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We can combine two or more sentences into a single sentence. We may do this
because sentences are closely related in meaning and belong together, and
because it is boring to read a series of short sentences that have a similar
structure. (The preceding sentence, by the way, is a combination of 4 sentences --
can you find them?) When we talk about combining sentences, we will often use
the word clause which is a group of words containing a subject and a verb. So, we
will say that the sentence I know you and you know me. contains two clauses
rather than saying that it contains two sentences. A sentence that contains only
one clause is called a simple sentence.
So what kinds of puntuation marks can be used to connect sentences? There are 3
punctuation marks that are stronger than a comma but weaker than a period,
question mark, or exclamation point. These are the dash [ -- ] colon [ : ] and semi-
colon [ ; ].
A dash is used to add more information about some part of your sentence. It is
rather informal and although you may see it when you read, it is better to avoid
this punctuation in your writing.
A colon is also used to add more information and especially to give examples of
something in the sentence. What follows a colon may be a clause He is a great
athlete: he plays soccer, baseball and basketball. or a group of words that cannot
stand by themselves He plays many sports: soccer, baseball and basketball.
A semi-colon is used to connect clauses and is the most important punctuation
mark for combining sentences. It can be used alone to connect clauses He's not
heavy; he's my brother. It can also be used to connect clauses together with
special linking words such as however, morover, therefore which grammar books
call conjunctive adverbs I think; therefore, I am. Remember, it is the semi-colon
and not the conjunctive adverb that connects the clauses.
Quotation marks [ " " ] and parentheses [ ( ) ] are used to insert one sentence
inside of another sentence, but this is not really sentence combination and will not
be discussed here.
participial phrase The boy, scared by the movie, began to cry. The boy was
scared by the movie. The boy began to cry.
gerund phrase Studying for the test increased his confidence. He studied
for the test. He felt confident.
infinitive phrase She was excited to see the movie star in the restaurant.
She saw the movie star in the restaurant. She was excited.
prepositional phrase The story in the newspaper was interesting. There
was a story in the newspaper. The story was interesting.
Sara, the most serious student in the class, always did her homework. Sara was
the most serious student in the class. Sara always did her homework.