What is a Conjunction?
- I ate the pizza and the pasta.
- Call the movers when you are ready.
Co-ordinating Conjunctions
You use a co-ordinating conjunction ("and," "but," "or," "nor," "for," "so," or "yet") to join individual words, phrases, and independent clauses. Note that you can also use the conjunctions "but" and "for" as prepositions.In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is a co-ordinating conjunction:
- Lilacs and violets are usually purple.
- This movie is particularly interesting to feminist film theorists,for the screenplay was written by Mae West.
- Daniel's uncle claimed that he spent most of his youth dancing on rooftops and swallowing goldfish.
Subordinating Conjunctions
A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the relationship among the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).The most common subordinating conjunctions are "after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how," "if," "once," "since," "than," "that," "though," "till," "until," "when," "where," "whether," and "while."
Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a subordinating conjunction:
- After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent.
- If the paperwork arrives on time, your cheque will be mailed on Tuesday.
- Gerald had to begin his thesis over again when his computer crashed.
- Midwifery advocates argue that home births are safer becausethe mother and baby are exposed to fewer people and fewer germs.
Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs -- you use them to link equivalent sentence elements. The most common correlative conjunctions are "both...and," "either...or," "neither...nor,", "not only...but also," "so...as," and "whether...or." (Technically correlative conjunctions consist simply of a co-ordinating conjunction linked to anadjective or adverb.)The highlighted words in the following sentences are correlative conjunctions:
- Both my grandfather and my father worked in the steel plant.
- Bring either a Jello salad or a potato scallop.
- Corinne is trying to decide whether to go to medical school orto go to law school.
- The explosion destroyed not only the school but also the neighbouring pub.
Note: some words which appear as conjunctions can also appear as prepositions or as adverbs.
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