


































Education, Language and Sociology Research 

ISSN 2690-3644 (Print) ISSN 2690-3652 (Online) 

Vol. 4, No. 3, 2023 

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31 
 

Original Paper 

Effect of Teaching Sequence on ESL Students’ Learning of 

Syntactic Cohesive Devices Using Sentence Transformation 

Fiona K. P. Siu1* 

1 CFML CSL Language Center, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China 

* Fiona K. P. Siu, Email: fiona.siu@cityu.edu.hk 

 

Received: June 7, 2023        Accepted: June 28, 2023      Online Published: July 3, 2023 

doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p31        URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p31 

 

Abstract 

This research aims to investigate the effects of two teaching sequences – interleaving and blocking – on 

the participants’ use of three types of cohesive devices (conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and 

prepositions [thereafter CCPs]) in their argumentative essays. The participants included 50 native 

Cantonese-speaking university students taking an academic writing course. Interleaving refers to the 

teaching sequence in which learners practice several skills at one time whereas in blocking only one skill 

is practiced at one time. 

Prior to essay writing, participants were taught CCPs using sentence transformation. One class was 

taught using interleaving and the other blocking. The first and the second drafts of the argumentative 

essay served as pre-and post-tests. The total numbers of CCPs used correctly both syntactically and 

semantically in their argumentative essays were counted for the pre-tests and post-tests for both groups. 

Results of Paired Samples and Independent t-tests suggest that neither of the two teaching sequences was 

more effective than the other in raising the participants’ total instances of CCPs; however, blocking 

appears to be more effective in boosting the use of prepositions as linking words. Sentence transformation, 

whether administered in the interleaved or blocked sequence, was considered to have served the teaching 

purpose of providing an opportunity for the students to engage in serious thinking about the semantic 

relationship between two given sentences. 

Keywords 

interleaving, cohesive devices, sentence transformation, teaching sequence, teaching mode, academic 

writing 

 

 

 



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1. Introduction 

1.1 Background 

It is not uncommon that the academic essays written by many university students who learn English as a 

second language in Hong Kong include only a few basic conjunctions (e.g., because, therefore, so), 

which are often used repeatedly throughout their essays. The lack of variety in the choice of grammatical 

cohesive devices might be the manifestation of an underlying problem that the teaching and learning of 

grammatical cohesive devices has room for improvement. It seems that the lack of variety of cohesive 

devices at the grammatical level is not specific to students in Hong Kong. In Ahmad’s (2019) study, the 

students at a university in Saudi Arabia demonstrated a very limited range of grammatical cohesive 

devices used their argumentative essays, although the usage is mostly correct. The seven linking words 

heavily used were for example, however, but, on the other hand, because, so, in conclusion. Based on 

the findings of his research, Ahmad (2019) recommended the explicit teaching of grammatical cohesive 

devices, especially the use of adversatives. Likewise, Marashi (2020) concluded that the treatment used 

in his study, which investigated explicit teaching of cohesive devices, significantly raised the mean score 

of the post-test, which was administered in the form of IELTs (Writing Task 2) to the Iranian student 

participants. The explicit teaching of grammatical devices also constitutes the research focus of the 

present study. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), grammatical cohesive devices include such 

aspects as reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions, yet the present study focuses on only three types 

of cohesive devices, namely, conjunctions (e.g., and, because), conjunctive adverbs (e.g., moreover, 

hence) and prepositions (e.g., as a result of, because of). It is hoped that the findings derived from the 

present study can contribute to the body of literature concerning whether interleaving or blocking will 

benefit students as well as teaching practitioners in their attempts to learn and to teach the syntactic and 

semantic knowledge of these linking words. 

1.2 Literature Review 

1.2.1 Interleaving and Blocking 

One of the challenges concerns the pedagogical issue of whether to teach one category of linking words 

(e.g., conjunctions) one at one time or teach two categories of linking words (e.g., conjunctive adverbs 

and prepositions) at the same time for the purpose of contrasting two similar categories. The former 

teaching sequence is commonly known as blocking whereas the latter is termed interleaving. Interleaving 

tends to produce better long-term memory in the learning of mathematics (Barzagar & Ebersbach, 2019; 

Carpenter et al., 2012; Chen, et al., 2018; Dunlosky et al., 2013; Foster et al., 2019; Hopkins et al., 2016; 

