What you need to know
To achieve 100+ you need to recognise and use main and subordinate clauses.
- Two main clauses are joined together by the conjunctions and, but, or, so.
- A subordinate clause on its own is not a complete sentence. It includes a subordinating conjunction (e.g. because, as, so, if, although, despite, unless) .
- The subordinate clause can appear before, inside or after a main clause.
- A main clause makes sense on its own.
- Watch out! Some words can function as prepositions or as conjunctions, depending on their role in the sentence (before, since, after). A preposition introduces only a noun phrase (e.g. before the show) in a sentence. A subordinating conjunction introduces a whole clause, which includes a verb (e.g. before we watched the show) in a sentence.