Unit one

1. Sentence Combination

In order to increase readers interest to our writing, we combine two or more short sentences in to
one. Two or more ideas can be connected in a sentence by two methods which are coordination
and subordination.
1.1. Coordination is a method of joining two independent sentences by using coordinators. In
coordination, the status of the sentences is not reduced when they are combined. In other
words, when they are combined, they still remain independent clauses.
The linking devices (coordinators) we use in coordination are:
1.1.1 Coordinating Conjunctions
1.1.2 Correlative Conjunctions
1.1.3 Adverb Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions
The most commonly used coordinating conjunctions which are used in writing are the
following.
For - a more formal word for because, this shows a result- cause relationship between two
independent clauses. It shows logical consequence; it has the same meaning as
because, the reason why
And - shows the addition of two positive ideas. It has the same meaning as in addition, along
with, moreover, furthermore
Nor - shows equality of two negative ideas. It shows an addition of a negative point
( Note: you must reverse the normal subject- verb positions in the second clause when using
nor).
But - shows opposition or contrast between two ideas. It has the same meaning as however,
except, on the other hand
Or - shows alternatives or choices
Yet - shows opposition; also shows emphasis (a stronger but)
So - shows cause and effect relationship. It has the same meaning as therefore, as a result. X
happened, so Y happened.
Note: When you use the above coordinating conjunctions to join complete sentences, use a
comma before the coordinators.
EXERCISE
Combine the following pairs of sentences by using coordinating conjunctions.
1 A. The dog ate the food very fast
B. The dog was very hungry
2. A. The boy sang very well at the Ethiopian Idols.
B. The judges didn’t allow him to pass to the next stage.
3. A. Aster didn’t bring her exercise book.
B. Aster didn’t bring her pen.
4. A. The farmer worked all day and night.
B. The farmer harvested a lot of crops.
Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are coordinating words that work in pairs to join words, phrases, and
sentences. The most common correlative pairs are:
Correlative conjunctions meaning
Either……..or one of the two
Neither ……nor none of the two
Both………and both
Whether…….or dilemma/hesitation/confusion
Not only…..but also both

Rules: 1). In most cases the two sentences, having being joined using correlative conjunction,
have similar subjects or similar predicates.
E.g. 1. Either go to bed early this evening or stop complaining about being tired in class.
2. Does anyone know whether the president or the vice president was responsible for
providing the announcement to the press?
2). The words, phrases, or clauses that are put together must be the same type. This means that
nouns must be put together with other nouns, verbs with other verbs, adjectives with other
adjectives, and so on.
E.g. 1. The secretary is either working at her desk or visiting the dean.(gerund)
 2. For dessert, you may have either cake or ice cream. (noun)
3. Teachers should be not only intelligent but also friendly. (Adjective)
4. I wondered whether to make the telephone call or to see her in person. (infinitive)

Exercise
Choose the correct correlative conjunction to complete the following blank spaces.
1. When they found the man who had been lost for five days, he was _______ tired
________ hungry. A. not only .... but also B. either ... or C. neither ...
nor

2. He is neither my uncle ___ my cousin. A. and B. or C. but D. nor

3. The student was not sure _________ to enroll in a history class or an art class

A. as B. whether C. neither D. both

4. ____________ Sam nor his brother can swim.

A. Both B. Not only C. Neither D. Either

5. ……… .Roger………Carlos knows how to speak Russian.

A. Not only .... but also B. Both..........and C. Whether.........or

6. I hate the science classes at all, so I want to take………..physics………chemistry.

A. not only .... but also B. both..........and C. neither.........nor

Exercise 2:
Combine the following pairs of sentences by using correlative conjunctions
1. A. To go to Gondar, You can use a bus.
B. To go to Gondar, you can use a plane.
_______________________________________________________________________
2. A. Azeb is beautiful
B. Azeb is honest.
_______________________________________________________________________
3. (I am in confusion)
A. I want to go to class.
B. I want to go to my appointment.

________________________________________________________________________

Adverb Conjunctions
Adverb conjunction is an adverb used to relate and connect main clauses in a sentence.
Common conjunctive adverbs are:
also still consequently however indeed
hence then furthermore moreover likewise
thus instead nevertheless therefore otherwise
Example
- I ordered the concert tickets by mail; therefore, I didn’t have to stand in line.
- Our muscles were tired and sore; nevertheless, we kept on jogging.

