Coordination: is linking together words, groups of words (clauses), or sentences of equal type and importance, to put energy into writing. Coordinating Conjunctions: and, or, nor, for, but, so, yet, either/or, and neither/nor. Two principles to keep in mind:   By combining words and groups of words, you avoid repetition that steals energy from what you write; and By combining whole sentences, you reveal the relationships between the thoughts.

is when structures that do not match in form are treated as if they did match in form.

Or when it gives equal emphasis to unequal or unrelated clauses.

Example: Buying a new car, because thefts are frequent, and your age may make your insurance expensive. In the example, a writer incorrectly attempts to coordinate a phrase (buying a new car), a clause (because thefts are frequent), and a word (age). To successfully coordinate items, their structures (word, phrase, or clause) must be the same.

Rewrite the structures so that they match.

USING ALL PHRASES: Buying a new car, experiencing frequent thefts, and belonging to the wrong age group may make your insurance expensive.

Rewrite the structures so that they match.

USING ALL CLAUSES: Because new cars are valuable, because thefts are frequent, and because younger drivers pay higher premiums may make your insurance expensive.

Rewrite the structures so that they match.

USING ALL WORDS: Your new car, your risky neighborhood, and your youth may make your insurance expensive.

Example: The African American playwright August Wilson has won two Pulitzer Prizes for drama, and he now lives in Seattle, Washington.

The clause he now lives in Seattle, Washington

has little or no connection to

The African American playwright August Wilson has won two Pulitzer Prizes for drama.

Therefore, the clauses should not be coordinated.

You may want to include this information in the paragraph because it is interesting and perhaps even important, even though it does not pertain directly to the main idea of the paragraph .

We can revise faulty coordination by putting part of the sentence    in a dependent clause, modifying phrase, or appositive phrase (an appositive is a noun or pronoun -- often with modifiers -- placed near another noun or pronoun to explain, describe, or identify it).

Resuming with means of correcting faulty or excessive coordination, we note the following examples: The African American playwright August Wilson,

who now lives in Seattle, Washington

, has won two Pulitzer Prizes for drama. (

Dependent Clause

) The African American playwright August Wilson,

now Seattle based

, has won two Pultizer Prizes for drama. (

Modifying phrase

) The African American August Wilson,

a Seattle playwright

, has won two Pulitzer Prizes for drama. (

An appositive phrase

).

1.

Sentences The worst dangers at an ocean beach are not sharks, but being carried out to sea by a rip current .

2.

For a safe, happy day at the seashore: avoid jellyfish; put on sunscreen; and looking out for rip currents.

3.

An undertow pulls you down to the bottom, while a rip current pulls you straight out into the ocean along the surface of the water.

Coordination Correct Faulty √ √ √ 4.

Rip currents, sudden and cannot be predicted, can be dangerous.

5.

Water surges onto the beach and then receding back to the ocean.

6.

Rip currents can last for just a brief time (minutes or hours) or permanent features of a beach.

7.

Do not try to swim back to shore against the rip current; instead, swimming sideways, parallel to the beach.

√ √ √ √ 8.

Do not waste your energy trashing or trying to swim against the current.

9.

Relax and let the rip current carry you beyond the sandbar, where its momentum will immediately drop.

√ √ 10.

Do not rush into the ocean to try to rescue someone else in a rip current; instead, calling for help.

√