Connectives are commonly tested in 11 plus exams.
Examples
Connectives are words that join together two parts of a sentence. There are different kinds of connectives and below are some examples:
Conjunctions
Conjunctions link together two independent clauses. There are 2 kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
e.g. Mum came home form work and she started to write a letter. (coordinating conjunction – joins two independent clauses)
e.g. I love gardening and I enjoy growing plants from seeds. (coordinating conjunction – joins two independent clauses)
e.g. I love chocolate but I hate toffees. (subordinating conjunction – gives extra information)
e.g. I like running because it keeps me fit and healthy. (subordinating conjunction – gives extra information)
There are many examples of conjunctions. Here a a few:
yet, but, so, therefore, meanwhile, yet, although, because, and, whereas, though, until, however
Some connectives are known as time connectives. These are adverbs.
e.g. Tim cleaned his Dad’s car, whilst he watched him from inside the house.
e.g. She went to the shops before going to school.
Here’s some more examples of time connectives:
after, next, eventually, soon, finally, first, later, before, earlier, while, meanwhile, then
Some connectives are prepositions.
e.g. They dug a hole in the field, underneath they found some old coins.
e.g. He sat down, besides him was an enormous spider!
