Page 36 - Improve_Your_Written_English [Marion_Field]
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22 / P ART ONE: THE B AS ICS
She missed the train so she was late for work.
or
She was late for work because she missed the train.
Both ‘so’ and ‘because’ are conjunctions and link together
the two sections of the sentence. Other conjunctions are:
although, when, if, while, as, before, unless, where, after,
since, whether, that, or.
Linking clauses
If there is only one clause in a sentence, it is a main clause.
The clauses can be linked together by using conjunctions
which can be placed between them as in the previous
examples or they can be put at the beginning of a sentence.
Because she missed the train, she was late for work.
Notice that there is a comma after the first clause. If a
sentence starts with a conjunction it must be followed by two
clauses and there should be a comma between them. The
clause that is introduced by the conjunction is a dependent
clause because it ‘depends’ on the main clause.
Although he had been unsuccessful, he was not
discouraged.
or
He was not discouraged although he had been
unsuccessful.
