 Connecting words in English There are various ways to connect ideas in English writing. Most of them involve connecting words and punctuation. This video will explain how to do it correctly. We'll take a look at the following items. Coordinators, and, but, so, or, nor, for, and yet. Subordinators, if, because, although, when, while, before, after, as, and so on. Sentence connectors, however, therefore, thus, besides, otherwise, and so on. Connections vs. Breaks When punctuation is used, a break between ideas is involved. Stronger breaks require stronger punctuation. Weaker breaks mean stronger connection between ideas. In other words, stronger breaks imply weaker connections. For example, you, me, them. Can you see the separation here between these items? Stronger connections imply weaker breaks. You, me, and them. Can you see the connection between these items? For example, I love my grandma. She loves me. There's a stronger break between these ideas as indicated by the period. I love my grandma, and she loves me. There's a stronger connection between these ideas as is indicated by the comma. Maybe a table will help. Punctuation usage, breaks and connections. Punctuation and spacing, break and connection. The strongest punctuation is a paragraph break. It's also the one with the weakest connection. We will talk about this in another video. The next one, which is stronger than all of the others, is a period. In British English, they sometimes say full stop. For example, I like dogs, period. You like cats. This shows a weaker connection between ideas. The next one is a semicolon, and this is between a period and a comma. You see the period at the top of the punctuation mark and the comma just below it. I like to call it semi-strong because it's in the middle. I like dogs, semicolon. You like cats. There's a separation, but it's not as strong as the separation or break with the period above. The next one is the comma. It has a weaker break, but a stronger connection. For example, I like dogs, comma, and you like cats. Notice the word and is connecting the two sentences together, so there's a stronger connection here. The last one is no punctuation at all. This is the weakest break and the strongest connection. I like dogs and cats. Dogs and cats are both things that I like. Let's look at some more examples. Jack likes coffee and tea. Coffee and tea are connected. They're things that Jack likes. We use the pattern subject verb, object and object. Jack and Jill like coffee. Jack and Jill are connected. They both like coffee. We use the pattern subject and subject verb object. Next, Jack likes coffee, comma, and Jill likes tea. Notice the connecting word and and the comma before and. Pattern subject verb object, comma, and subject verb object. The next one, Jack likes coffee, semicolon, Jill likes tea. This is in between the comma and the period. It's like they can't decide whether to use a comma or a period, so they use them both. Period above a comma is a semicolon. The pattern is subject verb, object, semicolon, subject verb, object. The next one, Jack likes coffee, period, Jill likes tea. Notice the separation or the break between the ideas here. The pattern is subject verb, object, period, subject verb, object. The last one is actually incorrect. Jack likes coffee, comma, Jill likes tea. It's incorrect because it can be confusing. The comma implies there's a connection, but there's no connecting word, so it seems like there's more of a separation. That's confusing to people, so it's better to change that. You can change it by putting a period. Jack likes coffee, period, Jill likes tea, or by putting a connecting word. Jack likes coffee, comma, and Jill likes tea. Coordinators combine elements of equal weight or importance. They are words like and, but, or, so, and for. There's a balance between two elements. For example, Tom and Carrie, these are both nouns connected by the word and. Walk or run, these are both verbs connected by the coordinator or. Silent but strong, these are both adjectives connected by the coordinator but. On the left and on the right, these are phrases connected by the coordinator and. Going out or staying home. These are also phrases connected by the coordinator or. No comma is needed between these elements unless there are two main subjects and two main verbs. For example, Tom is going out, comma, and Carrie is staying home. Can you see that there are two subjects and two verbs here? Tom and Carrie are staying home. In this case, there are two subjects and just one verb, so no comma is needed. Subordinators combine elements of unequal importance. One idea is more important than the other. For example, I did my homework before I watched TV. Before I did my homework, I watched TV. Can you tell which of these ideas are most important in each of these sentences? In the first one, I did my homework is more important. In the second one, I watched TV is more important. How do you know which one is the most important? Well, note what happens when we add a subordinator to a sentence. The subordinator is the extra word before the subject. For example, I watched TV. That's a complete sentence or a complete idea. Now, if we add a subordinator, the extra word before the sentence before I watched TV, it becomes an incomplete idea. Something's missing. Before I watch TV, what? There are four things to remember about subordinators in English. They come before the subject. They make a sentence incomplete. Their clauses subordinator plus subject plus verb must be combined with another full sentence. Commas depend on whether they come at the beginning or end of a sentence. We'll talk about each of these individually. Subordinators always come before the subject in English. For example, because I love you, that's correct. I love you because that's incorrect. After I graduate, that's correct. I graduate after that's incorrect. In some other languages, it's done differently. But in English, we always put the subordinator the extra word before the subject and verb. Here is a list of common subordinators. Before, after, when, while, until, as, because, since, although, even though, if, unless, whenever, wherever, as much as. There are more, but these are the most common ones. When you add a subordinator to the beginning of a sentence, a, it makes the sentence incomplete. We call that, group of words, a subordinating clause. For example, I love chocolate. That's okay. If you add the subordinating word, because I love chocolate, that means the sentence is not complete. The subordinating clause, group of words, cannot stand by itself grammatically. When I finish my homework, no, that's not a complete sentence. Although I got to work on time, what? It's not complete. See, it