Decide what the main purpose of the sentence is, then choose one of the following methods to rewrite the sentence for clarity.
Divide the clauses into two sentences by inserting a period between them.
- INCORRECT: Terry came home from school she worked on her homework.
- CORRECT: Terry came come from school. She worked on her homework.
Insert a semicolon between them, if the two clauses are very closely related.
- INCORRECT: Terry came home from school she worked on her homework.
- CORRECT: Terry came come from school; she worked on her homework.
Use a comma with a coordinating conjunction to separate the clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, or, so, for, yet, nor.
- INCORRECT: Terry came home from school she worked on her homework.
- CORRECT: Terry came come from school, and she worked on her homework.
Add a subordinating conjunction to make one sentence out of the two clauses. Some subordinating conjunctions are: when, while, because, as, although, if, though, since
- INCORRECT: Lincoln watched Doom Patrol he did his homework.
- CORRECT: Lincoln watched Doom Patrol while he did his homework.