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Conjunctions vs the full stop
Now may be a good time to revise the use of 'so' and 'then' with pupils (see exercises for 11 -14 years).
While pupils need to make use of the full range of conjunctions, over-use of conjunctions means that it is hard for the reader to understand what has been written, because sentences become too long. A balance of shorter and longer sentences is normally needed (unless writing for a particular effect).
Discuss the following before going on to do the final exercise:
The following sentences have been wrongly joined together.
This bird has special bouyancy and water-proof feathers and its nostril can be sealed when diving and we sat quiety on the river bank and waited to see the bobbing movement of the dipper.
Two of the joining words, and, have been used correctly and two incorrectly. There should be three sentences, as set out below:
This bird has special bouyancy and water-proof feathers.
Its nostril can be sealed when diving
We sat quietly on the river bank and waited to see the bobbing movement of the dipper.
Print out Worksheet 8, asking pupils to take out all of the joining words used incorrectly in the passage, and set out in sentences. Remind them that full stops give the reader a chance to pause to make sense of each complete sentence. If you use too many conjunctions it may be difficult for the reader to understand you.