Writing Academic English 4th Edition

RRJ.\.CTICE 6

Compound
Sentenceswith
Semicolons

RRACTICE 7

EditingPractice

Chapter 10 ITypesofSentences 171

CompoundSentenceswithSemicolons

A thirdwaytoforma compoundsentenceistoconnectthetwoindependentclauses

witha semicolonalone:

I INDEPENDENTCLAUSE I

PolandwasthefirstEasternEuropeancountrytoturnawayfromcommunism;

,----INDEPENDENTCLAUSE~

otherssoonfollowed.

Thiskindofcompoundsentenceis possibleonlywhenthetwoindependentclauses

arecloselyrelatedinmeaning.Iftheyarenotcloselyrelated,theyshouldbewrit-

tenastwosimplesentences,eachendingwitha period.

A. Placea semicolonbetweenthetwoindependentclausesinthefollowing

compoundsentences.

1. Thepracticeofyogastrengthensthebodyandpromotesflexibilityit also
   strengthensthemindandrefreshesthesoul.
   2.Motherhoodcausessomewomentoquittheirjobsotherscon1inueworking
   despitehavingyoungchildrentocarefor.


2. Threehundredguestsattendedhisweddingtwoattendedhisfuneral.

B. Ona separatesheetofpaper,writethreecompoundsentencesofyourown,

usinga semicolontojointheindependentclauses.

Usewhatyouhavelearnedaboutformingcompoundsentencestoimprovethefol-

lowingmini-essay,whichcontainsmany short,simple sentences.Combinesen-

tenceswhereverpossible.Trytouseeachofthethreemethodsat leastonce.There

aremanypossiblewaystocombinesentences.

Robots

1Arobotis a mechanicaldevicethatcanperformboring,dangerous,and

difficulttasks.2Firstofall,robotscanperformrepetitivetaskswithoutbecoming

tiredorbored.3Theyareusedinautomobilefactoriestoweldandpaint.4Robots

canalsofunctioninhostileenvironments.5Theyareusefulforexploringthe

oceanbottomaswellasdeepouterspace.6Finally,robotscanperformtasks

requiringpinpointaccuracy.71ntheoperatingroom,roboticequipmentcanassist

thesurgeon.aForinstance,a robotcankilla braintumor.91tcanoperateona

fetuswithgreatprecision.

10Thefieldofartificialintelligenceisgivingrobotsa limitedabilitytothink

andtomakedecisions. 11 However,robotscannotthinkconceptually.12Robots

cannotfunctionindependently.13Humanshavetoprogramthem.14Theyare

useless.[UseothelWisetocombinesentences 13 and14.]15Therefore,humans

shouldnotworrythatrobotswilltakeovertheworld-atleastnotyet.