Connective Words

To view a large list of Common, Simple Connective Words listed by category, click here.

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How can children have fun with complex connective words?

The answer to that question is found further down this page.

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1) Subordinate Clauses

2) Connective and Complex Connective Words

3) 100 Tidbits about 100 Different Animals

This brand new teaching resource combines connective and complex connective word phrases, varied sentence openers, subordinate clause sentence patterns, and 100 tidbits about 100 different animals.

At Candy 4WAY Phonics, we believe that learning correct grammar and varied sentence structure is vital knowledge necessary to help every child write papers with appealing content.

Moreover, children who learn how to open their paragraphs using a variety of topic sentence openers are children who write papers that quickly progress from “good” papers to “outstanding” papers.

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Imagine! 100 Subordinate Clause ANIMAL Sentence Openers supplying a different sentence opener containing a complex connective word clause. These VARIED 100 Subordinate Clause ANIMAL Sentence Openers present 100 different animals to encourage your students to learn:

how to write sentences using connective and complex connective word phrases
how to vary the way they open sentences, paragraphs, and stories
how to use given animal facts to develop further science research skills
how to substitute alternate words to build a higher vocabulary
how to use animal characteristics to develop characters and plot
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We have heard from so many that our free resources on Connective words have served them well. However, Connective words mean so little to students who have not learned how to create good, interesting sentences. In fact, without that knowledge, a child could easily misplace or misuse connective words.

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1) a mini eBook entitled: Why Teach Subordinate Clause Sentence Openers,

2) a mini eBook entitled: Teaching Research, Brainstorming, and Paragraph/Story Development,

3) the eBook entitled: 100 Subordinate Clause ANIMAL Sentence Openers

To view sample sentence openers and to read more about

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Now, please keep reading

to learn how children can have fun with Complex Connective Words!

Or, to jump right to a large list of Common, Simple Connective Words listed by category, click here.

Moms and Dads,

How your students begin their sentences will determine the difference between a good, humdrum paper and an outstanding, superior paper. Your students can have fun learning to use complex connective words: subordinate phrases, prepositional phrases, participial phrases, and infinitive phrases.

Children as young as four years old can have fun making up clauses and phrases with complex connective-word phrases if this activity is in game form.

Play simple games making up sentences that begin with complex connective-word phrases. You can play these games with your children while traveling in the car, while waiting in the doctor’s office, or while gathering around the dinner table.

QUESTION: What do we mean when we talk about complex connective-word phrases, and how are these complex phrases different from just common, basic connective words?

ANSWER: To answer that question, let's begin by defining what connective words are and how connective words function.

WHAT ARE CONNECTIVE WORDS?

Connective words are words that connect parts of a sentence and that help the sentence to express a complete thought. Normally, in elementary grammar classes, children are taught two basic types of connective words to use in the construction of simple sentences:

a) The basic conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, and yet.

b) The subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, as much as, as long as, as soon as, because, before, if, in order that, lest, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, and while. Good students use these types of common connective words all the time.

The use of common connective words placed inside simple sentences using simple sentence structures is a standard way of connecting parts of a sentence. Therefore, these types of simple sentences containing simple connective words within common sentence patterns follow what are called “common readability formulas.”

Most sentences in today’s textbooks and curriculum are written using common readability formulas, and good students use these formulas all the time when they talk, compose, and write.

Our goal, however, should be to make: “the most of every opportunity...” Eph. 5:16

The Bible says to do everything as unto God. It tells us that whatever we do, that we should
work at it with all of our heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men. Colossians 3:23

Therefore, when we are teaching our children about sentence structures, we should not settle for just common readability formulas. We can help our children to strive for excellence in their writing by enabling them to use complex sentences that open with complex phrases containing complex connective words that make their readers thirsty to read more.

When the Bible speaks of excellence, it isn't talking about strivings that are competitive or quantitative.

It's speaking about giving our very best to an excellent God!
It's producing the finest diamond for a precious God.
It's giving the most beautiful flowers for The Rose of Sharon.
It's writing the most interesting sentences that show forth the praise of The Author of our Faith.

It's doing the best that we can do because we recognize that whatever we do, whether in
thought, word, or deed, we are doing it all for the name of Christ.

So striving to write excellent sentences and learning to use more and more complex connective-word phrases is just the beginning of learning how to express thoughts that honor and serve God's purposes.

Therefore, we can believe that our children can do better than “good.” We can help to create within them a desire to study and to do that which is excellent, even in their language assignments!”

A fun way for our children to learn to use complex connective-word phrases is to place those phrases at the beginning of sentences. Although there are actually 12 different ways to vary the beginning of a sentence, here are four types of complex connective-word phrases that children can easily learn that will help them create sentences with interesting openers instead of relying upon boring, popular readability formulas:

subordinate clauses infinitive phrases participial phrases prepositional phrases

Children can begin to “naturally” think with complex connective-word sentence openers even before they can actually read and write, if they are asked to “make them up” as part of a game.

It is our present goal at Candy 4WAY Phonics to be able to offer you, hopefully, by the spring of 2010, Candy's Large List of Complex Connective-word Sentence Opening Phrases, phrases to mix and match and use over and over again with any language arts curriculum. This LARGE list of sentence opening phrases will include 400 complex connective word phrases using one of four types of complex connective-word-phrase sentence openers:

subordinate clauses
infinitive phrases
participial phrases
prepositional phrases

Each phrase will include some tidbit about an animal, enough to provide an opportunity for further research about the animal and/or give a strong topic sentence for further paragraph or story development.

For right now, however, you can make up your own complex connective-word sentence openers that begin with subordinate clauses, infinitive phrases, prepositional phrases, or participial phrases, and you can make those phrases fun for the whole family. How? By making those sentence openers "ridiculous."

