Functions of Conjunctions

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Explain that this sentence is what we call a run-on sentence.
• Distribute the Gluing Words: Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions worksheet
• Go over the information on the sheet, explaining that conjunctions are like glue. They are the connecting pieces that combine two thoughts in a sentence. The bigger pieces in the sentence are clauses — a group of words that represent a complete thought. A complete thought (or sentence) has a subject and a predicate. That means you can identify a “who” or “what,” and a “what about it?"

Guided Practice

• As a class, generate two clauses and fill them in together on the worksheet activity.
• Have students generate two clauses of their own and add them to the sheet. Share out briefly.
• Explain that, by using coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, you can make new, more complex sentences out of simple clauses.
• As a class, make two new sentences, using the clauses and conjunctions listed on the sheet.
• Touch back on the idea of run-on sentences. Explain that by understanding how conjunctions work, you can take two clauses that make up a run-on and use the conjunctions to glue them together.
• Distribute the Conjunctions: The Cure for Your Run-ons worksheet
• Call students’ attention to the lists of conjunctions on the sheet.
• Take out the original sentence strip and conjunction cards.
• Invite students to consider how they could use a conjunction to glue the two clauses together so that the sentence makes sense.
• Share student suggestions by tearing the run-on sentence strip so that the two clauses are divided. Insert conjunctions to reconstruct the sentence.

Independent working time

• Have students complete the worksheet by revising the five run-on sentences provided using conjunctions.