Writing Academic English 4th Edition

186 PartlH ISentenceStructure

ChoppySentences.

CORRECTED

CHOPPYSENTENCES

CORRECTED

PRACTICE 3

RewritingChoppy

Sentences

However,overuseofshortsentencesis consideredpoorstyleinacademicwriting.

Choppysentencesareeasytocorrect.Justcombinetwoorthreeshortsentences

tomakeonecompoundorcomplexsentence.Yourdecisiontomakea compoundor

a complexsentenceshouldbebasedonwhethertheideasintheshortsentencesare

equalorwhetheroneideais dependentontheother.

1.Ifthesentencesexpressequalideas,usecoordinationtocombinethem.

Windisanenduringsourceofpower.Waterisalsoanunlimitedenergy

source.Damsproducehydraulicpower.Theyhaveexistedfora longtime.

Windmillsarerelativelynew.

Bothwindandwaterareenduringsourcesofpower.Damshaveproduced

hydraulicpowerforalongtime,butwindmillsarerelativelynew.

2.Ifthesentencesexpressunequalideas,thatis,ifonesentenceexpresses

a lessimportantideathantheother,usesubordinationtocombinethem.

Wemustfindnewsourcesofenergy.Naturalsourcesofenergyare

decreasing.Solarenergyisa promisingnewsourceofenergy.Solarenergy

isenergyfromthesun.

Wemustfindnewsourcesofenergybecausenaturalsourcesofenergyare

dwindling.Solarenergy,whichisenergyfromthesun,isapromisingneW;:'U'Ulvl::.

hnprovethefollowingchoppysentencesbycombiningthem.

Step 1 Decidewhattherelationshipbetweenthesentencesis.

• Dotheyexpressequalideas?Ifyes,writea compoundsentence.
  Bothsentencespresentthemainidea.
  Similarorequalidea and
  Negativeequalidea nor
  Oppositeidea but
  Alternativepossibility or
  Surprisingcontinuation yet
  Expectedresult so
  Reason for


• Isoneideamoreimportantthananotheridea?Ifyes,goontoStep
  2 and3 andwritea complexsentence.
  Step 2 Decidewhichsentenceexpressesthemostimportantidea.Thiswill
  theindependentclause.
  Step 3 Thendecidewhattherelationshipofothersentencestothemain
  isandchoosea subordinatorthatexpressesthatrelationship.
  Time when,after,assoonas,andso
  Reason because,since,oras
  Contrast although,whereas,andsoon
  Descriptiveinformation who,which,that,andsoon