Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

Is it correct to combine multiple clauses (sub sentences) into one?

For example, let us consider this sentence:

On managerial side, I am experienced in accounting software, have been working throughout the life cycle of product, and have considerable experience for enhancing and improving existing products.

Here I am combining 3 clauses to make they one sentence, so I am wondering if it is grammatical?

share|improve this question
1  
There's nothing wrong with combining multiple clauses, but you have several other mistakes in your sentence (missing the_s, redundant "for" in "have experience _for", and it's not obvious whether the leading clause "on the managerial side" applies to all three sub-clauses). – aaamos Apr 23 '12 at 2:54
Thanks @aaamos. Can you please correct my sentence and write it in full ? Thanks once again. – user576510 Apr 23 '12 at 3:04
1  
Your statement is a bit ambiguous. Does 'on the managerial side' mean that you have actual management experience (using accounting software)? In which case the other experience you quote doesn't seem to flow and ought to be separate sentences. OR do you intend that you have experience developing managerial software, i.e., accounting software, and if so you ought to say that explicitly. – Jim Apr 23 '12 at 3:25
See JLG's answer for a corrected version of your sentence. Do consider @Jim's comment though, which I think is a good point. – aaamos Apr 23 '12 at 3:43
See the funny side of this: "The book [The Rotters' Club] held the record for the longest sentence in English literature with 13,955 words. That record was broken by Nigel Tomm's one-sentence, 469,375-word book, The Blah Story, Volume 4." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rotters%27_Club_(novel) – Carlo_R. Apr 23 '12 at 7:47

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Yes, you can use multiple clauses in a sentence. The clauses need to be parallel in structure. Your clauses are okay grammatically (I am..., have been..., have.) but the sentence is a little clumsy (which I think you sense). With a long sentence, you will want to delete unnecessary words and make the clauses strictly parallel.

I would suggest rewording your sentence to something like this:

On the managerial side, I have extensive experience with accounting software, a history of working with this product throughout its life cycle*, and a demonstrated talent for improving existing products.

(*I'm not sure of the meaning of this clause in your original sentence, so I am not sure if this is what you meant. It might also be better to name the product where I have this product.)

In this revision, I use the verb have once and each clause is now a noun clause...experience, history, talent.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.