A selection of headlines from stories in the news. They use English in a way that you might think is intended to confuse but it's all perfectly clear to the native speaker.
The Times used the headline "Must Try Harder" in a story about the UK's School Minister, Nick Gibb, failing a Sats grammar question aimed at 11 year olds.
A question about subordinating conjunctions was posed to the minister during a BBC Radio Four interview on World At One. He was asked whether the word 'after' in the following sentence, "I went to the cinema after I'd eaten my dinner," was a preposition or a subordinating conjunction. He answered, "It's a preposition".
Oops!
!Note - Teachers in the UK often write "Must try harder" in pupils school reports. (Mine usually said, "Could do better".)
For purists: Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a subordinate clause to a main clause. In other words when one idea in a sentence is dependent upon another. The subordinating conjunction, after, can act as a preposition, if it is followed by an object rather than a dependent clause. But, if the word joins a verb to the sentence, it is acting as a conjunction.
Laika ran after the ball. (After is a preposition.)
We went out to eat after the cinema. (After is a subordinating conjunction, because we are really saying "after watching the film at the cinema.)
One a final note. I think his failure proves my point - you can read and write to a high level without being a grammarian.