A conjunction is a word which connects two words or clauses or sentences and
shows the relation between them. They are used to avoid making the text seem
like bullet points and to make the text flow.
E.g. -Jai saw a dog on
the road. He decided to adopt the dog. Jai brought the dog home.
Jai saw a dog on the road and decided to adopt the dog, so he
brought the dog home.
Here ‘and’ and ‘so’ are conjunctions which are used to join the
sentences and show the relation between them.
There are three main categories of conjunctions that are explained
below. Apart from these, there are also Adverbs of Conjunctions,. To learn more
about the Adverbs of Conjunctions visit the Adverbs page.
-Coordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions are used to link or join two words or phrases
that are equally important and complete in terms of grammar when compared with
each other. That is to say, the sentences or words do not depend on anything to
give themselves meaning.
There are seven main coordinating conjunctions -
For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
Soon
As you can see, these conjunctions are arranged in this way to
provide the mnemonic acronym of FANBOYS so that it is easier to
remember them. These conjunctions are always placed between the two clauses or
words that they are joining. The following are some examples of the
coordinating conjunctions
-Chris does not want tea. Chris does not want coffee.
- Chris does not want tea or coffee.
Here, we see how ‘or’ was used to combine the two words
and make a cohesive sentence using them. Also, notice how the ‘or’ is
between the two words.
I scored 60% in the exams this year. Anita scored 7% more than me
this year.
- I scored 60% in the exams but Anita scored 7% more than me this
year.
Here we see that ‘but’ was used in the middle to combine
and show the relation between the two sentences that were both equally
important and cohesive by themselves.
-Subordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions are used to join an independent and complete
clause with a dependent clause that relies on the main clause for meaning and
relevance. The dependent clause cannot exist on its own as a sentence and often
does not make sense without the main clause.
The subordinating conjunction always comes before the dependent
clause but the dependent clause itself can be placed either ahead of or
following the independent clause.
Since they had misbehaved, the boys were given one week suspensions
from school.
Here, we see the dependent clause is ‘they had misbehaved’ which
is not a valid sentence by itself.
The independent main clause is ‘the boys were given one week
suspensions from school’.
They are joined by the subordinating conjunction ‘since’.
He was fond of playing basketball because it was his father’s
favourite game.
In this sentence, because is the subordinating conjunction as it
introduces the dependent clause ‘it was his father’s favourite game’
The main clause in this sentence is ‘he was fond of playing
basketball’ as it is the sentence which can be said independently and still be
grammatically correct.
Other subordinating conjunctions are :-
Although, As, Before, Once, Though, Until, Whether, etc.
-Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions are simply pairs of conjunctions used in
a sentence to join different words or groups of words in a sentence together.
Correlative Conjunctions are generally not used to link sentences themselves,
instead they link two or more words of equal importance within the sentence
itself. Some of the more commonly used correlative conjunctions are -
Both the shoes and the dress were completely overpriced.
This is an example of using the correlative conjunctions
‘both/and’ in a sentence.
As you can see in this sentence, the ‘shoes’ and the ‘dress’ were
equally important elements that needed to be given the same importance.
They should either change their strategy or just forfeit the game.
The ‘either/or’ conjunctions are used to suggest a
choice between two options. Here the choice being suggested is between -
‘change their strategy’ or ‘forfeit the game’.
Just as she loves hiking so she enjoys travelling as well.
The correlative conjunctions ‘just as/so’ are used to
link two phrases that have a similar theme or are referring to a similar thing
together. This conjunction is used to show the correspondence between two
phrases or words.
He neither helps around the house nor does he look for a job.
‘Neither/nor’ are conjunctions that are used to deny or
negate words and phrases. In the case of ‘neither’, it gives two options that
are both negated. ‘Nor’ is the negative form of ‘or’.
Not only does he play the lead guitar but he is also the band’s
songwriter.
The correlative conjunctions ‘not only/but’ are used to
show an additional and important element in the sentence that is used to
indicate excess when combined with the first element. For instance, in this
sentence the fact that he is a guitarist and a song writer are equally
important but when shown together, they indicate an excess of talent in the
person.
It doesn’t matter whether the roses are fresh or if they are
drooping, just buy them.
‘Whether/or’ is used as a conjunction to show two different
options in the sentence. The conjunction can be used both in a manner of
negation and confirmation.
