Use Subordination to Show Space or Time, Cause and Effect, Condition, Concession, Purpose or Identification Language Usage Skill # 46

What rule or idea must I know? We use subordination to show relationships between ideas, to communicate clearly and concisely, and to effectively combine related ideas into well-formed sentences. Original: Rita wanted to get into college. She always did her homework. Revised: Because Rita wanted to get into a good college, she always did her homework.

What rule or idea must I know? Often, when you subordinate, you use dependent words, or subordinating conjunctions to link small sentences together. Look at the following chart for a list of commonly used subordinating conjunctions.

What rule or idea must I know? To show time or space when, until, after, as soon as, before, ever since, as, while, where For cause and effect relationships or concession though, although, even though, while To show purpose because, since To show condition of, as if, provided that, unless, as though To show identification whichever, whenever, wherever, whoever

Why do I need to know this? Effectively using subordination also shows your ability to develop and link ideas in your writing. Using subordination to link shorter sentences shows maturity and complexity in your writing.

What might cause mistakes for this concept? Writers should avoid faulty, excessive, or awkward subordination. You can do this by making sure that your subordinating conjunction matches your purpose.

What strategy can I use to edit my own work? 1.) Ask yourself: Do I have adjacent sentences that contain ideas of equal importance? 2.) If so, join them by using a subordinating conjunction that fits the purpose of your sentence. 3.) Re-read your new sentence to make sure that you have chosen an appropriate subordinating conjunction.