Note:
Most adverb conjunctions are preceded by a semi colon and followed by a comma. There are
some exceptions, however. Adverb conjunctions like still and also are, for example, not
preceded by a semicolon.
Example
● Sorry I’m late. My alarm didn’t go off. Also, I had trouble starting the car.
● He has treated you badly: still, he is your brother.
Some other adverb conjunctions like otherwise and then are preceded by a semi colon but not
followed by a comma.
Example:
● John must be sick; otherwise he would be here.
● She made coffee; then she cooked breakfast.
To maintain the desired relationship between independent clauses, see the following chart
to know the meaning of coordinating and adverb conjunctions.
meaning coordinating adverb conjunction
 conjunction
addition ,and ; furthermore,
; moreover,
contrast ,but ; however,
,yet ;nevertheless,
alternative ,or ; instead,
,nor [negative] ; otherwise,
result ,so ; therefore,
; consequently,
; thus,

1.2 Subordination

Subordination is the joining of an independent clause and a dependent clause in the same
sentence by using subordinators. In subordination, the status of one of the sentences to be
combined is reduced to a subordinate (dependent) clause. As you might recall from the above
discussion, in coordination the status of the sentences to be combined is not reduced; they remain
independent.
The linking devices we use in subordination are:

 Subordinating Conjunctions
 Relative Pronouns

Subordinating conjunction is a kind of conjunction that joins subordinate clauses with

independent clauses. Here the subordinate clauses cannot stand alone; they must be joined to an
independent clause to convey a complete thought. They tell when, where, why, how, and to what
extent an action takes place. When a writer wants to emphasize the idea in one clause over the
other, the most important idea is contained within the independent clause, and lesser ideas are
presented in the dependent clauses. More often we use a subordinating conjunction to show a
difference in importance and strength of ideas.
Example
Because the train was late, I arrived late to work.
Because the train was late, I arrived late to work.
Subordinate clause Independent clause
Notice
With the addition of because at the beginning of an independent clause, the independent clause
becomes a dependent clause. Similarly, when other subordinating conjunctions are added at the
beginning of independent clause, the independent clause becomes a dependent clause.

Meaning Subordinating Conjunction

cause because, since, as
time since, as, after, until, as soon as, before,
when, while, once, after, whenever, as
long as,
condition if, as if, as long as, provided that, unless,
provided, as though
contrast/concession although, even though, though, even if,
whereas, while
result that, so that, in order that
place where, wherever
comparison as, than, as…..as

Relative Pronouns

Like the other subordinating conjunctions relative pronouns are used to join subordinate clauses
with independent sentences. They also introduce relative clauses.
Example
-The boat that was owned by Mr. Mitchell sank in the harbor.
  In relative clauses, the adjective clauses which are dependent clauses that modify a noun
or a pronoun in the main clause, usually begin with relative pronoun: who, whom , whose,
which, or that.
 Adjective clauses are always placed after the noun or the pronoun they modify.
- The relative pronoun that introduces an adjective clause can function as a subject,
as an object, or as a possessive marker.

Relative Pronoun Use

who, which Subjective case
whom, which Objective case
whose Possessive case

Defining, that; non-defining which

Collective noun; that

Restrictive and non-restrictive adjective clauses

Adjective clauses may be restrictive (also called essential) or non-restrictive (none essential).
A restrictive adjective clause is necessary to make the meaning of the sentence complete.

For example, in the sentence “The movie that I saw yesterday won a Grammy Award”, the
information in the adjective clause that I saw yesterday is essential to the meaning of the
sentence. Without it, it is difficult to the reader to identify which special movie the writer is
discussing about.

A non-restrictive adjective clause merely adds information to a sentence the full meaning of
which is already clear.

Example
New York, which is America’s populous city, is one of the world's leading commercial, financial,
and cultural centers.
Note: You can see in this example that the noun ‘New York’ is defined by itself. So, the relative
clause does not define it. In other words, it is non-defining or non-restrictive. A non-restrictive
adjective clause is separated from the main clause by commas.

Exercise: Join the following sentences using the most appropriate relative pronouns.

who whom which whose

1. A. The woman has been arrested.

B. Her child was accused of theft.
2. A. The thief has been caught.
B. The police were looking for the thief.
3. A. Roberto is sure to win an art scholarship.
B. Roberto is a talented portrait artist.

