| A Military Writer's Handbook | |
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| Sentences | |
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| Coordination and Subordination | ||
| Combining Ideas |
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| Use sentence structure to show the relationship between the points you are discussing. This is often effectively done by combining short sentences that make related points of equal importance into what is called a compound sentence. The two sentences, or clauses, are joined by one of seven small words called coordinating conjunctions: (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so). Note that when you use a coordinating conjunction to join sentences, it must be preceded by a comma. |
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| Subordinating One Idea to Another |
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Joining short sentences with coordinating conjunctions is a way of creating sentence variety while emphasizing the equal importance of two ideas. When you want to present one idea as more important than another, construct a sentence that begins with a word that subordinates the first idea to the more important idea found in the main clause of the sentence. Words like Although, Because, If, Since, Unless, and While before a clause (sentence) indicate that it is of lesser importance than the main clause that follows. The particular words and phrases used to show subordination also indicate the kind of relationship between two ideas. More than merely a sentence structure strategy, subordination is an effective way of indicating the logical relationship between the points you are discussing. Subordination is frequently used in argument when you want to stress the importance of one idea or point of view over another. |
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