Teaching Grammar: What Really Works (2010)

Part II. Embedding Grammar in Writing Instruction

Chapter 8. Writing with Adverb Clauses That Show Relationship: A Six-Day Lesson Series Embedded in the Writing Process

In this chapter we will discuss how to teach your students to write adverbial clauses. Don’t be afraid. You already use adverbial clauses all the time, and so do your students. Your students use them in their speech, but not necessarily in their writing. They tell you, “I was late because my locker got stuck” or “When I tried to print my homework, the computer froze.”

If you already use adverbial clauses, and your students do, too, what could we offer you in this chapter? We are about to show you how to transform the intuitive knowledge that students already have about adverbial clauses into richer writing.

Here are more sentences that have adverbial clauses, which we’ve italicized:

1.After I leave English, I stop at my locker.

2.Although I eat in the lunchroom, I usually bring my own sandwich.

3.I’m joining the cross-country team since I love to run.

4.I’ll feel very proud if I make the tennis team.

As you can see, there’s nothing exotic about sentences like these. And yet they all contain adverbial clauses, which makes them sound pretty fancy. What we have are accessible sentences that, through their adverbial clauses, provide clear relationships.

Adverbial clauses in sentences help readers link ideas by creating a smoother flow of ideas than short, choppy, simple sentences. Moreover, adverbial clauses provide sentence variation, improving a paragraph’s rhythm.

What we’re talking about here is the relationship between a main clause and its subordinate clause. Writers express relationships of time by choosing words like when, while, before, after, as, and until. Writers express relationships of causation by using words like since and because. And writers express relationships of condition with words such as although, if, and unless. All these italicized words are called subordinating conjunctions since they introduce a subordinate clause in a sentence.

(See Figure 5.1, Common Hitching Devices, page 72.)

Teaching Procedure

Tom teaches freshmen and sophomores in an urban high school where low reading and writing achievement scores indicate a need for increased intervention. In the first month of the school year, Tom teaches a lesson series on compound sentences. Now, in the second month, he presents the following lesson series on adverb clauses.

Does Tom stand up in front of his ninth graders and announce: “Today’s lesson is on adverbial clauses”? Of course not! Rather than opening up with an unfriendly-sounding grammatical term, Tom begins where the students areand uses their intuitive knowledge first, before introducing the terminology.

Day One: Introducing Adverb Clauses

Tom sees an opportunity to link English to social studies, where students are writing about the American Revolution. Often, he bases his grammar lessons on characters in the novel or story his class is reading, but this time, he chooses examples about American history.

When the students enter, they see the following sentences on the board:

The Parliament issued a new tax on tea. The colonists planned to sink the British ships carrying tea.

Tom begins by reading these sentences aloud. He asks: “What do these two sentences have to do with each other? What’s their relationship?” The students are able to see that the action in the second sentence results from the action in the first.

“Last month we used the coordinating conjunctions and, but, and so to combine sentences,” Tom says. He then solicits ways in which the model sentences can be combined into compound sentences, just to review and reinforce.

Now he’s ready to introduce the new skill. He writes three words on the board and continues: “I want you to try using some other words—after, because, and if—to join the same ideas. Work with a partner for several minutes to combine these sentences on a piece of paper, and then we’ll share whatever you write.”

After some minutes, Tom intervenes: “Tell me what you came up with.” Tom writes what he hears, adding the punctuation between the clauses:

After the Parliament issued a new tax on tea, the colonists planned to sink the British ships carrying tea.

Circling the word after and reading the sentence aloud, Tom asks: “How does the first clause relate to the second clause now that we’ve used the word after?” (Because some students are still shaky on the word clause, Tom points to the clauses on the board as he refers to them.)

“I think it shows when the colonists made their plan,” Darcy volunteers.

Tom continues, “Yes. There’s a time relationship there.” He writes When? next to the sentence, using a bold color. “And what about the sentence with because? Read your sentence for us, Cara.” Tom writes:

The colonists planned to sink the British ships carrying tea because the British issued a new tax on tea.

“What does your clause reveal when you use the word because?”

