New
New
Year 6

New subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns

I can identify subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns and select the ones that are appropriate to use in different sentence contexts.

New
New
Year 6

New subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns

I can identify subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns and select the ones that are appropriate to use in different sentence contexts.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Adverbial clauses and relative clauses are types of subordinate clause; they must be joined to a main clause.
  2. Adverbial clauses start with subordinating conjunctions; there are many of these with different purposes.
  3. Relative clauses start with relative pronouns; occasionally in informal language, the relative pronoun is omitted.
  4. Adverbial clauses can be placed before or after a main clause in an adverbial complex sentence.
  5. Relative clauses are placed after the noun or noun phrase they tell us more about (and can be at the end of a sentence).

Common misconception

Pupils may have previously only seen a relative clause interrupting a main clause.

A relative clause can be placed after any noun it refers to, including at the end of a sentence.

Keywords

  • Subordinating conjunction - a word that starts an adverbial clause

  • Adverbial clause - a type of subordinate clause that starts with a subordinating conjunction

  • Relative pronoun - a word that starts a relative clause

  • Relative clause - a type of subordinate clause that starts with a relative pronoun

Encourage pupils to say sentences aloud to work out 'what sounds right'. This is particularly true when deciding whether a relative clause should have commas around it using the new relative pronouns.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following would we always find in a complex sentence?
Correct answer: main clause
Correct answer: subordinate clause
relative clause
adverbial clause
non-finite (-ing) clause
Q2.
Match the types of sentence to the examples.
Correct Answer:simple sentence,What a wonderful day it is!

What a wonderful day it is!

Correct Answer:compound sentence,We could do that, but I don't think we'd enjoy it.

We could do that, but I don't think we'd enjoy it.

Correct Answer:complex sentence,The rain, which was very heavy, soaked us to the skin.

The rain, which was very heavy, soaked us to the skin.

Q3.
Which of these are correctly formed compound sentences?
Correct answer: He will either win the sack race, or he will come second.
He will either win the sack race or the beanbag race.
We will take the train and the bus.
Correct answer: We can take the train and we can take the bus.
Q4.
Which of the following are complex sentences?
Correct answer: We all watched closely as Mr Martinez showed us how to draw the animal.
We all watched Mr Martinez and we listened to what he was saying.
Correct answer: When the day was over, we put our chairs on the tables.
Correct answer: Miss O'Neill, who is very kind, stayed behind at lunch to help me.
Q5.
Which of the following are non-finite (-ing) complex sentences?
Sofia looked up as I entered.
Correct answer: Looking up, I saw Sofia entering the room.
Correct answer: The door opened, creaking loudly.
The door creaked open loudly.
Q6.
Which of these are correctly punctuated relative complex sentences?
Correct answer: The moon, which was bright silver, beamed down on us.
The moon which was bright silver beamed down on us.
The moon, which was bright, silver beamed down on us.

6 Questions

Q1.
What kind of word starts an adverbial clause?
Correct answer: subordinating conjunction
relative pronoun
noun
relative clause
Q2.
Which of the following can be subordinating conjunctions that start adverbial clauses?
Correct answer: when
whose
Correct answer: since
Correct answer: whilst
where
Q3.
Which of the following could complete this sentence? 'Aisha won the race even though __________.'
she was very fast
she had the best trainers out of anyone
Correct answer: she had hurt her leg
Correct answer: she had not had any time to practise
Q4.
A relative clause is always placed after ...
an adjective.
a verb.
Correct answer: a noun.
an adverb.
Q5.
Which sentences contain a relative clause?
Correct answer: Everyone stared at Lucas, who was being silly.
We all looked at Lucas.
Correct answer: Lucas, who was being silly, was embarrassing himself.
Lucas was embarrassing himself.
Q6.
What is the relative clause in this sentence? 'The finger that I had bruised was all swollen.'
the finger
the finger that I had bruised
Correct answer: that I had bruised
was all swollen