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Basic Subordinating Conjunctions

This document discusses subordinating conjunctions and their use in joining dependent and independent clauses. It defines a dependent clause as one that cannot stand alone and needs an independent clause to complete its meaning. Common subordinating conjunctions like "because", "although", and "since" are used to show the relationship between clauses, usually appearing at the start of the dependent clause. Examples are given of sentences using subordinating conjunctions to connect clauses and express ideas like contrast or cause and effect.

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Rodrigo Martinez
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34 views

Basic Subordinating Conjunctions

This document discusses subordinating conjunctions and their use in joining dependent and independent clauses. It defines a dependent clause as one that cannot stand alone and needs an independent clause to complete its meaning. Common subordinating conjunctions like "because", "although", and "since" are used to show the relationship between clauses, usually appearing at the start of the dependent clause. Examples are given of sentences using subordinating conjunctions to connect clauses and express ideas like contrast or cause and effect.

Uploaded by

Rodrigo Martinez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Basic Subordinating Conjunctions

Introduction

A subordinating conjunction  is a word which joins together a dependent clause and an
independent clause. This page will explain the most common subordinating
conjunctions and how to use them.

1. What is a dependent clause?

A clause is a unit which contains a subject and a verb. For example, “It was raining” is a
clause; the subject is “it”, and the verb is “was raining”. A dependent clause is a clause
which cannot exist on its own; it needs a main (or independent) clause to go with it.
For example:

Because it was raining, I took my umbrella.

This sentence contains two clauses, “Because it was raining” and “I took my umbrella”.
The first clause does not mean anything on its own. If you say “Because it was raining”,
and nothing else, people will not be able to understand what you mean. However, “I
took my umbrella” is an independent clause — we can understand what it means even
if it is alone.

2. Joining clauses together with subordinating conjunctions

Examine the example sentence one more time:

Because it was raining, I took my umbrella.

The important word here is “because”. This is a subordinating conjunction. It is used to


show the relationship between the two clauses. A subordinating conjunction usually
comes at the beginning of the dependent clause, but the dependent clause itself can
be before the main clause (usually followed by a comma) or after it (usually without a
comma):

Although it was hot, he was wearing a coat.

He was wearing a coat although it was hot.


3. Important subordinating conjunctions

Some of the most important subordinating conjunctions fall into two groups: contrast,
and cause and effect.

Conjunction Function Example

although
Although she's small, she's
(even)
express contrast between very strong.
though
ideas John is short, whereas
whereas
Mary is tall.
while

I lost my job because I was


because
show a cause/effect often late.
as
relationship between ideas Since I have no money, I
since
can't go to the movie.

When you are sure that you understand the lesson, you can continue with the
exercises.

Continue with the exercises

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