Cara answers: “Well, I guess it tells us why the colonists acted.”

Tom wants to repeat those ideas for the class: “So sometimes the connecting word begins a clause that tells when, and sometimes it adds a clause that tells why.” With a bold color, he writes Why? next to the second sentence.

Next, the students struggle for a minute, trying to identify what the if clause reveals to the reader because that is harder to articulate. Tom helps them by suggesting a more familiar situation: “In the sentence, ‘We’ll have a party ifeveryone finishes the social studies research paper,’ what does that if help us understand?”

“I get it, Mr. Rubio. The if tells us what we have to do to get the party.”

Tom assists: “It’s like under what conditions can we have a party!”

Tom isn’t ready to use writers’ terminology yet. He wants to work with the new sentences to show that adverbial clauses are movable and that their position in the sentence determines their punctuation.

Here Come the Visuals

Before class, Tom writes adverbial clauses on strips of yellow construction paper, using after, because, and if as his subordinating conjunctions. On white paper, he writes independent clauses. He gives volunteers the six sheets of paper and directs them: “Stand next to the person who has the other half of your sentence.” The “human clauses” giggle as they assemble in front of the class. They look like this:

After the Parliament issued a new tax on tea, the colonists planned to sink the British ships.

The colonists planned to sink the British ships because the Parliament issued a new tax on tea.

If the Parliament issued a new tax on tea, the colonists planned to sink the British ships carrying tea.

The image that the students see as they look at the “human clauses” in front of the room is yellow/white, white/yellow, and yellow/white.

“OK, if you have the signal word after, because, or if on your paper, hold it up and step forward.” With some theatricality, the students with yellow construction paper step forward. “Your clause tells when or why or under what condition the other clause happens. There’s a name for a clause that tells you when, why, or under what condition. Your clause can also begin with the word although or even though, setting up a contrast. We call these clauses adverbial clauses.”

Let’s Move Them Around

Tom tells each group: “Everybody switch places with your partner. Let’s see whether the sentence still shows the relationship when you put the adverb clauses in a different position.” Tom lets his students discover that the order of these clauses can be reversed. Thus they realize that adverb clauses can come before or after the independent clause.

“If our adverbial clause appears before the independent clause, let’s call that AC1 for ‘adverbial clause first,’ and if our adverbial clause appears after the independent clause, let’s call that arrangement AC2 for ‘adverb clause second.’“

Tom continues: “Can I have one volunteer as the comma person?” He hands some huge commas to Randy, who enjoys the attention. “Here’s a rule about adverbial clauses: A comma goes after AC1.” He writes that rule on the board in yellow.

He asks Lavonne to read the first sentence and decide whether Randy—the comma person—should stand between the first two clauses:

*After the Parliament issued a new tax on the tea the colonists planned to sink the ship.

“Yes, Mr. R., those guys need a comma because their clause thing comes before the other words,” Lavonne observes. She’s right. The colored paper helps her see the adverbial clause’s position before the independent clause.

At this point Tom wants the class to start using the terminology of a writer. “Can you call that ‘clause thing’ by the name we wrote on the board?”

“OK,” she agrees, reading the new rule. “A comma goes after AC1.”

“And what does AC1 mean?”

“It means the adverb clause that comes first.”

“Yes, the adverbial clause that comes first.”

Tom asks about the other two sentences, and the class determines whether Randy—aka Comma Man—needs to step in. Then Tom asks each pair to switch the positions so his students will see that AC2 (adverb clause second) does not require the comma.

Tom directs his students to write these three adverb clauses in their writers’ notebook and, for homework, to specify whether they are independent clauses or dependent clauses. He reminds them of the “Guess what?” test for sentences, which they used during the study of compound sentences. “Ask the question ‘Guess what?’ before the words. If the clause answers ‘Guess what?’ clearly, then it is an independent clause—or a sentence. If it does not answer ‘Guess what?’ clearly, you have a dependent clause. Tomorrow you’ll tell me if your adverb clauses are dependent or independent.” When the next class begins, students will be able to agree that adverbial clauses are dependent since none of them sufficiently answers “Guess what?”

