English Grammar & Punctuationusually ages 6–9

Subordinate clauses

Use subordination (when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (or, and, but) to join clauses and create compound and complex sentences

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Write 'I stayed inside because it was raining' using a subordinating conjunction
Use 'but' and 'or' to join ideas: 'I wanted to play but it was raining'
Use 'when' and 'if' clauses in writing: 'If it stops raining, we can go outside'

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Try this together

When your child writes a story or a message, can they join two ideas with words like "because", "but", "when", or "if" — rather than writing every thought as a short separate sentence?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Building sentencesages 4–6Must understand sentences before combining clauses

Joining Words with 'And'ages 5–7Must be able to join with 'and' before learning subordination and other co-ordinating conjunctions

Listening and respondingages 4–11Listening skills support understanding complex sentence structures

Four Types of Sentencesages 6–7Understanding sentence types supports creating complex sentences

Subordinate clausesthis skill · ages 6–9

Unlocks

Expressing Time, Place and Causeages 7–8Time/cause conjunctions extend Y2 subordination/co-ordination

Commas Before Joining Wordsages 9–11Learners must understand coordinating conjunctions joining clauses before learning the punctuation rule for compound sentences

Fixing Fragments & Run-Onsages 9–10Recognising fragments and run-ons requires understanding how independent and dependent clauses combine; subordination/coordination knowledge is essential

Relative Clausesages 9–10Relative clauses extend subordination; learners must understand how subordinate clauses work before embedding relative clauses

Conjunctions, Prepositions and Interjectionsages 10–11Conjunction functions builds on subordination/coordination

Correlative Conjunctionsages 10–11Correlative conjunctions build on coordination understanding

+ 4 more in Grammar & Punctuation →

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E4LA06medium confidenceYear 4 · Language

understand that complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause typically joined by a subordinating conjunction to create relationships, such as time and causality

AC9E5LA05medium confidenceYear 5 · Language

understand that the structure of a complex sentence includes a main clause and at least one dependent clause, and understand how writers can use this structure for effect

AC9E2LA06medium confidenceYear 2 · Language

understand that connections can be made between ideas by using a compound sentence with 2 or more independent clauses usually linked by a coordinating conjunction

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E5LA05low confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Language strand

VC2E4LA06low confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Language strand

VC2E2LA06low confidenceEnglish · Level 2 · Language strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Apostrophes: Contraction and Possessionages 6–7 Commas in listsages 6–11 Determiners and articlesages 6–7 Expanded noun phrasesages 6–7

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