Subordinating Conjunctions vs Relative Pronouns
There is another group of words that introduce themselves as dependent clauses. These are called relative pronouns. They look & act very similar to coordinating conjunctions, but they’re quite different. True relative pronouns are “that,” “who” and “which.” They differ from subordinating conjunctions because they act as the subject of a dependent clause.
Subordinating conjunctions do not, as they are followed by the subject of their clause. Let us have a look at some examples:
Relative pronoun: Esha is the girl who came over for lunch last weekend.
We have two clauses here. “Esha is the girl” is the independent clause (that could stand alone), and “who came over for lunch last weekend ” is the dependent clause (providing us with more information). The word “who” is a relative pronoun (acting as the subject of the dependent clause).
Subordinating conjunction: We talked about music & theatre while we ate.
Here, “We talked about music & theatre “ is the independent clause (that could stand alone), and “while we ate” is the dependent clause (providing us with more information). In this example, both clauses have the subject “we.” The word “while” does not act as the subject of the dependent clause.
Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating Conjunctions usually include a variety of conjunctions, which is unlike coordinating conjunctions. Subordinating conjunction refers to the word which connects an independent clause and a dependent clause in the formation of a sentence.