lesson
Updated 1 month ago · 6 views
Imagine your friend walks up to you, whispers, "Because it was raining tacos..." and immediately walks away.
You would be left waiting for the rest of the story! That unfinished thought is missing its partner, and special connector words are the key to making it whole.
Clauses: Independent vs. Dependent
A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject (who or what) and a predicate (the action or state of being).
An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence, while a dependent clause cannot stand on its own.
📊Interactive diagram
How does a complete sentence suddenly turn into an incomplete one? A single connecting word changes everything.
The Four Power Conjunctions
A subordinating conjunction is a word placed at the start of a clause that reduces it to a dependent clause.
Four of the most common subordinating conjunctions are because, although, when, and if.
📊Interactive diagram
So what happens when you glue a dependent clause to an independent clause? You build a complex sentence.