Page 645 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Connecting Ideas Through

Coordination

1 Connect independent clauses through

coordination.

Imagine a world without choices. What if everyone were named John

or Jane? What if everyone ate oatmeal for breakfast, wore green

clothing, and drove a white Chevrolet? What if every sentence could

contain only one idea? Here’s a paragraph from that world.

My name is Jane. I got up this morning. The sky was blue. The sun

was shining. I put on my green slacks. I put on my green shirt. I put

on my green shoes. I ate oatmeal. I ate it for breakfast. I drove my

white Chevrolet. I drove it to school.

Fortunately, the real world is abundant with choices in names, foods,

cars, and sentence structure. Here’s what it really looks like.

Hi, I’m Isabella. When I got up this morning, the sun was streaming

through my window from a clear blue sky. I threw on a pair of jeans,