Connectors and an introduction to complex meaning

Introduction

In the lesson Simple sentences we looked at how we combine things, actions, places, and so on to make simple sentences.

In this lesson, we're going to link simple sentences to create more complex meanings.

Our key tool for doing this is a group of words and punctuation marks called 'connectors'.

We're going to look at how connectors work and some different kinds of meanings they can create.

For example, here's a simple sentence:

Half of the image is blanked out. On the other half, a group of children are watching something.
The group looked on helplessly.

Another simple sentence:

Half of the image is blanked out. On the other half, a boy is stuck to a pole by his tongue.
Anton tried to free himself.

A compound sentence:

boy with tongue stuck to pole surrounded by onlooking kids
The group looked on helplessly AS Anton tried to free himself.

Important. To get the most out of this lesson, you should already be able to identify and write simple sentences. We recommend completing the Simple sentences lesson before tackling this one.

This lesson is primarily about connectors.

We've chosen to set aside a few specific grammatical concepts in order to focus more on a variety of connectors and the meanings we can create with them.

This means we're going to be a bit hand-wavey about concepts such as clauses, and the difference between compound and complex sentences.

  • If you already know about these grammatical concepts, then great—you'll see some of each throughout this lesson.
  • If not, don't worry: there are a few asides throughout the lesson where these ideas are relevant, and we'll cover clauses and complex sentences in detail in the Complex Sentences lesson.
Previous page