Le Mot Juste Linguistics Blog

Avoid excessive coordination. Excessive coordination results from using too many compound sentences—stringing independent clauses together with and’s, so’s, and so and and then’s. The problem with coordination is that it often cannot indicate the exact relationship between ideas nor can it indicate their relative importance. The problem is usually solved through subordination or division.

Change a compound sentence into a complex sentence by making one of the independent clauses into a dependent clause. Usually subordinate those ideas that indicate time, place, manner, cause purpose, result, condition, concession, or degree.