On this first day, Tom’s students have used subordinating conjunctions appropriately. They have learned to name adverbial clauses. And they have learned how to punctuate a complex sentence having an adverbial clause, which they designate as AC1 or AC2. The terminology was not introduced until the students engaged with the concept. The teacher repeated the new terminology multiple times and found opportunities for the students to do so as well.

Day Two: Writing with Adverb Clauses

Today Tom wants his students to write their own adverbial-clause sentences and practice punctuating them. He uses a simple story about himself as a model and afterward instructs students to create sentences containing adverbial clauses to describe their own lives.

Before class starts, Tom attaches four simple sentences to his board with magnetic tape. (If he didn’t have magnetic tape or velcro, he could suspend the sentences from a clothesline strung across the board or simply write them out.) Next to the sentences, he hangs the previous day’s list of subordinate conjunctions (after, because, if, since, when, although).

The students see the sentences describing Tom’s after-school routine on the board when they enter. He asks Terrance to read the sentences to the class:

1. I leave my classroom at 4 p.m.

2. I go to my car.

3. I need to buy food.

4. I stop at my favorite grocery store.

Tom begins: “My story sounds choppy, so I want help combining the sentences with the new conjunctions we used yesterday. Who sees a way I can combine my first two sentences with one of these conjunctions? He writes the sentences that Marcia and Yvonne dictate:

*After I leave my classroom at 4 p.m. I go to my car.

*When I leave my classroom at 4 p.m. I go to my car.

“OK, and how should I combine the next two sentences?” he asks, writing the responses of two other students:

*Because I need to buy food I stop at my favorite grocery store.

I stop at my favorite grocery store since I need to buy food.

“Good. And I’d like to write one example with the conjunction if, so can someone help me with that sentence?” He adds the third sentence so his students see a fuller variety of possibilities:

*If I need to buy food I stop at my favorite grocery store.

At this point, Tom has students go up to the board to rearrange the simple sentences and conjunctions, creating a strong visual of the edited sentences, which now have a smoother flow.

“Now I want to help you write your own sentences about what you do before school in the morning, and I want you to connect your ideas with some of those subordinating conjunctions: after, when, since, because, if, although.”

Although Tom intends to have students write adverbial clauses during this class, he knows they lack self-confidence in generating ideas. They will have greater success if he gives them time to hear clauses spoken before he asks them to write at this stage. Therefore, he takes an intermediate step—asking for sample sentences aloud and writing them on the board. He wants more visual and auditory layering before the independent work.

“Before you start, let’s put some of your ideas on the board in case people have a hard time getting started. Can I hear from some volunteers: What are some of the things that happen before school starts?”

As volunteers provide ideas, Tom creates a list on the board:

1. I wait for the bus.

2. I eat some cereal.

3. I go to my locker.

4. I talk to my friends.

5. I finish my homework.

“OK,” Tom responds after writing the ideas on the board. “I think you see what sorts of things people do in the morning. Now work alone or with a partner to write three or four sentences about what you do before school, and use the subordinating conjunctions—after, when, since, because, if—to indicate relationships between your clauses.”

Tom walks among the students as they write, helping anyone who has trouble starting. As soon as most of the students finish, Tom has them circle their conjunctions and put a wavy line under the adverbial clause, which begins with the conjunction. (He could have them use colored markers or any other technique to call attention to the adverbial clauses.)

As they take turns reading their work to the class, Tom uses the writers’ terminology, saying things like “You did a good job of using the subordinating conjunctions—words like after, since, and if—to show relationships. You used adverbial clauses to join ideas clearly.”

He collects the students’ stories for use the next day. For homework, he asks the students to find three sentences in their nightly reading that contain adverbial clauses beginning with after, when, since, because, if, although and to write them in their writers’ notebooks.

During this class, Tom’s students have written sentences that incorporate adverbial clauses, based on a model.

Day Three: Punctuating Adverb Clauses

Today Tom plans to work with the student writing he collected from the previous class, determining the correct punctuation. He selects a clearly written student paragraph and writes it on the board as a sample.