Kang, 2017; Nagashima et al., 2022; Ostrow et al., 2015; Rau et al., 2013; Rohrer et al., 2015; Sana et 

al., 2017; Schutte et al., 2015; Soderstrom & Bjork, 2015; Tailor & Rohrer, 2010) and motor skills (e.g., 

Goode & Magill, 1986; Hall et al., 1994). However, in second language learning, interleaving has not 

shown robust advantages. So far, research findings have been inconclusive. For example, interleaving 

was found to be more effective than blocking in Nakata and Suzuki’s (2019) study, which included 115 

Japanese students learning five English grammatical structures. It was found that although the 



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interleaving group produced a higher number of incorrect responses during the training stage than the 

blocking group, the former was more effective than latter in the 1-week delayed post-test. The 

advantageous outcomes of interleaving might concern the spacing effect (Carpenter 2014) and the 

discriminative contrast hypothesis (Sana et al., 2017). Concerning spacing effect, Carpenter (2014) 

explains that given the same overall duration of practice, distributed practice results in better long-term 

retention than does massed practice. As regards the discriminative contrast hypothesis, Sana et al. (2017) 

points out that interleaving would benefit students more when categories have high between-category 

similarity, e.g., past tense and past perfect. Yet, Schneider et al. (2002) found that students in the blocked 

condition performed better on an immediate test than did students in the interleaved condition for college 

students learning French–English word translations using interleaving or blocking. Similarly, a blocking 

advantage for correct word pronunciation was consistently observed on immediate or 5-min delayed tests 

for college students learning French pronunciation rules (Carpenter & Mueller, 2013). 

Given that the findings on the superiority of interleaving over blocking or vice versa is inconclusive and 

that little is known regarding the teaching of grammatical cohesive devices at university level in the Hong 

Kong setting, this research aims to focus on the teaching and learning of three types of linking words – 

that is, conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions (therefore CCPs) – for academic writing with 

respect to the genre of argumentative essays written by fifty native Cantonese-speaking university 

students taking an academic writing course offered by the City University of Hong Kong in 2020. In 

particular, the research question is as follows: 

 Which of the two teaching sequences will be more effective in terms of helping 

students to produce a greater number of linking words (conjunctions, conjunctive 

adverbs and prepositions) that are syntactically and semantically correct when 

administered in the context of sentence-combining exercises? 

1.2.2 Sentence-Combining 

Sentence combining (SC) constitutes one of the teaching tools to improve L2 learners’ syntactic 

performance (Chomsky, 1965). Strong (1973, 1986, 1996) provided numerous examples of sentence 

combining. The basic concept is that shorter sentences are embedded and recombined into more complex 

syntactic structures. The essence of the approach of SC is to provide exercises to language learners to 

practice. As stated by Strong (1986), “to develop writing performance …requires practice” (p. 10). The 

exercises are also intended to require students to exercise their mental grammatical judgments, which 

thus might add an element of fun or mental challenge to the language learners. “SC exercises provide a 

practical way of activating playful attention to written language” (Strong, 1986, p. 10).  

The effects of SC on writing quality appear to be affirmative although not conclusive. O’Hare (1973) 

maintains that it is important to avoid the use of transformational rules/grammatical terms when 

developing SC exercises; kernel sentences with signals/explicit linking words of how to combine them 

were provided instead. Broadhead and Berlin (1978) investigated 98 college students. The experimental 

group was provided with a graduated sequence of source sentences, transformation models and exercises 



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before they started to write essays. The finding suggested that the experimental treatment increased the 

syntactic variety in their essays as well as the percentage of appropriate punctuation. Rice’s (1983) study 

reported that 427 students from Grades 7-11 engaged in SC practice over a ten-week period produced an 

average gain of 15 percentile points on measures of syntactic maturity. Hillocks (1984) concludes that 

SC is “more than twice as effective as free writing as a means of enhancing the quality of student writing” 

(p. 161). 

SC exercises can mainly be classified into two types: Cued and Open (also termed “No Cues”). 

Concerning cued SC exercises, researchers such as Mellon (1969) and O’Hare (1973) provided a large 

number of examples, the cued words of which are illustrated below: 

 Something seems to suggest something. 

 Bill finished his lessons in less than an hour. (fact) 

 He had received help from another student. (fact) 

(From Mellon, 1969) 

 Something should make you avoid him. 

