Sentence combining--a technique of putting strings of sentence kernels together in a variety of ways so that completed sentences possess greater syntactic maturity--is a method offering much promise in the teaching of writing and composition. The purpose of this document is to provide a literature review of this procedure. After defining the term "sentence combining," the review then covers the following topics: historical information, key strategies for teaching sentence combining, a few experimental studies, and an analysis of the benefits and potential pitfalls of this practice. While interest in sentence combining can be traced to ancient times, Noam Chomsky's experiments in transformational grammar served as the impetus for research in contemporary times. The literature also indicates that some scholars prefer cumulative sentence exercises based on the principles devised by Francis Christensen. A few researchers question the use of the T-unit and forced-choice ratings in various sentence-combining studies, but most researchers praise sentence combining as an effective means of improving written compositions. (Contains 55 references.) (Author)