In this mini-lesson, Mr. P./Marc delves into five different subordinating conjunctions: after, as, although, because and before. A conjunction is a word that joins two parts of a sentence to make one. A subordinating one joins dependent clauses into independent ones. He uses these common conjunctions in five simple sentences and explains them. This lesson is intended for intermediate students who wish to improve their English grammar and those above levels who wish to clarify doubts about this topic.
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Mr. P. is a Canadian English Teacher/Coach from Toronto, Canada, who has been teaching English since 1997. He taught English to adults in Rome for 20 years. He graduated from Queens University and was an Honorary Fellow in the English Language at UNITELMA La Sapienza University in Rome. In the past, he was also a Language Monitor at the University of Toronto, Canada. He also taught English to many important political figures and celebrities in Italy. He is a certified English teacher specializing in TEFL, TESL, TESOL & TOEFL. In his channel, Mr. P. aims to make his lessons concise and effective for everyone. Subscribe for weekly updates, and please make comments and requests.
Hello everyone, how are you today? This is Marc. I'm doing just great. Thanks for asking.
After the hurricane hit the town, there was little left standing.
I chose not to go to the party, although my friends were all going.
As technology changes over time, I cannot keep up with it.
She had to save money because she wanted to travel in the summer.
Before they even knew it, they were crossing the frontier.
In this lesson we're going to talk about before, because, as, although and after.
Subordinating conjunctions, so stay tuned.
I have already talked about subordinating conjunctions.
If you want to review that lesson, you may do so by clicking here.
Why, then, have I decided to review subordinating conjunctions?
Conjunctions in general are very important when you write a composition or when you write a letter.
Subordinating conjunctions are very important.
But what are conjunctions in general?
Subordinating conjunctions are words that join two parts of a sentence or a phrase to a phrase to make a sentence together.
Subordinating conjunctions join dependent clauses to independent ones.
So, just like my example, after the hurricane hit the town, there was little left standing.
After the hurricane hit the town is a dependent clause, so it cannot mean anything if you leave it without the other part of the sentence, so the other clause.
If I said, after the hurricane hit the town, it doesn't mean anything, we need something else.
Instead, there was little left standing, we can have that sentence alone, we don't need anything else.
There was little left standing is an independent clause.
So, I could even say, there was little left standing after the hurricane hit the town, so we can exchange the order of the clauses.
The other example that I listed was, I chose not to go to the party although my friends were all going.
Although means in spite of the fact, and this is the dependent clause, so we need another clause to mean something to the sentence, to give a meaning to the sentence.
So, I chose not to go to the party although my friends were all going, I chose not to go to the party.
It's the same order, so I chose not to go to the party is an independent clause.
The third example that I gave you was, as technology changes over time, I cannot keep up with it.
As, in this case, means for the reason that.
So, as technology changes over time is the dependent clause.
Then, I cannot keep up with it, so it's an independent clause in this case.
And, obviously, we can change the order.
The other example was, she had to save some money because she wanted to travel in the summer.
Because, right here, dependent clause.
And, independent clause would be, she had to save some money.
So, we don't need another clause to have the whole meaning of the sentence.
It could stand by itself.
The last example that I gave you was, before they even knew it, they were crossing the frontier.
They were crossing the frontier is the independent clause.
Before they even knew it is the dependent clause.
So, before they even knew it is also an idiom and it means immediately.
As you can see from all these sentences, when we have the conjunction, in this case, the subordinating conjunction in the clause,
that means that we need something else.
So, it's a dependent clause.
We need another part of the clause to complete the meaning of the sentence.
So, now, let's recap.
Subordinating conjunctions join dependent clauses to independent clauses.
In this lesson, we looked at five subordinating conjunctions.
As, although, after, before and because.
Thank you very much for watching.
I hope you enjoyed the lesson.
If you want to type your own example, you may do so under this video.
Don't forget to share it, to share the lesson if you liked it.
And I'll see you next week with a new lesson.
Take care. Have a great day. Bye bye.