 He is an absolute nut. (The fact that) 

(From O’Hare, 1973) 

Tomlinson and Straehley (1978) focused on the incremental or cumulative technique, in which a kernel 

sentence (e.g., the storm brewed ominously) is provided first. Then other instructions (e.g., adding a 

prepositional unit, adding modification, adding a second independent clause, adding a subordinate clause) 

are provided to learners. 

For the Open SC exercises, the underlying principle is to break a whole discourse into kernel sentences 

without providing signals except the provision of such general instructions as recombining the sentences 

based on voice and theme. Jenkinson (1999) states that students can combine kernel sentences in any 

way they desire as long as they retain the original meaning of the sentences. Strong (1986) points out 

that “open” combining typically generates a range of grammatical responses. The aim of Open SC is to 

help students explore stylistic options (p.13). See the example below provided by Strong (1986): 

Sentences to be combined: 

 SC is a means to an end.  

 The end is clear syntax.  

 The end is controlled syntax.  

 SC is not an end in itself. 

(From Strong, 1986, p. 13) 

Answers illustrating stylistic options: 

 SC is a means to an end, not an end in itself; that end is clear, controlled syntax.  

 SC is a means to an end--clear syntax that is under control and not an end in itself.  

 Rather than being an end in itself, SC is a means to an end: syntactic control and clarity. 

Strong (1986) also suggests some ideas for developing a variety of SC exercises including: 



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 Cloze technique 

 Imitation 

 Dewriting (a dewritten passage is prepared from a target text, usually literature or 

professional nonfiction) 

 Reorganizing sentences and/or select relevant information from fact sheets 

 Generative exercises to help students create their own details (e.g., dramatization) 

 Recombining exercises based on the prose of professional writers 

 Exercises focused on style and mechanics 

The aforementioned review of previous findings about the development of SC exercises as a teaching 

and learning tool is primarily intended to support the adoption of the SC approach by the present 

researcher when designing teaching materials for this research study investigating the effectiveness of 

interleaving and blocking. Yet, it is worth pointing out that the design of the present study is not intended 

to argue that SC is a useful approach in raising the participants’ use of CCPs because of the non-inclusion 

of another type of grammatical exercises (e.g., multiple choices) in the same study for comparison. 

 

2. Methodology 

2.1 Participants 

The participants of this study included two classes of Year 1 students taking the academic writing course 

entitled University English offered by the City University of Hong Kong in the summer term of 2020. 

Two 2-hour lessons were conducted per week spanning 6.5 weeks totaling 13 lessons. The participants 

scored Level 4 out of the 5 levels in the Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE), which 

classifies candidates’ performance into Level 1 to Level 5, with 5 being the highest. The level 5 

candidates with the best performance are awarded a 5** (Hong Kong Examinations and Authority, 2021). 

By coincidence, all the students in both classes were native Cantonese speaking students, so homogeneity 

of the two groups of students in this study in terms of their first language was ensured. 

The course University English adopted the approach of process writing—that is, each participant wrote 

three drafts of an argumentative essay of his/her own topic. Draft 1 was used for peer-review and was 

not assessed; Draft 2 and final Draft each accounted for 20% of the course mark. On a random basis, one 

of the classes (Class A) was assigned to be the interleaving group and the other one (Class B) the blocking 

group. The teaching of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions to link up two sentences took 

place between the submission of Draft 1 and the submission of Draft 2; namely, after Draft 1 was 

submitted and before Draft 2 was due. Draft 1 was used as the pre-test while Draft 2 was used as the 

post-test. The final draft was excluded from this research study because students were supposed to submit 

the final draft based on the class teacher’s written and oral feedback provided on the scripts of Draft 2 

and during individual teacher-student consultations. 



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Out of the twenty-five students from Class A, only fourteen of them submitted both Drafts 1 and 2. To 

match the fourteen sets of usable scripts obtained from Class A, another 14 sets of scripts from Class B 

were randomly selected. 

2.2 The treatment 

The teaching of the three categories of linking words (conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions) 

using interleaving/blocking was conducted in Zoom classrooms. The treatment was applied in the three 

lessons (a total of 6 hours) between the pre-test and the post-test. The three categories of linking words 

covered in the teaching are shown in Handout A (Appendix A). 

Stages of teaching 

Stage 1: The use of conjunctions was taught briefly using Handout A with a special focus on explaining 

subordinate clauses and main clauses as a revision for both the interleaving Group and the blocking 

Group.  

