Adverbial Clause Practice
Use adverbial clauses to add information about time, manner, and reason.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Sort before you produce. Ask what each clause is telling you — when, why, or under what condition — and the conjunctions start to group themselves: after, before, when and until do time; because and since do reason. Then flip the sentences, moving the clause from the end to the front and back again, which is where students discover that the comma moves with it. Although and so are the two most students avoid, so spend the extra minutes there.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintStress the part of the sentence that changes, or point to the word ending.Log as cued
- Sentence starterSay the first half of the sentence and let the student finish it.Log as cued
- ModelSay the correct form in the whole sentence; the student repeats it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give a sentence starter every time, and do fewer cards.
Ask for a new sentence of the student's own with the same form, with no card to lean on.
Matching IEP goal
Given sentence cards, Student will produce complex sentences in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve sentences built around adverbial clauses: We went inside because it started to rain. After the bell rang, we lined up. She sang while she washed the dishes. Although it was cold, we played outside. The set covers reason, time, condition and concession, and it deliberately mixes clause-first and clause-second order, because a student who only ever hears because at the end learns half the pattern.
What to listen for
Listen for conjunction range. Most students at this level have because and and, and produce every complex sentence with one of them; the goal is not accuracy on because but the appearance of although, since and until in spontaneous speech. Watch for clause fragments, where the student produces Because it started to rain as a whole answer — that is a sign the subordinate clause is being treated as a sentence.
Carrying it home
Ask why questions that need a real clause, and then ask the student to say the whole sentence back. We stayed in because it rained is a better answer than because it rained, and the difference is what school will ask for in writing.
What's in this activity
- We went inside because it started to rain.
- After the bell rang, we lined up.
- She sang while she washed the dishes.
- Before you leave, put on your coat.
- He ran as fast as he could.
- Since the road was closed, we took the bus.
- When the movie ended, everyone clapped.
- Although it was cold, we played outside.
- They waited until the rain stopped.
- She spoke quietly so the baby would sleep.
- If it snows tonight, school will be closed.
- He smiled as he opened the gift.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Third through fifth, where complex sentence use is expected in writing as well as speech.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve sentences play with no account.
- My student only uses because. Is that a problem?
- It is the usual starting point. Target one new conjunction at a time — although tends to be the highest-value addition, because it carries a contrast nothing else in the student's set can express.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.