIME
also	instead	likewise	however	indeed	accordingly	meanwhile
besides	on the other hand	similarly	nevertheless	in fact	consequently
furthermore	otherwise		nonetheless		hence
in addition					therefore
moreover					thus

 

 

 

 

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