First, make up sentences with "fun" sentence openers for children. The more “ridiculous” the sentence openers are, the more “fun” they are to “make up?” For example, one idea is for a parent to give an “opener” such as:

After the placid, purple puppy flew over the ferocious yellow snapping turtle, he. . .

Second, tell your child the meaning of the word "placid." Come up with other words that mean the same thing.
Third, ask your child to finish “what happened” to that placid puppy, and don't forget to ask him if he's ever seen a ferocious snapping turtle. What color was the turtle he saw? How did he know that it was ferocious? Are most turtles ferocious? Are there other words that could describe a turtle?
Fourth, play with the words. Have fun rolling them off your tongue. Laugh about them. Make up more of them.

After your child catches on to hearing what a connective-word opener sounds like, have him/ her give the sentence opener, and then you complete the sentence.

MORE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIMPLE CONNECTIVE WORDS AND COMPLEX CONNECTIVE-WORD PHRASES

Connective words can be simple or complex. Either kind connect the reader with the rest of the sentence. Simply put, that's exactly what simple connective words do -- and that's all they do.

However, complex connective-word phrases not only connect the reader with the rest of the sentence, they make the reader "thirsty" to read the rest of the sentence.

Four types of sentence openers

that begin with complex connective-word phrases are:

subordinate clauses infinitive phrases participial phrases prepositional phrases

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AND RELATIVE PRONOUNS

A subordinate clause will begin with a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun and will contain both a subject and a verb. However, the actual subject and the verb of the sentence will follow after the subordinate clause.

A subordinate clause cannot stand alone, it needs more words to complete its thought.

So subordinate clauses leave the reader thirsty to read the rest of the sentence.

Remember, subordinate clauses begin with either a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun.

Here are some examples of both:

LIST OF SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS
after although as
because before

even if    even though
if    in order that     once
provided that
rather than
since   so that
than   that   though
unless until
when   whenever   where   whereas    wherever   whether   while   why

LIST OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS
that   which   whichever    who   whoever   whom    whose   whosever   whomever

THE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE PATTERN

A subordinate clause follows this pattern:

subordinate conjunction + subject + verb = an incomplete thought needing more words

SENTENCES THAT BEGIN WITH SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS AND RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Whenever Lisa's lazy lambs wandered into Whimpering Wolf Town, the wolves got . . .
Whenever is the subordinate conjunction.

lambs is the subject of this subordinate clause

wandered is the verb of this subordinate clause
wolves is the subject of the actual sentence.
got is the verb of the actual sentence.

Whomever Mr. Sniffles selected to paint polka dots on his plump pumpkins, that boy or

girl would . . .

Whomever is the relative pronoun.

Mr. Sniffles is the subject of this subordinate clause

selected is the verb of this subordinate clause
boy, girl is the compound subject of the actual sentence.
would is the verb of the actual sentence.

As Teddy the Toothless Turtle tumbled down Thorn Bush Mountain, his hard, turtle shell struck. . .

As is the subordinate conjunction.

Teddy is the subject of this subordinate clause

tumbled is the verb of this subordinate clause
shell is the subject of the actual sentence.
struck is the verb of the actual sentence.

Whichever pink grapefruit the giant green pickle picked, he very rarely shared his . . .

Whichever is the relative pronoun.

pickle is the subject of this subordinate clause

picked is the verb of this subordinate clause
he is the subject of the actual sentence.
shared is the verb of the actual sentence.

The important point to remember is that subordinate clauses cannot stand alone – they need something else to complete their thought.

PLACE A COMMA AFTER A SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

When you begin a sentence with a subordinate clause, always place a comma after the clause and before the rest of the sentence.

subordinate clause + , + main clause.

Even though Bob the Sneaky Snail could never EVER skip, he readily attempted. . .

INFINITIVE PHRASES

An Infinitive Phrase will almost always start with the word "to" followed by the simple form of a verb.

The pattern will look like this:

To + a simple verb = infinitive phrase

EXAMPLE OF A FUN INFINITE PHRASE:

To gulp his potatoes down in one bite, Arnold jumped in place while. . .

To gulp is the infinitive phrase

PARTICIPLES AND PARTICIPIAL PHRASES

A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective.
A participle is: part verb and part adjective.
There are two types of participles: present participles and past participles.

Present participles end in -ing.

Past participles end in -ed, -en, -d, -t, or -n, as in the words stupified, eaten, astonished, built, and been.

The pattern will look like this:

Participle + comma, + main clause = participial phrase

THE EASIEST PARTICIPIAL PHRASES TO TEACH TO CHILDREN

The easiest participial phrases to place into a game should begin with participles that end in -ing.

Panicking, big heavyweight Harry. . .

Panicking is the participle

Laughing hysterically, Deedra the Damp Diaper suddenly. . .

Laughing hysterically is the participial phrase

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

A Prepositional Phrase is a group of words made up of a preposition, the object of the preposition, and any other words that modify the object.

LIST OF PREPOSITIONS (Note: Children as young as 1st grade can play the game where they take recite all the prepositions in one breath.

aboard about above across after against along amid among around as to at
before behind below beneath beside between beyond but by
down during
except
for from
in inside into
like
near
of off on over
past
since
through throughout to toward
under underneath until unto up upon
with within without

THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE PATTERN

The pattern will look like this:
Preposition + modifier(s) + object = prepositional phrase

EXAMPLE OF A FUN PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE:

Between the putrid pieces of pumpernickel bread, Polly placed a teeny weeny pickle and a pint-sized peanut.

Between is the preposition

the is a modifier

putrid is a modifier

pieces is the object of the preposition

of is the preposition

pumpernickel is a modifier

bread is the object of the preposition

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