requires that the clause be connected to another sentence in order to make the thought or idea complete. Because I love chocolate, I buy it all the time. We can also say, I buy chocolate all the time because I love it. We'll see how these two sentences differ in just a second. Commas depend on where the clauses come in the second sentence. Subordinating clause at the beginning of a sentence is where a comma is needed. When I wrote this sentence, I used a comma. If the clause comes at the beginning, use a comma. If the subordinating clause is at the end of the sentence, no comma is needed. I didn't use a comma when I wrote this sentence. Don't use a comma if the clause comes at the end of the sentence. Can you see the difference or the differences in the above sentences? Why is this? It's probably because we need to pause and separate the introduction from the main sentence subject. Let's look at commas with other introductory phrases. At 9 o'clock, comma, I drove to the supermarket. This is a prepositional phrase at the beginning of the sentence as kind of an introduction. After the party, comma, I drove to the supermarket. This is another prepositional phrase. After I left the party, comma, I drove to the supermarket. Here they're using a subordinating clause. After leaving the party, comma, I drove to the supermarket. This is a reduced clause. Next, see what happens when we put the phrase or clause at the end of the sentence. We don't need the comma. I drove to the supermarket at 9 o'clock. I drove to the supermarket after the party. I drove to the supermarket after I left the party. I drove to the supermarket after leaving the party. With all of these sentences, you don't need a comma because the phrase or clause comes at the end of the sentence. More tips for using commas. Do not use subordinators and coordinators to connect parts of the same sentence. For example, although it was my birthday but I still had to work. That's wrong. You can't have the subordinator although and the coordinator but together in the same sentence like that. Although it was my birthday, comma, I still had to go to work. Okay, we're using only the subordinator. Next, it was my birthday, comma, but I still had to go to work. That's okay, we're using only the coordinator. Another example. Because it was my birthday, so I bought a cake. That's wrong. Do not use both because and so in the same sentence like that. Use one or the other. Because it was my birthday, I bought a cake, correct. Or it was my birthday, so I bought a cake. That's also correct. Two, commas can be used to indicate a series of items. A, B, and C. For example, my favorite drinks are lemonade, grape soda, and root beer. Jenna's boyfriend was tall, dark, and handsome. Russell enjoys swimming, skiing, and fishing. I like to sing, to dance, and to play the piano. We can also say I like to sing, dance, and play the piano. Notes. Sometimes the last comma right before the coordinator is omitted. Repeated words in a series are often deleted. For example, the two in the above sentence is deleted because it's repeated several times. Three, be aware of how and where connections are being made in the sentence. For example, I like tea, milk, and cocoa. These are three different drinks. I like tea and milk and cocoa. These are two drinks. Can you see how tea and milk are mixed together to make one drink? Jonathan is my friend and mentor. That's one person with two roles. You can see how this is a little bit different when we turn it around. My friend and mentor is Jonathan. Because friend and mentor is like one item. She was alone but happy. She can be two things at once. Alone but happy. She was alone, but she was happy. When you put the comma in there, it's like emphasizing the contrast. Four, answering questions. Subordinating clauses are sentence fragments. That means they're not complete sentences. They are sometimes used when responding to questions, mostly in spoken English. For example, why didn't you go to the conference last week? Because I was too busy with other things. When will you go to bed? After I finish my homework. English teachers often tell you to avoid using sentence fragments in writing. Sentence connectors. Finally, let's look at sentence connectors. These words indicate strong breaks between ideas. They are often used as transition words between sentences and paragraphs. They are always followed by a comma. They can be preceded by a period or a semicolon. Examples of sentence connectors are, however, therefore, thus, otherwise, first, second, next, then, besides, on the other hand, consequence. Consequently, in fact, and so on. These are called by other names such as conjunctive adverbs, but I'll simply use sentence connectors here. Sentence connectors often separate large chunks of information. For example, look at how they're used in the paragraph below. First, however, therefore, they can connect ideas vertically through the paragraphs. Sentence connectors can also be used to indicate sharp transitions or new focus. For example, that's a brilliant idea. In fact, I'm going to use it in our next meeting. We have to finish this work quickly. Otherwise, we'll be here all night. Punctuation with sentence connectors. A period indicates a stronger break between ideas. A semicolon indicates a stronger connection between ideas, kind of like what we mentioned before. Once in a while, for variety or effect, you will see the sentence connector used between the subject and the verb. For example, Tim made a good argument. Ms. Jones, however, was still unconvinced. There was no way to win. Mr. Shaw, therefore, conceded the race. Punctuation practice. Correct the punctuation in the following sentences. Feel free to stop the video if you'd like more time for this exercise. Answers. Number one, Shelly sings in the choir and plays in the orchestra. No comma is needed. Two, Brad takes the bus to work comma, but Lee takes the subway. Three, because I thought it would rain, comma, I took my umbrella. Four, we played our best. However, comma, we didn't win the game. Five, although he missed his girlfriend, he didn't call her. Or, he missed his girlfriend, but he didn't call her. Six, I will go out with my friends after I finish my project. No comma is needed. Seven, we found spiders on the walls and in the corners. No comma needed. Eight, Bob was late for class, comma, so he ran as fast as he could. Nine, it's not that important. Besides, comma, no one will even care. Ten, before going to bed, comma, Nancy brushed her teeth. Hope that was helpful. If you learned from this video, please give us a thumbs up in the comment section below. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. 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