Coordination and subordination can use conjunctions to specify relationships between ideas. Coordination connects thoughts of equal importance; subordination shows how one thought affects another.

The car skidded for a hundred yards. It crashed into a brick wall.

These two clauses make equally significant statements about the same subject, a car accident. Because the writer has not linked the sentences, we can only guess that the crash followed from the skid.

The car skidded for a hundred yards, and it crashed into a brick wall.

Now the sequence is clear: first the car skidded; then it crashed. That’s coordination. To tighten it, reduce the clauses to a compound predicate.

The car skidded for a hundred yards and crashed into a brick wall.

Now the connection is so clear we can almost hear screeching brakes. Once you decide to coordinate two clauses, try these three ways to do it.

Whenever you hitch together two sentences, make sure they get along. Will the relationship between them be evident to your readers?

Readers need enough information to see why two clauses are connected.

Choose a coordinating conjunction, conjunctive adverb, or punctuation mark that accurately reflects this relationship.

When a writer strings together several clauses in a row, often the result is excessive coordination. Packing too much information into a single sentence can make readers dizzy, unable to pick out which points really matter. Each key idea deserves its own sentence so readers see its importance.

Excessive coordination may result from repeating the same conjunction.

One solution to excessive coordination is subordination: making one clause dependent on another instead of giving both clauses equal weight.

Subordination is extremely useful because it shows your readers the relative importance of ideas, how one follows from another or affects another. You stress what counts, thereby encouraging your readers to share your viewpoint. You can subordinate one sentence to another in any of these three ways.

1. Turn the less important idea into a subordinate clause by introducing it with a subordinating conjunction such as because, if, or when.

Jason has a keen sense of humor. He has an obnoxious, braying laugh.

From those sentences, readers don’t know what to feel about Jason. Is he likable or repellent? The writer needs to show which trait matters more.

Although Jason has a keen sense of humor, he has an obnoxious, braying laugh.

This revision makes Jason’s sense of humor less important than his annoying hee-haw. The less important idea is stated as a subordinate clause opening with Although; the more important idea is stated as the main clause.

The writer could reverse the meaning by combining the other way:

Although Jason has an obnoxious, braying laugh, he has a keen sense of humor.

That version makes Jason sound fun to be with, despite his mannerism.

Which of Jason’s traits to emphasize is up to the writer. What matters is that, in both combined versions, the writer takes a clear stand by making one sentence a main clause and the other a subordinate clause.

2. Turn the less important idea into a subordinate clause by introducing it with a relative pronoun such as who, which, or that.

Jason, who has an obnoxious, braying laugh, has a keen sense of humor.

Jason, whose sense of humor is keen, has an obnoxious, braying laugh.

3. Turn the less important idea into a phrase.

Jason, a keen humorist, has an obnoxious, braying laugh.

Despite his obnoxious, braying laugh, Jason has a keen sense of humor.

Sometimes a writer accidentally subordinates a more important idea to a less important one and turns the sentence’s meaning upside down.

This sentence is accurate. Does the writer, however, want to stress death over life? This is the effect of putting are dead now in the main clause and lives on in the subordinate clause. Instead, the writer can reverse the two.

Excessive subordination strings too many ideas together without helping readers pick out what matters.