Using Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions make simple sentences into complex ones, allowing you to express related ideas more efficiently and keep them connected with each other. (See what I did there?)

A subordinating conjuction sticks a clause onto the end of another clause in a way that makes it depend on the first one. Doing that makes the connection between the ideas clear, which helps your reader keep things in working memory long enough to understand your idea. It's particularly helpful to do this in topic and conclusion sentences, because those are the places where you're trying to communicate the most complex ideas in your writing.

Good practice for this: because, but, so exercises. Make a sentence kernel, which is a clause that expresses a simple idea. Use that kernel to generate three complex sentences, one for each of the subordinating conjunctions because, but, and so.

Example: Frogs are different from toads, {because, but, so} ...

Frogs are different from toads, because they have to survive under very different levels of moisture and food availability.
Frogs are different from toads, but they share many behavioral and morphological traits that stem from a common evolutionary ancestry.
Frogs are different from toads, so anyone who wishes to keep them as pets will need to pay close attention to their environmental and nutritional needs.