In U.S. academic contexts, readers sometimes find a series of short sentences “choppy” and undesirable. If you want to connect two independent clauses into one sentence, be sure to join them with a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, so, nor, or, or yet) or with a semicolon. Doing so will help you avoid a comma splice, which is often considered an error in formal writing. Another useful tip for writing in American English is to avoid writing several very long sentences in a row. If you find this pattern in your writing, try breaking it up by including a shorter sentence occasionally. See the tips in Chapter 52 for altering the sentence lengths and patterns in your writing.