These simple connectives can help KS2 students add more detail to their writing. The most basic connectives are: and, or, but, because, then. Then: who, which, that – which all introduce a relative clause. Words like however, therefore and as a result are more complex. If you want a more complete list of complex connectives, click here.

Connectives let us show why things happen, who they happen to, when and where. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to say ‘I kicked my brother because he threw a toy tractor at me,’ or, ‘Also, he stole my stuff,’ and ‘As I kicked him, he kicked me back, which was when we started throwing gravy at the walls.’ 

If you change the connectives, you also change the meaning:
a. ‘I kicked my brother because he threw a toy tractor at me.’ >
b. ‘I kicked my brother and then he threw a toy tractor at me.’