Types of sentences
1. Sentence Classification by Function
According to the purpose they achieve, sentences are of four types. These are declarative,
interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences.
a) Declarative Sentence
A declarative sentence is a statement which is used to give information. It is an kind of sentence
which usually demands a true or false response.
Which one is declarative of the following examples?
1. Time is running short. (affirmative)
2. She does not respect her elder brother (negative)
As you can understand, the function of all these sentences is to convey information or simply to
express one’s idea.
b) Interrogative Sentence
An interrogative sentence asks a question. Unlike a declarative sentence which provides information,
the purpose of interrogative sentence is seeking information. The order of the subject and the predicate
or part of it (a helping verb) comes before the subject. At the end of the sentence, the punctuation mark
is always a question mark (interrogation)
Example: 1.What is your favorite football team?
 2. Can you get away today?
3. Have you ever seen any park in Ethiopia?

c) Imperative Sentence
This is a type of sentence that expresses a command, a request, an order, an advice, etc. The order of
the subject and the predicate is like that of a declarative sentence, except that subject is rarely
expressed. The subject of an imperative sentence - you- is usually understood. The end mark for an
imperative sentence is a period, but sometimes an exclamation mark is used for emphasis.
Example
1. Shut the door. (command )
2. Be good to your colleagues. (advice)
3. Have a cup of coffee, please. (invitation)
4. Show me your Id, please. (request)
d) Exclamatory Sentence
This is a sentence that expresses strong emotion, excitement or sudden feeling. The feeling
could be of different types. It could be a feeling of happiness, sorrow, wonder, surprise etc. In
exclamatory sentence, there are words and phrases that are commonly used with the main
sentence. These include words like ‘what;’ ‘how ‘,’perhaps;’ ‘oh’, ‘oh god’, ‘Alas’ ‘Hurrah’,
etc. Though the order of the subject and the predicate is normal, when these words (interjections)
are used, the subject follows the interjection, preceding the predicate or part of it. The
punctuation mark in this type of sentence is an exclamatory mark. It is placed at the end of either
the exclamatory word or sentence.
Example:

1. Hurrah! We have won the match.

2. How late the doctor is!
3. What a brave boy he is!
4. How beautiful the flower!
Exclamatory sentence is frequently used in speaking than in writing. It appears rarely in written
sentences of a formal level.

2. Sentence Classification by grammatical Structure

In terms of their construction or structure, there are four types of sentences:
 1. Simple Sentence
2. Compound Sentence
3. Complex Sentence
4. Compound-Complex Sentence
Simple Sentence is a sentence consisting of one subject and one predicate, either or both of
which may be compound. It, in other words, is one main clause.
Example
- The players arrived.
- The players and the judges arrived.
- The players arrived and reported.
- The players and the judges arrived and reported.
- The big oak tree in front of our house is a permanent house for thousands of birds.
N.B. Don’t be confused by the length of a sentence. You should simply count the number of
clauses in the sentence.
1.3.2 Compound Sentence is a sentence which consists of two independent clauses
connected by a coordinating conjunction or conjunctive adverbs or when the two
independent clauses are separated by a semi-colon.
Example
- I have never played tennis but I hope to start taking lessons next year.
- I steamed the carrots and I baked the potatoes.
- I ate everything on the tray; I was really hungry.
Complex Sentence is formed when one independent clause and one subordinate clause are
connected by a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun.
Example
- Although I have never played tennis, I planned to start taking lessons next year.
The subordinate clause modifies a word (a noun/ a verb/ the whole main clause) in the sentence,
and it can be either adjectival or adverbial.
Example
- He met a student who left school last year. (adjective clause)
- After I took a nap, I felt better. (adverb clause)
Compound-complex sentence is a sentence which consists of two independent clauses and
one subordinate clause. The two independent clauses may be connected by
coordinating conjunction or adverb conjunction or a semi colon. This structure results
in a compound sentence. When this compound sentence is joined to a subordinate
clause which is introduced by either a subordinating conjunction or a relative
pronoun, the whole combination entails a compound-complex sentence.
Example
 Although I have never played tennis, I really need the exercise, so I have planned to
start it next year.
 Although I have never played tennis, I really need the exercise; therefore, have I
planned to start it next year.
 Although I have never played tennis, I really need the exercise; I have planned to start
it next year.
 I bought coca cola, and I drank it at once because I was very thirsty.