Please could you help me help DS with this literacy homework (conjunctions vs prepositions)?

[freshstart24]

DS is in year 5- one of his homework tasks is to identify wether a word in a sentence is a conjunction or a preposition.

He's struggling, and even after rather a lot of googling I am struggling too. I feel so useless, he's so keen to understand this (as am I), but we are both really confused.

As a working parent it's hard to see his teacher, and tbh I'm embarrassed that I can't grasp a concept set for a 9 year old!

The homework has a worked example- again I don't really get this. It says that in the following example 'before' is a conjunction:
I left before it finished.

Whereas, in the next sentence 'before' is a preposition:
I left before the end.

Then he has some further questions where he has to say if a work is a conjunction or preposition, e.g.

We went for a walk since the sun was shining.

I have not seen Jade since nine o'clock this morning.

Let's keep going until the car runs out of petrol.

You will stay here until the end of time.

In very simple terms, if what follows the word contains a verb (doing word) then it is a conjunction. A preposition is something that gives more information about a noun in terms of time or place.

Therefore in:

We went for a walk since the sun was shining (verb)

Since = conjunction

We have not seen Hade since nine o clock this morning (no verb, but relationship to time)

Since = preposition

Hope that helps
X

This might help.(note it's American)

www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/parts-of-speech-the-preposition-and-the-conjunction

And this.

www.theschoolrun.com/primary-grammar-glossary-for-parents

A proposition is about relationships between things: under, over, through, to.

A conjunction links grammatical components of sentences together: before, and, but, because.

*preposition

And I'm going to be honest: I don't think those examples are quite right

We went for a walk since the sun was shining.

In this sentence the word 'since' could be swapped for 'as' or 'because' - it expresses causation and is a conjunction (joins two parts of a sentence).

I have not seen Jade since nine o'clock this morning

Here, 'since' expresses a relationship between two points in time and it doesn't join parts of the sentence together. It is a preposition.

Let's keep going until the car runs out of petrol

You will stay here until the end of time.

'Until' is used in the same way in these sentences. Preposition, in both cases.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I'll check out the links in the morning, but already it's a bit clearer.

Why don't I know this stuff?

I thought I had a good grasp of English!

A conjunction links clauses.

A preposition gives detail about where (in space or time) a noun is.

I left before it finished. - before is a conjunction because 'it finished' is a clause.

I left before the end. - before is a preposition here because 'the end' is not a clause.

Another example would be 'Get off the bus before the bridge.' - before is a preposition here because 'the bridge' is not a clause.

We went for a walk since the sun was shining. - conjunction (the sun was shining = clause)

I have not seen Jade since nine o'clock this morning. - preposition (nine o'clock this morning = phrase)

Let's keep going until the car runs out of petrol. - conjunction (the car runs out of petrol = clause)

You will stay here until the end of time. - preposition (the end of time = phrase)

Thank you.

Kingscotestaff I'm not sure why 'it finished' is a clause and 'the end' is not a clause?

Sorry- please could you explain!

A clause contains a verb

A clause contains a verb. And can also 'make sense' on its own.
E.g.- the sun was shining

A phrase tends not to make any sense if it is used as a standalone.
E.g. - the bridge

DS had this last month. I had to Google for some help too .

Ah I see thank you- I was confused as to me 'the end' stands alone just as well as 'it finished' and they both seem to have an element of 'when' or 'time'.

But now I know that a clause contains a verb, I can see the difference.

I'm really grateful for the advice, thank you.