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Subordinating Conjunctions

I will eat my hat when he picks up the check

English has only a handful of coordinating conjunctions, but a much larger set of subordinating conjunctions (also called subordinate conjunctions or subordinators. A few of these are actually two or three word phrases. In general, the clauses they introduce (subordinate or dependent) clauses function as adjunct adverbials within the predicate, with some subordinators serving more than one kind of adverbial function:
(1) The bear danced, after I gave him ten dollars. [TIME]
(2) George was angry, although he did not say so. [CONCESSIVE]
(3) As she entered the room, my eyes grew misty. [TIME]
(4) Forgive us as we forgive others. [CONDITIONAL]
(5) He danced as if his life depended on it. [MANNER]
(6) I laughed because I couldn't help myself. [CAUSAL]
(7) They caught me before I fell over. [TIME]
(8) She will come if I ask her to. [CONDITIONAL]
(9) I work in order that I may eat. [PURPOSE]
(10) I labor lest I starve. [CONDITIONAL]
(11) It's been lonely since you left. [TIME]
(12) I watered the flowers, since you asked me to. [PURPOSE]
(13) I love you, though perhaps I shouldn't. [CONCESSIVE]
(14) We'll stay till they double the score. [TIME]
(15) It should be soon, unless they put in the second-stringers. [CONDITIONAL]
(16) Stay with me until dawn comes. [TIME]
(17) I will eat my hat when he picks up the check. [TIME]
(18) Where I come from, those are fighting words. [PLACE]
(19) They attacked while we slept. [TIME]

As these examples show, whether such subordinate clauses are set off by commas depends on their length and how important they are to the meaning of the clause they modify. Clauses at the beginning of a sentence are more apt to be set off with a comma at the end than clauses at the end of a sentence.

Diagramming Adverbial Subordinate Clauses. These adverbial subordinate clauses are diagrammed as clauses inside of clauses. For the subordinate clause itself, we'll use our old friend the CP (complementizer phrase), so that a WH-word used as a subordinator, as in sentence (17), can be shown as having undergone the same kind of WH-MOVEMENT as we saw in our treatment of WH-questions. The Prt in the diagram is an abbreviate of particle; the sentence has a multi-word verb.

Try Replacing And-Clauses with Subordinate Clauses. Some writers need to use fewer coordinating conjunctions and more subordinating conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions are all very well when the items joined are truly equal. Often, though, there is some implicit priority involved: one action comes before the other or explains the other or contrasts significantly with the other. Joining such clauses with and asks the reader to do the work. There is an old saying that the different between a mere chronicle and a history is the difference between "this happened and this happened and this happend" and "this happened, so this happened, so this happened." Consider helping the reader out by making the relationships clear.

(20)(a) George missed the deer, and it disappeared.
(b) When George missed the deer, it disappeared.

Subordinating Conjunctions Can Cause Sentence Fragments. Like other adverbials, subordinate clauses can move around within a sentence, though longer clauses are usually found at the beginning or end of the sentence. But since the subordinator means that these are not independent clauses, such clauses cannot stand by themselves. Sentence (22) is a sentence fragment, even when it follows the sentence (21) it refers to:

(21) George was angry.
(22) *Although he did not say so.

Some cases in which subordinate clauses are left alone as sentence fragments may be caused by confusing subordinating conjunctions with conjunctive adverbs. Putting a comma after although as if it were a conjunctive adverb will not make it into one:

(23) *Although, I didn't say so.

Exercise 1: Conjunctions and Conjunctive Adverbs

Conjunctive adverbs aren't really that important, but since they do lead to a lot of punctuation errors, let's try another exercise. Say whether the following sentences have clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, or subordinating conjunctions.
1.01 He ex drank too much moreover he was an abuser
1.02 I think therefore I have a bad headache
1.03 Janet hasn't been the same since she got her new job
1.04 Jimmy crack corn and I don't care
1.05 My little toe hurt something terrible nevertheless I came to work
1.06 My mind is made up but I'll pretend to listen to your arguments
1.07 Professor Kummings was nearly swallowed by the green slime and his raquetball-playing days are over
1.08 The course is boring however the professor is also boring
1.09 They slept while he lectured
1.10 You can leave after you hand in the test

Just for the Record: Subordinators and Disjuncts: Subordinating conjunctions can occasionally head clauses that serve as disjuncts, those sentence adverbials which comment on the sentence's statement rather than forming part of it:

(24) Although I wouldn't want to boast, I was right again.

How Much of This Will be on the Test?
You should recognize the subordinating conjunctions (subordinate conjunctions, subordinators) illustrated here, and the subordinate (or dependent) clauses they introduce. As Exercise (2) suggests, I have not given up on your learning to distinguish subordinating conjunctions from coordinating conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs. Along with mistaking participles for tensed verbs, the misidentification of subordinating conjunctions is a main cause of sentence fragments; you should be able to detect those.