He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base."

Could the sentence read

He hit the ball well and ran toward third base."

Why yes or no

Thank you so much.

Considering that he should run to first base after hitting the ball, it's more accurate to use "but" in that sentence.

Ms. Sue is right. The hitting and running are not simultaneous actions!

You could also write: He hit the ball well; then he ran ...

He hit the ball but he ran towards third place

Yes, the sentence could be written as "He hit the ball well and ran toward third base."

In the original sentence, the coordinating conjunction "but" is used to join two independent clauses, indicating a contrast or contradiction between the two actions. This suggests that hitting the ball well does not necessarily imply running toward third base.

However, in the revised sentence using the coordinating conjunction "and," the two actions are simply listed together without any implication of contrast. This suggests that the actions of hitting the ball well and running toward third base occurred sequentially, without any contradiction.

So, both sentences are grammatically correct, but they convey slightly different meanings.