Constructing and Connecting Complete Sentences

How to build complete sentences and how to connect them to each other

Complete Sentences

A complete sentence must have a subject and a verb, and it must express a complete thought. (In other words, it must contain an independent clause that gives a sense of completion to the sentence.)

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom.

The subject of this sentence is it, and the verb is was.

Since it was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom, they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

The second clause in this sentence (beginning with they) is an independent clause that makes it complete.

A fragment is a sentence that lacks one of these elements:

For knights to go to the bathroom.

Since it was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom.

The first group of words above is a fragment because it lacks a subject and a verb. The second group of words is a clause with a subject (it) and a verb (was), but the subordinating conjunction since makes it an incomplete thought.

Coordinating Sentences

In addition, there are rules that must be followed when connecting (“coordinating”) two sentences. Two complete sentences can be connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction together or by a semicolon (or in some cases a colon).

Semicolons are usually used when the second part of the sentence serves to further explain the first part (though they can be used to connect many closely related sentences):

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom; they needed help to remove all their armor.

Conjunctive adverbs are sometimes used along with a semicolon to connect two complete sentences. Such adverbs help clarify the logical relationship between the two sentences. A conjunctive adverb should be set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma before and/or after it:

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom; therefore, they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

Conjunctive adverbs include the adverbs listed in the box (adverbs in bold are more frequently used). Note that some of these words are not just conjunctive adverbs; they can be used in other ways as well.

Conjunctive Adverbs

A coordinating conjunction, along with a comma, can also be used to connect two complete sentences:

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom, so they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

You can remember coordinating conjunctions with the acronym “FANBOYS”:

For (meaning “because”)
And
Nor
But (meaning “however”)
Or
Yet (meaning “however”)
So (meaning “therefore”)

Another approach to connecting two sentences is to use a subordinating conjunction to make one of the sentences a dependent (or “subordinate”) clause:

Since it was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom, they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

Subordinating conjunctions include the words listed in the box. Note that some of these words can also be used as prepositions and/or adverbs.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Errors in Coordination

When these rules are not followed, one of three errors results:

1. A fused sentence occurs when two complete sentences are joined together with neither a comma nor a conjunction:

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

2. A run-on sentence occurs when two complete sentences are connected by only a conjunction:

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom so they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

3. A comma splice occurs when two sentences are connected by only a comma:

It was difficult for knights to go to the bathroom, they had to resist the urge to pee for long periods of time.

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