Page 652 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Connecting Ideas Through

Subordination

2 Connect independent clauses through

subordination.

Another way of connecting ideas is through subordination. Placing a

dependent word such as because, although, if, when, or after in front

of an independent clause makes it a dependent or subordinate

clause, one that can no longer stand on its own as a sentence. It must
be connected to another idea that is stated as a complete sentence. It

will then depend on the sentence it is attached to and can no longer

be separated from it. Two examples are shown here using the

dependent word because.

Example 1

The fuel gauge in Rashid’s car was broken.

He never knew for certain when he was running low on gas.