DeAnza College professor Mhaire Fraser suggests using glue words, or subordinating conjunctions, to combine two sentences. Words that can be used as subordinating conjunctions include after, although, because, since, though, unless, until, when, where and while. For example, you can use a glue word to combine the following sentences: The power was out. The stoplight was not working. The combined sentence, using the glue word because, would read: The stoplight was not working because the power was out.
Another way to combine sentences is to use locator words when one sentence simply gives the location of the subject or verb. Locator words include locations, such as a person's home or city, but can also refer to an item, like a mother's cookies or a husband's car. When using locator words, you are often just adding that word to the original sentence. You could combine the following two sentences using a locator word: The boys washed the brown car. The car was their mother's. The combined sentence would be: The boys washed their mother's brown car.
You can combine two sentences into one by simply removing a duplicate word or subject from one sentence and adding the action of that sentence to the other one. For example, if you have two sentences talking about a carnival, you would combine both sentences into one using a conjunction such as "and" and removing the second mention of the carnival. The following two sentences could be combined into one: The carnival comes to town once a year. The carnival has many different rides. The combined sentence would turn the two sentences into one by removing the second mention of carnival: The carnival comes to town once a year and has many different rides.
You can often use appositives, or embedded phrases set off by commas, to combine sentences. This method usually works best when your second sentence gives more information about the subject or object of your first sentence. You could combine the following two sentences using an appositive: Evan wrote a book report about Dav Pilkey. Dav Pilkey is the author of the Captain Underpants series. To combine the two sentences, you would add the information about the series Pilkey writes to the first sentence. Evan wrote about Dav Pilkey, the author of the Captain Underpants series, for his book report.