Subordinating conjunctions | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hanck grammarians today let's start
talking about subordinating conjunctions
words like although and after and
because because this is a pretty
complicated topic because in order to
understand subordinating conjunctions
you have to understand the difference
between an independent and a dependent
clause because that's what subordinating
conjunctions do is they the unites
independent and dependent clauses that's
what subordinating conjunctions do but
what what is what is what are these you
know what is an independent and a
dependent clause well okay so first of
all let's back up again what is a clause
a clause is just a language chunk that
has a subject and a verb that's what a
clause does all sentences are clauses
but not all clauses are sentences I'll
write that down so all sentences are
clauses but not all clauses are
sentences it's possible to have
something that has both the subject and
verb that doesn't stand on its own and
that's a dependent clause we call that a
sentence fragment what a dependent
clause does is provide extra information
that isn't necessary to the
understanding of the sentence right but
an independent clause has to be able to
stand on its own so let's take a look at
the sentence here Herbert performed his
irresponsible experiments because he was
curious and this sentence is composed of
two clauses in red we've got this
independent clause
Herbert performed his irresponsible
experiments and in green we have this
dependent clause because he was curious
now we know that because he was curious
is the dependent clause because it
explains more of why Herbert did what he
did right it is explaining the reason
for his performing irresponsible
experiments but because he was curious
on its own doesn't work as a sentence he
was curious does that's a sentence but
because he was curious asks more
questions than it answers because he was
curious what you know if if a clause
causes you to ask yeah so what then
probably a dependent clause write that
down put that in a doctrine so a
dependent clause should cause you to ask
yeah so what because a dependent clause
leans against an independent clause it's
like a ladder laid up against the tree
the tree is still going to be standing
there whether or not the ladder is there
or not but the ladder is useful because
it allows you to get up further into the
tree and explore its leaves if that
makes sense
it allows you to get further context and
further understanding but the tree could
just as easily it's still a tree without
the ladder right you don't have to have
a ladder in order to be a tree all right
so another thing about the difference
between a coordinating and a
subordinating conjunction is that
coordinating conjunctions only unites
independent clauses with each other
which means any sentence that has a
coordinating conjunction like but or
anything else in fanboys which is for
and nor but or yet so right can be
separated into two sentences two
separate sentences look at this so
jimothy like to wash the dishes
but beckon II prefer to sweep the floor
now these can each be their own
sentences Jim if you like to wash the
dishes Bek and he preferred to sweep the
floor we can combine these that we want
to and we have whereas this
subordinating conjunction sentence that
begins with although cannot be separated
into two sentences although she loves
Sir Reginald Lady Penelope hated his
pranks so Lady Penelope hated his pranks
that's a sentence although she loved Sir
Reginald that's not a sense this is a
dependent clause so this can be split
this cannot be split because although
she loved Sir Reginald doesn't stand on
its own at just grants additional
context in detail to the fact that Lady
Penelope hated Sir Reginald pranks so
with that in mind here are some of the
most common subordinating conjunctions
in English and some of these you might
recognize as being adverbs or
positions and other contexts but you can
also use them to unite dependent and
independent clauses so here we go after
although as as if because before even if
even though if if only like rather than
since that though unless until when
where whereas wherever whether which and
while all of these words have the power
to unite independent and dependent
clauses you may notice some of them like
after and before our prepositions they
can be used in many ways
English is complicated but I am
confident that you can figure this out
because you can learn anything these are
some of the subordinating conjunctions
of English David out