Holding up the stack of papers from the day before, Tom begins.

“From all the terrific writing you did yesterday, I picked the paragraph on the board to read with you today. Marianne, why don’t you read it for us?” Everyone listens as Marianne reads her paragraph:

*When I wake up I brush my teeth. I have my breakfast after I get dressed. I have to hurry because I don’t want to be late. I get in trouble if I am tardy.

“Good job! This story has four sentences with adverbial clauses that clearly show the relationships between the ideas.

“Now we need to look at each sentence and decide how to punctuate each one. First, I need a volunteer to circle all the subordinating conjunctions that Marianne used to connect the adverbial clauses in the sentences.” Tom watches as Randy circles when, after, because, and if. At this point, Tom is ready to give these connecting words their official names. “We call all these words subordinating conjunctions. I want you to go through the sentences you wrote yesterday and circle your subordinating conjunctions, like Randy did up here.”

Tom has several students read their circled words, asking everyone to “talk like a writer” by starting with, “My subordinating conjunctions are . . .” He intends to explain why they are called “subordinating” after he discusses the punctuation issue.

“The subordinating conjunctions will help you to locate your adverbial clauses. So, Marianne, why don’t you underline the entire adverb clause that you wrote in each sentence.” Tom helps Marianne decide on the entire clause; her final version reads:

*When I wake up I brush my teeth. I have my breakfast after I get dressed. I have to hurry because I don’t want to be late. I get in trouble if I am tardy.

He asks his students to underline the adverbial clauses in their sentences. Then he has them examine the placement of the adverbial clause within the sentence.

♦If your adverb clause appears in front of the main clause, then you should label it AC1 for adverb clause first.

♦If your adverb clause appears after the main clause in the sentence, then you should label it AC2 for adverb clause second.

With the class’s assistance, Tom labels the paragraph on the board:

When I wake up I brush my teeth. (AC1) I have my breakfast after I get dressed. (AC2) I have to hurry because I don’t want to be late. (AC2) I get in trouble if I am tardy. (AC2)

“Our rule was ‘If the adverb clause comes first, add a comma,” so let’s see where I need to place a comma.”

A couple of hands go up, and Marcia answers, “I think we should put a comma in the first sentence after I wake up because the adverbial clause in that sentence comes before the other idea.”

“Terrific, Marcia, you are right! So what about the three other sentences? Do they need commas?”

“No, Mr. Rubio, those are the other kinds, the AC2s.”

The punctuated paragraph on the board now contains one comma and looks like this:

When I wake up, I brush my teeth. (AC1) I have my breakfast after I get dressed. (AC2) I have to hurry because I don’t want to be late. (AC2) I get in trouble if I am tardy. (AC2)

Tom summarizes, saying, “Yes, in the last three sentences of this paragraph, the adverbial clause appears after the main clause, so it is AC2. Our rule says not to use a comma. You each have your sentences labeled, so add commas to any sentence that has the adverbial clause first.” Tom circulates around the room, offering help to anyone who is confused.

If Tom’s students have access to colored markers, he could have them color the adverbial clauses in their sentences. We find that vivid color is a powerful reminder of the additional adverbial clause.

“Homework tonight is to find adverbial clauses in three more sentences from your literature or social studies text. Write them in your notebook and bring them to class tomorrow.”

Today Tom’s students used writers’ terminology to talk about adverbial clauses that they and their classmates wrote. By using punctuation mindfully, they took another step toward becoming skillful writers.

Day Four: Learning Subordinate Conjunctions

To strengthen the link between student writing and literature, Tom uses the first ten minutes to have students meet in groups and share the sentences containing adverbial clauses from their novels. Each group selects an effective adverb-clause sentence from the examples they hear, writes it on a strip of construction paper, and reads it to the class. It will hang in a section of the room where gem sentences from literature are displayed.

During the rest of this class, Tom wants the class to continue studying adverbial clauses before he asks his students to revise their social studies reports and incorporate some adverbial clauses. He wants his students to learn ten or eleven of the most commonly used subordinating conjunctions.

