Hello Whyville, I'm Johnny452 and this week I'm teaching you about compounding sentence elements. Before I start it kills me to say this, but, I'm ending the column. This will be the last "Writing Ways" for a while or forever. So let's get past the sadness. Let's get started.
Within a sentence, ideas can be connected by compounding various sentence elements: subjects, verbs, objects or whole predicates, modifiers, etc. Notice that when two such elements of a sentence are compounded with a coordinating conjunction (as opposed to the two independent clauses of a compound sentence), the conjunction is usually adequate and no comma is required.
Subjects: When two or more subjects are doing parallel things, they can often be combined as a compounded subject.
* Working together, President Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis convinced Congress to raise money for the expedition.
Objects: When the subject(s) is/are acting upon two or more things in parallel, the objects can be combined.
* President Jefferson believed that the headwaters of the Missouri reached all the way to the Canadian border.
* He also believed that meant he could claim all that land for the United States.
* President Jefferson believed that the headwaters of the Missouri might reach all the way to the Canadian border and that he could claim all that land for the United States.
Notice that the objects must be parallel in construction: Jefferson believed that this was true and that was true. If the objects are not parallel (Jefferson was convinced of two things: that the Missouri reached all the way to the Canadian border and wanted to begin the expedition during his term in office.) the sentence can go awry.
Verbs and verbals: When the subject(s) is/are doing two things at once, ideas can sometimes be combined by compounding verbs and verb forms.
* He studied the biological and natural sciences.
* He learned how to categorize and draw animals accurately.
* He studied the biological and natural sciences and learned how to categorize and draw animals accurately.
Notice that there is no comma preceding the "and learned" connecting the compounded elements above.
* In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart the movement of the stars.
* He also learned to analyze their movements with mathematical precision.
* In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart and analyze the movement of the stars with mathematical precision.
* OR - In Philadelphia, Lewis learned to chart the stars and analyze their movements with mathematical precision.
(Notice in this second version that we don't have to repeat the "to" of the infinitive to maintain parallel form.)
Modifiers: Whenever it is appropriate, modifiers such as prepositional phrases can be compounded.
* Lewis and Clark recruited some of their adventurers from river-town bars.
* They also used recruits from various military outposts.
* Lewis and Clark recruited their adventurers from river-town bars and various military outposts.
Notice that we do not need to repeat the preposition from to make the ideas successfully parallel in form.
Well this has been Johnny452 saying farewell. *click*
