18. Subordinate and Coordinate Sentences

18. Subordinate and Coordinate sentences:

Coordination:

the joining of two sentences with related ideas by creating a compound sentence.

Why Coordination?

Coordination allows sentence elements of the same grammatical structure to be connected in order to avoid repetitive, staccato prose.

Coordinate conjunctions join coordinate adjectives, verbs, prepositional phrases, and independent clauses. They are:

F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. : for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

original: Redfish lake was named for the spawning, red sockeye salmon that once filled the lake. Only a few sockeye salmon have returned in the last few years.

revision: Redfish lake was named for the spawning, red sockeye salmon that once filled the lake, but only a few sockeye salmon returned in the last few years.

Why subordinate?

Subordinating sentences allows you to combine sentences and create a rich, varied rhythm to your prose in order to eliminate monotony. Subordination can also help you emphasize key ideas, for you can subordinate the less significant ideas and throw the significant ideas into prominence in the independent clause.

How do I subordinate sentences?

1) Dependent clauses: clause with a subject and verb that cannot stand alone. Dependent clauses most often come before or after an independent clause.

Before: Because I told Sean that the college scouts were coming to the game, he became nervous.

After: Sean became nervous because I told Sean that the college scouts were coming to the game.

2) Phrases: any group of words without a subject and verb

-appositive phrases: a word or noun phrase that stands next to a noun and modifies it by restating or expanding its meaning.

(Sean Higgins, a phenomenal skier and student, skis for the best college ski team in the country.)

(Lord Byron’s reputation-his numerous sexual affairs, his pet bear, and his skull, wine glasses-made him the most popular of the English Romantics.)

(He values only one thing-his new fly rod).

-appositives can modify nouns at the end of a sentence or modify subjects at the beginning of sentences. You can use commas or dashes to offset appositive phrases.

-verbal phrases: participial or infinitive verb phrases.

(Reading the sublime poetry of John Milton, I lose myself in another world). -present participial phrase

(Exhausted from the ten-mile run that consisted of an elevation gain of 3,000 feet, he stared at the poem without comprehending.)-past participle

(To read poetry well one must achieve negative capability)-infinitive