Activity: Subordination and Coordination
Read more about subordination and coordination and how they can not only fix run-ons but also help you show relationships between ideas, write smoother sentences, and vary the lengths and types of sentences you write. Then, practice using these techniques to improve a piece of writing in the activity. Compare your responses to the answer key after you have finished.
Subordination and Coordination
These techniques of correcting run-ons are also ways that we might improve our sentences! The following passage is grammatically correct. There are no run-ons or fragments. However, read it aloud; I think you'll find that despite being correct, it is not very good writing.
I always loved my brother's Corvette. I should never have bought it. I cannot afford it. I am only working part-time. I earn enough to pay for gas. The insurance is more than I can handle. I drive at least eighty miles a day. I will soon need new tires.
What we have here is a piece of writing made up entirely of simple sentences (a simple sentence is a sentence that contains only one clause) with no real connection between them. While there is nothing wrong with writing simple sentences, good writing should contain a variety of lengths and types of sentences. Good writing should also show relationships between ideas.
Compare this with the following example of that same passage revised to show connection between the ideas in the sentences using subordination and coordination.
Although I always loved my brother's Corvette, I should never have bought it. I cannot afford it because I am only working part time. I earn enough to pay for gas, but the insurance is more than I can handle. I drive at least eighty miles a day, so I will soon need new tires.
Source: Erin Severs 
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