Recognise Subordinating Conjunctions

In this activity, we’re going to be looking at conjunctions.

Conjunctions are joining words that link ideas together.

 

 

Can you think of a linking word to fill the gap below?

 

Diya felt much better ___ taking her medicine.

 

We can link these two sentences together using the conjunction after to make one sentence.

 

Diya felt much better after taking her medicine.

 

After is a subordinating conjunction.

 

 

Subordinating Conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause.

A subordinate clause doesn’t make sense if you just say it on its own.

 

In our sentence, after taking her medicine is the subordinate clause.

 

If you just walked up to somebody and said, “After taking her medicine,” you’d get some funny looks, as it doesn’t make sense on its own!

 

Here are some other subordinating conjunctions:

 

When

Because

If

While

Although

 

Which subordinating conjunction would fit the gap in the sentence below?

 

 

You don’t have to come to the park __ you don’t want to.

 

Here, the missing subordinating conjunction is if.

 

You don’t have to come to the park if you don’t want to.

 

If you don’t want to is called the subordinate clause because it doesn’t make sense on its own.

 

In this activity, you’ll be on the hunt for subordinating conjunctions. Remember that they will introduce a subordinate clause!