Stage 2 for the Interleaving Group: The nine categories of conjunctive adverbs included in Handout B 

(Appendix B) were introduced to the interleaving group. Immediately after this, the use of prepositions 

to link up two sentences was explained to the students using Handout A again. Subsequently, the 

interleaving group started to complete an exercise (Handout C) in which they were instructed to combine 

the same two sentences twice, first using conjunctive adverbs and then using prepositions (Appendix C). 

Finally, the class teacher showed the students suggested answers, highlighting important grammatical 

features of using both conjunctive adverbs and prepositions to connect sentences. 

Stage 2 for the blocking Group was different from that for the interleaving group in two ways. First, 

students in the blocking group were instructed to work on the exercise for practicing the use of 

conjunctive adverbs immediately after the teacher’s explanations about conjunctive adverbs; second, that 

exercise focused on only conjunctive adverbs without mentioning prepositions—the third category of 

linking words investigated in the present study. To achieve the best possible effect of the blocking 

sequence, the teaching of prepositions started only after the unit on conjunctive adverbs was totally 

completed. See Handout D (Appendix D) for the exercises developed for the blocking group to combine 

sentences using conjunctive adverbs. See Handout E developed for the Blocking Grouping to practice 

the use of prepositions (Appendix E).  

 

3. Results 

Paired-t test and Independ-t test (IBM SPSS Statistics 22) were used for data analysis. 

The effectiveness of interleaving and blocking was judged by counting the scores of grammatical 

cohesive devices, as measured by the total instances of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and 

prepositions used correctly syntactically and semantically in the participants’ argumentative essays. 

Finding 1:  



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Both the blocking group (Mean: 20.07 vs. 15.86) and the interleaving group (Mean: 21.79 vs. 18.14) 

scored significantly higher in the post-tests than in the pre-tests at p<0.05 for the measure used in this 

study (Table 1). 

 

Table 1. Change in Overall Improved Scores in Each of the Two Groups (Paired-t test) 

  Mean Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed) 

Interleaving Pre-test 18.14 5.333 0.001* 

Post-test 21.79 5.740 

Blocking Pre-test 15.86 5.641 0.000* 

Post-test 20.07 5.595 

* significant at p≤0.05 

 

Finding 2:  

There was no significant difference across the interleaving group and the blocking group in terms of the 

change of overall scores of cohesive devices measured before and after the treatment at p<0.05 (Table 

2). The score difference between the pre- and post-tests for the interleaving group was 3.65, and the score 

difference between the pre- and post-tests was 4.21 for the blocking group. 

 

Table 2. Comparing the Improvements in Overall Scores Across the Two Groups (independent t-

test) 

 MEAN 

DIFFERENCE  

Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed) 

Sample 1 

(Interleaving) 

3.65 3.225 .643 

Sample 2 (Blocking) 4.21 3.215 .643 

Not significant at p≤0.05 

 

Finding 3:  

3a. As can been seen in Table 3, the blocking group used significantly more prepositions in the post-test 

(mean=2.86) than in the pre-test (mean=2.0). 

3b. As can been seen in Table 3, the interleaving group showed no significant difference between the 

pre- (mean=3.29) and post- tests (mean = 3.29) in the number of prepositions used as linking words at 

p<0.05. 

 

 



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Table 3. Comparing the Change in the Number of Prepositions Used as Linking Words for Each 

of the Two Groups (paired-t test) 

  MEAN Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed) 

Interleaving Pre-test 3.29 1.684 1.000 

Post-test 3.29 2.400 

Blocking Pre-test 2.00 1.240 0.001* 

Post-test 2.86 1.512 

*significant at p≤0.05 

 

4. Discussion and Conclusion 

This study aimed to investigate the effects of interleaving and blocking, applied in the context of 

sentence-combining exercises, on the teaching of grammatical cohesive devices in the argumentative 

essays written by native Cantonese-speaking Year 1 students at the City University of Hong Kong. In 

particular, the present researcher hopes to contribute to the body of literature with respective to the 

effectiveness of interleaving and blocking in helping students produce a higher number of CCPs that are 

correct syntactically and semantically. Results suggest that both interleaving and blocking, when applied 

in the context of sentence combining, were useful in boosting the participants’ use of the three types of 

linking words, but neither interleaving nor blocking was found to be more superior to the other in terms 

of efficacy when teaching CCPs. However, the blocking group was found to use significantly more 

prepositions as cohesive devices than did the interleaving group in the post-test. 

