Coordinating conjunctions link words or phrases in sentences. There are only seven, so students will have success memorizing them. Using a mnemonic device such as FANBOYS will ensure success with learning the conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so. Another technique for understanding how to use these conjunctions is to have students act them out. First, assign students to write adjectives, nouns or simple sentences individually on placards. Next, students write their own sets of coordinating conjunctions, which is good memory practice. Finally, students can wear the placards, become the word or phrase, and work together to make sensible, complete phrases and sentences with the words they have chosen.
Correlative conjunctions always come in pairs and show the relationship between words in a sentence. There are five pairs of correlative conjunctions, and a simple matching game is a great way to practice these. Pairs include either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, both/and, and whether/or. Once the pairs are memorized, students can complete a teacher-created cloze activity to gauge understanding of which word goes with which and how the pairs should be used. Another fun way to practice is to assign each student a name tag with one of these conjunctions and put it on his back. Students mill around the room and ask questions to find their match.
Subordinate conjunctions are the most difficult to understand. These conjunctions are found at the beginning of dependent clauses, or subordinate clauses. They must be combined with an independent clause, or sentence, in order to be used correctly. For instance, "Although it was cold" is an example of a dependent, or subordinate, clause. It cannot stand alone. "She went hiking" is an example of an independent clause, or a complete sentence. If the dependent clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, it must be followed by a comma. "Although it was cold, she went hiking" is the correct way to formulate the sentence. Examples of subordinating conjunctions include after, as, although, because, before, if, since, when, whenever and while.
Practicing subordinating conjunctions can be done in several ways. Since dependent clauses must have commas if they appear at the beginning of a sentence, practicing this skill is a must. The teacher or students can create sentences that show the dependent clauses at the beginning or end of the sentence. Elbow macaroni can be used as giant commas, and students can practice placing the commas where they are needed. Students also can play subordinate conjunction basketball. If no hoop or ball is available, the waste basket and crumpled paper work well. Divide the class into two teams and give each team turns drawing slips of paper that contain subordinate clauses or independent clauses. If the student chooses the correct answer, he gets to take a shot.