We have looked at coordinating conjunctions to create compound sentences and subordinating conjunctions to write complex sentences.
Think of when we looked at the prefixes co- and sub-.
Right now, we are going to go beyond mere joining words within sentences and look at others that connect whole paragraphs.
In a typical compound sentence we might have the following:
a) Jane brought her umbrella, for it was supposed to rain.
b) Jane brought her umbrella; it was supposed to rain.
Both of the above are compound and (a) sounds a bit better than (b) because the word “for” blends the ideas more smoothly.
The same thought could be written with “since,” and due to “since being from the subordinating category rather than “for” which is a FANBOYS word, they mean the same but are punctuated differently.
c) Jane brought her umbrella since it was supposed to rain. (No comma if the subordinating word is in the middle.)
d) Since it was supposed to rain, Jane brought her umbrella.
Both of the above are complex (because they do not use a FANBOYS word) and (c) needs no comma and (d) needs a comma because complex sentences require one thing in the middle, either the comma or the conjunction.
NOTE: using only the comma with neither “for” nor “since” would create the common error called comma splice because you cannot join two ideas with only a comma.
All this serves as a review. However, it does not help you to connect your paragraphs in essays to create a smoother flow.
For discussion:
A) Please think about the prefix trans-.
There are so many words that begin with “trans.”
Write down at least 5 such words without looking them up. Just list at least 5 that you already know.
Did you see any meanings that these words have in common?
All of you words should have something to do with either movement or change, even words like transparent and translucent.
Also,
B) I have uploaded a list of Transitionals in the Files folder.
This is an extremely important document. I urge you not only to save it somewhere, but to print it for easy access since it will become useful for all the essays you will ever write forever!
You will note that none of the words on the important list begins with trans-. Trans- is just to help you realize that transitional words and phrases help you to move from one paragraph to another or help you to show why your ideas in a paragraph may seem to contradict what you may have just written above that paragraph.
Getting back the the umbrella sentences…
You could say
e) It was supposed to rain; therefore, Jane brought her umbrella.
Right now you are probably thinking, “Why do I have to bother with all that extra punctuation? You will see why in our next class.