Concerning the sentence-combining exercises used in the present study, the finding that both groups 

improved their post-test scores might suggest that the SC exercises used in the present study as a teaching 

tool served the purpose of providing an opportunity for the students to engage in thinking at a deeper 

level about the semantic relationship between the two sentences provided in a question in the student 

handouts. The SC exercises used in this study were of the Open type, in which learners can freely decide 

how to combine the given two sentences in a question. This favorable observation concerning the use of 

SC exercises might be seen as lending some referential information to some researchers in support of 

using SC exercises to enhance learners’ syntactic maturity (e.g., Broadhead & Berlin, 1978; Hillocks, 

1984; Rice, 1983). Nevertheless, it is equally important to note that the higher overall post-test scores of 

the interleaving and blocking groups might have been a result of the constant questions asked to the 

participants by the class teacher about the typical syntactic and semantic features of the CCPs rather than 

the direct result of SC exercises per se. Another intervening variable possibly helping to boost the total 

scores of CCPs might have been the participants’ constant exposure to the target structures displayed 

systematically in the student handouts through analyzing the usage of CCPs during the six hours’ 

teaching. 



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As regards another statistically significant finding about the blocking group’s more use of prepositions 

as cohesive devices in the post-test than in the pre-test, two possible explanations might account for the 

significant difference. First, in general, the blocking practice might cause less confusion to students who 

do not have a strong level of English proficiency when learning similar grammatical structures. Such 

explanations are also available in some previous studies (e.g., Carpenter & Mueller, 2013; Schneider et 

al., 2002). Second, there might be a limitation of what six hours’ explicit teaching can do to raise students’ 

use of prepositions as linking words after students have acquired a basic level of proficiency in using 

prepositions to connect sentences. It seems possible that the interleaving group had already mastered the 

correct usage of a few basic prepositions such as because of, due to even before the treatment whereas 

the blocking group did not have the same knowledge of using these basic prepositions as linking words 

prior to the intervention. Hence, it would be easier for the blocking group to improve from a 

comparatively low threshold to a higher level. As such, it remains uncertain whether the higher number 

of prepositions used in the essays written by the blocking group in the post-test was indeed the direct 

result of the blocking practice or whether a much longer time of practice would be needed for the teaching 

of less commonly used prepositions as linking words to take effect.  

Several limitations were observed. The sample size of 14 sets of scripts for each of the two groups has 

restricted the generalizability of the conclusions derived from the findings. The second limitation is that 

the relationship between the number of linking words and the overall writing quality has not been 

investigated because of the constraint of human resources. The third limitation concerns the possible 

subjectivity that might have existed in the process of data analysis. Only one researcher determined 

whether a linking word was used correctly syntactically and semantically. Lastly, the score of cohesive 

devices was measured by counting only the total instances of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and 

prepositions used correctly both syntactically and semantically in a participant’s argumentative essay 

while the number of types of linking words actually used was disregarded. Preliminary inspection of the 

data revealed that all three types of linking words existed in most post-scripts, with prepositions being 

the category of the lowest occurrences. Therefore, counting the number of types of linking words does 

not seem likely to yield significant findings.  

Recommendations for future research are suggested as follows: a) increasing the sample size would 

enhance the generalizability of findings to be obtained; b) correlating the number of linking words used 

in an argumentative essay with the overall writing quality would justify the objective of boosting the 

number of linking words used; c) involving students who possess a lower or a higher level of English 

proficiency (e.g., HKDSE Level 3 or Level 5 students would further reveal the 

compatibility/incompatibility of SC exercises with such a group of students); and d) ensuring the 

homogeneity of the initial ability of participants to use prepositions as linking words appears necessary 

before the application of the intervention. This would allow the establishment of a stronger claim 

concerning whether blocking or interleaving is found to be more effective in terms of teaching two groups 



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of students to use prepositions to link up two sentences. One way of doing this might involve participants 

to write on the same topic within a specified amount of time. 

In conclusion, both interleaving and blocking appear to be effective in enhancing L2 learners’ use of 

conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions as grammatical cohesive devices in the context of 

sentence-combining exercises. However, interleaving practice does not seem to surpass the blocking 

practice in terms of boosting the participants’ use of the three types of cohesive devices and vice versa. 