We’ve seen several methods for helping students remember the common subordinate conjunctions. One method for teaching subordinate conjunctions appears in Jeff Anderson’s book Mechanically Inclined (Heinemann). Anderson suggests using the acronym AAAWWUBBIS, which stands for after, although, as, when, while, unless, before, because, if, since. It is fun to say “AAA-WWU-BBIS!,” and it works the way FANBOYS does as a mnemonic device.

Other teachers encourage students to create a “rap” containing those words. Here’s one created by a student: “When, if, as, unless, although; since, while, after, because, befo’ [before].” Classmates found it appealing because its “rhyme” made remembering the words easy. We see greater retention with rhyming approaches like this one and the one mentioned earlier for coordinate conjunctions.

In any case, what’s needed is a classroom visual, preferably one that is created by the students, to reinforce the commonly used subordinating conjunctions. (Incidentally, the list of subordinating conjunctions that we’ve been working with is not a complete one. It’s just an introduction.)

Let’s Move Them Around

Tom divides his students into groups of three for a game. He gives each group a magazine picture pasted on a piece of construction paper.

“Here are the rules: Study your picture and then write a story about it, using sentences that contain adverbial clauses. One of you begins the story with an adverbial clause. After you read your sentence, the next person adds another sentence, again including an adverbial clause.

“When everyone in the group has added to the story, write your sentences beneath the picture. Go ahead and refer to our list to remind yourselves of the subordinating conjunctions. Add punctuation, based on our AC1 rule. Let’s take ten minutes and then share the stories.”

Not only do the students have fun writing their stories about these pictures, but they enjoy having them displayed around the room.

Tom ends the class period with this homework assignment: “We have had fun learning and using adverbial clauses, and now you can put some of them in your writing revisions. The homework today is to look over the writing assignment you have finished for your social studies class [or about a novel] and find two places where you could include an adverbial clause to clarify the relationship between the ideas. Bring those papers to class tomorrow with the revised sentences highlighted.”

Day Five: Sharing Student Writing

On this day, Tom will have volunteers read sentences they have combined using adverbial clauses to create clearer, more meaningful relationships between their ideas. Some of the students write their examples on strips of paper and post them on the walls as examples of “current writing.”

“We can be proud of what we have done with our latest drafts,” Tom tells the class. We’ve used adverbial clauses that show relationships between clauses just like professional authors do. Now we have displays of our sentences next to the writing of well-known authors.

“For tonight’s homework, I’d like you to write paragraphs about a character in the short story we read last week. Here’s the challenge: In your paragraph, use the two sentence variations we’ve learned this year—compound sentences and adverb clauses.” Tom reviews the signal words students have used for both variations and gives them a copy of the assignment (Figure 8.1) so they will have both a list of signal words (coordinate and subordinate conjunctions) and a model paragraph.

Write a paragraph about one of the characters in the O. Henry story we read last week, explaining one of the character traits that you noticed in your character. As you write or edit your paper, be sure that you use the sentence variations we have studied. You need to include the following:

Here are the signal words for compound sentences:

and, but, or, yet, so, for, nor

Here is a sample compound sentence with the comma and conjunction:

We wanted to go to the mall, but we had too much homework.

Here are sample compound sentences with a semicolon:

Our math teacher is helping us review for a test; she gave us a long review assignment.

I hope to finish all my homework; however, I have a three-hour football practice.

Here are some signal words for adverb clauses:

when, if, as, unless, although, since, while, after, because, ‘befo’

Here are sample sentences with adverb clauses:

When I pack up my homework, I try to remember to pack everything. AC1

I always feel terrible when I forget my work at home. AC2

– Use a key to identify your sentence variations:

– Underline compound sentences.

– Put a wavy line under adverb clauses.

Day Six: Increasing Writers’ Terminology and Using Recursive Strategies

Tom asks several students to read their homework paragraphs about literary characters aloud and sees the opportunity to praise the writing: “I am so impressed with the flow of ideas you have in your paragraph because you combined compound sentences and adverbial clauses. Do you notice how good you sound!” His words of praise are powerful incentives.

