At the college level, your sentences should be 7 to 10 words, at a minimum. Short sentences, such as the following, can be 'choppy" or "disjointed" and can communicate to your reader that you have difficulty expressing complex thoughts. This shows that you do not have a command of the language.

For example, read the following 'choppy', short sentences:

"A man went to the store. He bought fruit. He bought apples, pears and oranges."

These short sentences of 6 words, 3 words and 6 words, re-written more formally, would be one sentence:

This more formal sentence has 13 words and communicates exactly the same idea!

All formal sentences have rules that must be followed. These include:

For example, in English, we always capitalize the names of countries, such as 'America' or 'the United States'.

We also always capitalize the names of languages, such as 'English', 'French', 'Russian', 'Ukrainian', 'Turkish', 'Albanian" or 'German'.

I ask my students, "If these 'A', 'B', 'C'' are called 'capital letters', then what are these: 'a', 'b', 'c' called?

Students sometimes answer 'small letters'; others use the expression 'common letters'. Other terminology (called 'nomenclature') includes "uppercase letters" as opposed to "lowercase letters". What do you call them? There does not seem to be consensus (agreement) on this!

End every sentence with proper punctuation:

Declarative sentences (sentences that make a statement) end with a period [.]
Questions (interrogative sentences) end with a question mark [?]
Exclamations (when you are shouting) end with an exclamation point [!]

As a student writer, you will not frequently use the exclamation point.

There are certain uses of the comma that are easy to learn. However, correct use of the comma is one of the most difficult things to learn in the English language. The comma is often misused, even by seasoned (experienced) writers. This is one skill that you probably won't master immediately. This skill will come with time. Be patient. The English language is full of oddities and the use of the comma is one of them.

I find that beginning writers overuse the comma. That is why I suggest the 'when in doubt leave it out' guideline. When you are not sure, then you should not use the comma.

There are some uses of the comma that you can be sure of. The most recognizable use of the comma is in lists, for example, in the sentence:

"A man went to the store and bought fruit, including apples, pears, plums, grapes and oranges."

Note that the commas are used in two different ways here:

a. The first comma, following the word 'fruit' is used to introduce the examples.

b. The other commas in the sentence are used to separate items in the list.

The last item in the list is preceded by the word "and" which does not take a comma. The use of a comma with the last item in a list can be reserved for more complex lists, such as in the sentence:

"A man went to the store a dozen golden delicious apples, two brown pears, two green pears, sixteen plums, red seedless grapes, green seeded grapes, and several different types of oranges."

There are many other proper uses of the comma (identified in your grammar text) but for the beginner, the best rule is "When in doubt, leave it out."

For example: "A man went to the store and bought fruit." "It was rotten to the core!"
Combined: "A man went to the store and bought fruit; it was rotten to the core!"

Or by adding a few words, joining a dependent clause (or a fragment) to an independent clause (a sentence):

"A man went to the store and bought fruit. Peaches in addition to apples and oranges."

The words "Peaches in addition to apples and oranges" constitute a sentence fragment, because there is not any verb describing action, feeling or thought. To correct this, the fragment should be combined with the sentence, adding the words 'this included' to make the fragment into a clause, as follows:

For example: (note the use of the colon)

"A man went to the store and bought fruit: a dozen apples, two dozen pears, some plums, a bunch of grapes and a dozen oranges."

However, please be sure to use this abbreviation correctly, as follows:

a. Always follow the abbreviation with a period.
b. Always have a comma before etcetera.
c. Use the abbreviation at the end of a non-specific list, as in the sentence:

"A man went to the store and bought fruit, including apples, peaches, pears, etc."

They have a similar use, to substitute for the words: 'for example' or 'such as'. They both can precede (come before) a list and a comma follows both.

Please be sure to use these abbreviations correctly.

"A man went to the store and bought fruit, e.g., apples, peaches, pears, bananas, grapes, etc."

The e.g., signifies that the examples are not specific, but general. They are examples of what the author means by the word 'fruit' and the actual fruits listed might not actually be what the man bought at the store.

Certainly he bought more fruit than what is listed, as noted by the 'etc.'. The use of 'etc.' (meaning 'and so forth') is acceptable here, because both 'etc.' and 'e.g.' are non-specific.

"A man went to the store and bought the fruit to make salad, i.e., apples, pears, and bananas."

In this sentence, because of the 'i.e.', we know exactly what fruit was purchased. Use 'i.e.' when your examples are exact and specific.

Another use of 'i.e.' is for purposes of clarification. When you are re-wording (repeating in different words) what you are saying you may use 'i.e.'. For example,

"A man went to the store and bought the makings of a salad, i.e., he bought vegetables."

Which means the same as:

"A man went to the store and bought the makings of a salad, that is to say, he bought vegetables."