Yet, the blocking practice might be considered as a more effective teaching sequence in helping 

intermediate students use prepositions as linking words. As regards the sentence-combining exercises 

used in the present study as a teaching tool, they seem to have served the purpose of providing an 

opportunity for the student participants to engage in deeper thinking about the semantic relationship 

between two given sentences. This favorable observation might be seen as lending some referential 

information to researchers in support of using sentence-combining exercises to enhance learners’ 

syntactic maturity. 

 

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Appendix A Handout A – Overview of Three Types of Linking Words 

LINKING WORDS 

 CONJUNCTIONS 

 

CONJUNCTIVE 

ADVERBS 

PREPOSITIONS 

 PATTERN: 

 

Although John Chan has 

only one year’s working 

experience, I highly 

recommend him for the 

post. 

 

 

I highly recommend John 

Chan for the post 

although he has only one 

year’s working 

experience. 

PATTERN: 

 

John Chan has only one 

year’s working 

experience; however, I 

highly recommend him 

for the post. 

 

John Chan has only one 

year’s working 

experience. However, I 

highly recommend him 

for the post. 

 

PATTERN: 

 

Despite his one-year 

working experience, I 

highly recommend John 

Chan for the post. 

 

 

Despite his having one-

year working experience, 

I highly recommend John 

Chan for the post. 

 

    

GROUP A because 

since 

as 

 

so* 

for* 

; in the meantime,  

; meanwhile, 

; afterwards,  

; subsequently,  

; prior to this, 

 

; as a consequence, 

; as a result, 

 

; thus,  

; therefore, 

 

; in addition,  

; moreover, 

; furthermore, 

 

; on the contrary, 

Showing cause and effect:  

Because of, 

due to, as a 

result of 

Showing concession:  

despite, in 

spite of, 

regardless 

of 

Showing addition:  

in addition 

to, besides 

(informal) 

Showing time order:  

before, after 

 



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; conversely, 

 

; however,  

; yet,  

; still,  

; nevertheless, 

; on the other hand, 

; otherwise,  

GROUP B though 

although 

even though 

even if 

while 

whereas 

no matter 

what/how/where… 

 

but* 

yet* 

  

GROUP C while 

before 

after 

 

  

*coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS) 

 

Coordinating Conjunctions vs. Subordinating Conjunctions 

Coordinating Conjunctions 

 

(Two clauses – equally important) 

Subordinating Conjunctions 

 

(Main clause – more important) 

 

1a. John Chan has only one year’s working 

experience, but I highly recommend him for the 

post. 

 

2a. I am overjoyed for I have passed the driving 

test. 

1b. Although John Chan has only one year’s 

working experience, I highly recommend him 

for the post. 

 

2b. I am overjoyed because I have passed the 

driving test. 



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3a. Co-ed schools might be better than single-

sex schools in terms of providing more 

opportunities of boys and girls to cooperate, but 

students in single-sex schools have been found 

to outperform those in co-ed schools in public 

examinations. 

  

4a. The content is informative, but grammatical 

accuracy needs improving. 

 

3b. Although co-ed schools might be better than 

single-sex schools in terms of providing more 

opportunities of boys and girls to cooperate, 

students in single-sex schools have been found 

to outperform those in co-ed schools in public 

examinations. 

 

4b. The content is informative although 

grammatical accuracy needs improving. 

 

 

 

TASK: IDENTIFY THE MAIN AND SUBORDINATE CLAUSES IN THE EXAMPLES PROVIDED. 

Sample sentences illustrating the use of conjunctions: 

1) Although dislikes chemistry, he has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 

2) We must pay our taxes, otherwise we will be fined. 

3) While their new house was being built, they were staying in a hotel nearby. 

4) The children were enjoying their outdoor activities until a sudden downpour forced them 

indoors. 

5) Before television appeared in people’s home in the fifties, the radio had been the chief 

sources of home entertainment. 

6) Some people spend their leisure time readings, whereas others prefer to watch television. 

7) If Mary had not cheated, she would not have been sentenced to jail. 

8) The house must be very quiet, otherwise David cannot concentrate. 

9) No matter whether my friend will keep me company or not, I will visit Canada this year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Appendix B Handout B—Nine Categories of Conjunctive Adverbs 

CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

Please note that the conjunctive adverbs put in the same categories below are not exactly equivalent in 

meaning despite some similarity. 

1). ADDITIONAL CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

 in addition  moreover besides  furthermore 

 

 Hong Kong is a famous city: it is a shopper’s paradise; in addition, it is also an international 

financial centre. 

