Students are expected to know that complex sentences contain an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. It always makes a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot stand alone. Both independent and dependent clauses are connected with a subordinating conjunction. Consider the following example, Perla creía en cuentos de hadas cuando era pequeña. The independent clause, Perla creía en cuentos de hadas, is connected to the dependent clause, cuando era pequeña through the subordinating conjuction cuando.

Correlative conjunctions join phrases or words that carry equal importance within a sentence. Some examples of correlative conjunctions in Spanish are: tanto/como, ni/ni, o/o. Consider the following examples, Me gustan mucho tanto las ciencias como las matemáticas; Llovió tanto que no pude ni montar mi bicicleta ni salir a jugar con mis amigos; O vienes en coche con nosotros o te vas en el autobús.

During the editing stage of the writing process, students further improve their draft and often prepare it for publishing by correcting convention errors. Ensuring that the standard rules of the Spanish language have been applied correctly helps the audience to more easily comprehend the information because they are not having to interrupt their thinking to determine what the writer intended to say.

standard rules of the Spanish language, including written mechanics such as punctuation, capitalization, spelling, paragraphing, etc. and written/oral grammar such as parts of speech, word order, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure

Students are expected to use subordinating conjunctions in their writing as a tool to determine the relationship between the ideas in a sentence. Students should understand that a subordinating conjunction has two functions. First, it provides a necessary transition between the two ideas in the sentence. This transition will indicate a time, place, cause and effect relationship. For example, Jacobo miraba muy tranquilo la televisión mientras que su hermana limpiaba la cocina. The second function of the subordinate conjunction is to reduce the importance of one clause so that a reader understands which of the two ideas is more important. The more important idea belongs in the main clause, the less important in the clause introduced by the subordinate conjunction. In the following example, the less important clause is being introduced by the subordinating conjunction antes que: Creo que mejor decimos la verdad antes que sea demasiado tarde.