The trial court did not err by sentencing the defendant for both of assault on a female and assault by strangulation. Prefatory language in G.S. 14-33(c) provides that “Unless the conduct is covered under some other provision of law providing greater punishment,” assault on a female is punished as a Class A1 misdemeanor. Here, the defendant was also punished for the higher class offense of assault by strangulation. The prefatory clause of G.S. 14-33(c) only applies when both assaults are based on the same conduct. Here, the assaults were based on different conduct. The defendant’s act of pinning down the victim and choking her to stop her from screaming supported the assault by strangulation conviction. His acts of grabbing her hair, tossing her down a rocky embankment, and punching her face and head multiple times supported the assault on a female conviction. The two assaults were sufficiently separate and distinct. First, they required different thought processes. The defendant’s decision to grab the victim’s hair, throw her down the embankment and repeatedly punch her required a separate thought process from his decision to pin her down and strangle her to quiet her screaming. Second the assaults were distinct in time. After the defendant’s initial physical assault and then the strangulation, he briefly ceased his assault when she stopped screaming and resisting. But when she resumed screaming and he again hit her in the head multiple times. Third, the victim sustained injuries to different parts of her body.