2). CONCESSIVE CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

however  yet  still  on the other 

hand  

nevertheless nonetheless  

 

 Hong Kong is a shoppers’ paradise; yet, some shops overcharge tourists. 

 Some students studying overseas may benefit tremendously; on the other hand, some students 

may find the experience frustrating. 

3). CONTRASTING CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

 on the contrary  conversely 

 The gambling industry in Macau does not seem to be improving; on the contrary, it appears to 

on the decline. 

4). LOGICAL CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

 thus  therefore  

 Some teenagers lack self-control; thus, they may easily become addicted to computer games if 

not supervised by their parents.  

 All insects have six legs. A spider has eight legs; therefore, a spider is not an insect. 

5). RESULT CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

 as a result  as a consequence  for this reason  hence  consequently 

 The house prices have become unreasonably high; as a consequence, many young adults lose 

hopes of buying their own properties. 

6). ENUMERATING CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

first  second  in the first 

place  

in the second place  finally lastly 

7). ILLUSTRATIVE CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

 for example  for instance  

 One should make preparation before an interview, for example, thinking about the questions 

that may be asked. 



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 One should make preparation before an interview; for example, one should think about the 

questions that may be asked. 

8). CLARIFYING CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

after all  at least  in fact  as a matter of fact  indeed  

 

 rather  instead 

  “Jurassic Park” is not considered suitable viewing for young children; after all, it contains a 

great deal of violence.  

 Alcohol consumption increases personal popularity; at least, this is what many manufacturers 

believe.  

 Most domestic workers are not lazy; rather, they are hard-working. 

 The exchange programs last year did not include Japan universities; instead, they covered 

universities in South Korea. 

9). SEQUENTIAL CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS 

afterwards  subsequently  prior to this  in the meantime  meanwhile  

 A flyover was first built; afterwards, a tunnel was completed. 

 A meeting to discuss the use of the donated money will be held in two months’ time; prior to 

this, consensus will be sought from board members. 

 The post of the new department head is being advertised in local newspapers; in the meantime, 

daily internal emails are posted via the company intranet. 

 

Appendix C Handout C – Exercise Developed for the Interleaving Group  

Task: Combine sentences for each question below first with a conjunctive adverb and then with a 

preposition/prepositional phrase: 

1) He dislikes chemistry. He has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

2) We must pay our taxes. We will be fined. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

3) Their new house is being built. They are staying at a hotel nearby. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 



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4) The children were enjoying their outdoor activities. A sudden downpour forced them 

indoors. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

5) Television appeared in people’s home in the fifties. The radio had been the chief sources of 

home entertainment. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

6) Some people spend their leisure time readings. Others prefer to watch television. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

7) If May had not cheated. She would not have been sentenced to jail. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

8) The house must be very quiet. He cannot concentrate. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

9) My friend will not keep me company. I will travel to Canada. 

1a. (Conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 

1b. (Preposition): _____________________________________________________ 

 

Appendix D Handout D – Exercise on Conjunctive Adverbs Developed for the Blocking Group  

Task 1: Combine sentences for each question below with a conjunctive adverb: 

1) He dislikes chemistry. He has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 

2) We must pay our taxes. We will be fined. 

3) Their new house is being built. They are staying at a hotel nearby. 

4) The children were enjoying their outdoor activities. A sudden downpour forced them 

indoors. 

5) Television appeared in people’s home in the fifties. The radio had been the chief sources of 

home entertainment. 

6) Some people spend their leisure time readings. Others prefer to watch television. 

7) If May had not cheated. She would not have been sentenced to jail. 



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8) The house must be very quiet. He cannot concentrate. 

9) My friend will not keep me company. I will travel to Canada. 

 

Appendix E Handout E – Exercise on Prepositions Developed for the Blocking Group  

Task 1: Combine sentences for each question below with a preposition: 

1) He dislikes chemistry. He has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 

2) We must pay our taxes. We will be fined. 

3) Their new house is being built. They are staying at a hotel nearby. 

4) The children were enjoying their outdoor activities. A sudden downpour forced them 

indoors. 

5) Television appeared in people’s home in the fifties. The radio had been the chief sources of 

home entertainment. 

6) Some people spend their leisure time readings. Others prefer to watch television. 

7) If May had not cheated. She would not have been sentenced to jail. 

8) The house must be very quiet. He cannot concentrate. 

9) My friend will not keep me company. I will travel to Canada. 

 


