ConjunctionsSubordination versus Coordination

FANBOYS(Write these in your

notes.)

ForAnd

NorBut

OrYet

So

FANBOYSTurn to page 36 in your workbooks, the one that says “Coordinating Conjunctions.”

Work on your own and in your table groups to complete Practice A and B, odd #s only.

If you have finished, you may complete the bottom section for extra credit.

FANBOYSForAndNorButOrYetSo

FANBOYS are coordinating conjunctions. They do a fantastic job of hooking up words, phrases, and clauses:

We ate dinner and we went to a movie.

They are not fantastic about emphasizing one idea over another.

In the above sentence, we can’t really tell which part the writer believes to be more important. Both parts of the sentence have equal weight.

FANBOYSTurn to page 36 in your workbooks, the one that says “Coordinating Conjunctions.”

Work on your own and in your table groups to complete Practice A and B, odd #s only.

When everyone in your group is finished, turn over the cup on your table.

Consider:My fire had burned down, and it left

only a glowing red body of coals. I was on the point of getting up to rebuild my fire, but I heard what had awakened me. I could feel the strain all over my body, and my nerves grew tighter and tighter.

Now this one:

My fire had burned down, leaving only a glowing red body of coals. I was on the point of getting up to rebuild my fire, when I heard what had awakened me. I could feel the strain all over my body as my nerves grew tighter and tighter.

Did you notice a difference? Compare/contrast the sentences in your groups. How do conjunctions, sentence combining, and transitions work to make the second one more interesting?

My fire had burned down, and it left only a glowing red body of coals. I was on the point of getting up to rebuild my fire, but I heard what had awakened me. I could feel the strain all over my body, and my nerves grew tighter and tighter.

My fire had burned down, leaving only a glowing red body of coals. I was on the point of getting up to rebuild my fire, when I heard what had awakened me. I could feel the strain all over my body as my nerves grew tighter and tighter.

You’ve just seen an example of coordination versus subordination.

The word stem co means together.

cooperate coeducational coexist

The word stem sub means beneath.

subway submerge submarine

Coordination means that phrases and clauses work together and have the same amount of importance.

Subordination means that one part of the sentence is beneath the other one, or is less important than another part.

Subordination allows some ideas to be dominant and others to be secondary. It provides depth, variety, pattern and rhythm.

Subordinating ConjunctionsAAAWWUBBISWrite these down:

As Although After

While When

Unless Before Because

If Since

Say them together a few times, until you can say them quickly and with rhythm!

AAAWWUBBISTurn to page 38 in your workbooks, the one that says “Subordinating Conjunctions.”

Work on your own and in your table groups to complete Practice A & B, all.

AAAWWUBBIS, or subordinating conjunctions, allow us to emphasize one phrase over another in a sentence.

In your table groups, consider these two sentences:

I had never heard one, but I knew what it was.

Although I had never heard one, I knew what it was.

How are the sentences different? Are they simple, compound, or complex? Does complex = subordination? How do they differ as far as emphasizing one idea over another? Do both the sentences flow equally well? Which one do you like better?

From Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls:

My fire had burned down, leaving only a glowing red body of coals. The cave was dark and silent. Chill from the night had crept in. I was on the point of getting up to rebuild my fire, when I heard what had awakened me. At first I thought it was a woman screaming. I listened. My heart began to pound. I could feel the strain all over my body as nerves grew tighter and tighter.

It came again, closer this time. The high pitch of the scream shattered the silence of the quiet night. The sound seemed to be all around us. It screamed its way into the cave and rang like a blacksmith’s anvil against the rock walls. The blood froze in my veins. I was terrified. Although I had never heard one, I knew what it was. It was the scream of a mountain lion.

The big cat screamed again. Leaves boiled and stirred where my pups were. In the reflection of the glowing coals, I could see that one was sitting up. It was the boy dog. A leaf had become entangled in the fuzzy hair of a floppy ear. The ear flicked. The leaf dropped.

Again the hellish scream rang out over the mountains. Leaves flew as my pup left the bed. I jumped up and tried to call him back.

Reaching the mouth of the cave, he stopped. Raising his small red head high in the air, he bawled his challenge to the devil cat. The bawl must have scared him as much as it had startled me. He came tearing back. The tiny hairs on his back were standing on end.

Relative PronounsA Relative Pronoun begins a subordinate clause and connects it to another idea in the same sentence.

For example:

The house that Jack built is huge.

We learned that Jack built a house, and we also know it is huge.

The relative pronoun that connects the two facts: Jack built a house, and it is huge.

Relative Pronouns

The five main Relative Pronouns are:

That Which Whom Who Whose

They also include:

Whoever Whomever Whichever

Subordination… coming up!

Relative Pronouns and Subordinating Conjunctions are both “flag” words that signal the approach of a dependent clause.

So if we see any AAAWWUBBIS words or Relative Pronouns (that, which, who, whom, whose), then the writer is trying to tell you that one of the ideas in the sentence is more important than the other!

(Which means, of course, that the writer is using subordination.)

On your Warm-Up Card:1. Read the sentences. 2. Write the conjunctions on your card.3. Tell whether they are coordinating (FANBOYS)

or subordinating (AAAWWUBBIS).

1. Papers flew as a gust of wind blew through the window.

2. I jumped up and tried to shut the window quickly.

3. I watch the news before I get dressed for the day, to see what the weather will be like.

4. Because I had perfect attendance last month, I get to wear jeans today!

Activity (Pre-AP)Below are sentences from Lois Lowry’s The Giver that have been modified so that they are simple and choppy. Use subordinating (AAAWWUBBIS) conjunctions to combine the sentences into complex sentences.

1. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago. An aircraft had overflown the community twice.

2. His sister, Lily, was at the Childcare Center. She spent her after-school hours there.

3. Occasionally, supplies were delivered by cargo plans to the landing field. Then the children rode their bicycles to the riverbank and watched, intrigued.

Activity (On-Level)You will need a half-sheet of paper.These sentences from Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons have been modified so that they are simple and choppy. Use subordinating (AAAWWUBBIS) conjunctions to combine the sentences into complex sentences (with one dependent clause).

1. The moving van arrived. Two men crammed our furniture into the tiny house. My father and I inched into the living room.

2. My mother seemed nothing like her parents at all. It was hard for me to imagine she had come from them.

3. No one commented on Phoebe’s mother going back to work. She sighed again and poked her potatoes with her fork.

Extra Credit/EnrichmentIn the book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, the main character Salamanca moves to a new town. There she has to go to a new school, make new friends, and adjust to a new life.

Write a short personal narrative about a time you had to start over in a new place, situation, etc. How difficult or easy was it for you to do that? What did you learn as a result of the change?

You will need to use at least three coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) and at least two subordinating conjunctions (AAAWWUBBIS).

Don’t forget your NAME, DATE and PERIOD!