Next he calls attention to coordinate and subordinate conjunctions by writing two student sentences on the board:

Bella wanted to buy Jim a Christmas gift, but she did not have any money.

After she sold her long hair to the wigmaker, she bought Jim a chain for his gold watch.

“Here we combine ideas with two sorts of conjunctions. We call but a coordinate conjunction. I want to talk with you about the meaning of coordinate. Does anyone recognize the prefix co-? We use it in co-pilot. And what other words does the prefix co- make you think of?”

Students suggest co-star and co-manager. “What does the co- tell us?”

“I think it means that two guys are pilots or managers. They share the job. They are equal, like equal stars in a movie,” Robert suggests.

“Yes, it has to do with an equal share, neither one being more important or stronger than the other one. In the sentence Bella wanted to buy Tom a Christmas gift, but she did not have any money, why would we call but a coordinate conjunction—what things are equal in this sentence?”

“Well, we said that a compound sentence has two clauses, Mr. Rubio, so maybe this conjunction joins two parts that are sort of the same.”

Tom adds to Robert’s answer, explaining that, indeed, the conjunctions in compound sentences are called coordinate conjunctions because they join equal parts—two independent clauses. He points to the sentence the class has just reviewed and demonstrates how both clauses—Bella wanted to buy Jim a Christmas gift and she did not have any money—are independent because they can stand on their own.

Then, referring to the second sentence, Tom says that the word that starts the adverb clause—after—is called a subordinate conjunction. They discuss the word subordinate with its prefix sub- and conclude that the second sentence consists of one independent clause and one dependent clause. The dependent clause cannot stand alone; hence, the subordinate conjunction attaches a weaker clause to the independent clause.

Finally, Tom shows a transparency on which two students have written their homework paragraphs. He uses colored pens to circle the coordinate and subordinate conjunctions and encourages the students to use their writers’ terminology to discuss their sentence variations and punctuation. He intentionally reintroduces compound sentences at this point so students maintain proficiency with the first month’s material.

What happens next:

Tom will use recursive teaching strategies to reinforce previously learned material while expanding the students’ repertoire of sentence variations. He’ll require that students use and identify compound sentences and adverb clauses in assignments involving short answers, vocabulary sentences, and compositions. You’ll see sample assignments in Figure 8.2.

Figure 8.2 Sample Assignments Incorporating Grammar Concepts

1. Write a paragraph describing a historical problem or period or a science experiment or concept that you discussed during class. In your writing, include and label at least one of the following:

Sample paragraphs:

When King Henry V invaded France, he wanted to conquer many villages. (AC1) He told his soldiers to fight bravely; however, he said not to steal from the homes of the people in the villages. (CS/hitching word) Their battles were difficult because the fields were muddy from weeks of rain. (AC2) The French outnumbered Henry’s troops, but the English were victorious. (CS)

When I dropped the Alka-Seltzer tablets into the test tube filled with water, it quickly began to dissolve and release gas. (AC1) My partner and I tried to seal the test tube with both a rubber sheet and a rubber band; however, some gas had escaped. (CS/hitching word) Although we understood that this would cause some problems, we decided to continue with the experiment since our class needed to accumulate multiple trials for data analysis. (AC1 and AC2) We tried to prove the Law of Conservation of Mass, but we hadn’t sealed the test tube immediately. (CS) Our findings were still used by the class because they helped explain the need for multiple trials in an experiment. (AC2)

2. Write sentences using the vocabulary words we’ve discussed in class. Use a compound sentence or adverb clause to provide more information for each word. Underline the vocabulary word in the sentence and label the sentence variation (CS, CS/hitching word, AC1, AC2). Remember your signal words:

Sample words:

Lethargic: When I wake up on Saturday morning, I feel lethargic and don’t want to do anything active. (AC1)

Vehement: I have a vehement desire to find a good job; therefore, I’m working to earn good grades in school. (CS/hitching word)

Figure 8.3 Chapter 8 Overview Chart