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Conjunctions

Conjunctions are linking words that connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. There are three main types: coordinating conjunctions like and, or, and but; subordinating conjunctions like after, although, and before; and correlative conjunctions like either...or and neither...nor. Coordinating conjunctions connect items of the same grammatical type, while subordinating conjunctions introduce subordinate clauses that depend on a main clause. Some conjunctions are single words, while others consist of multiple words like as long as or so that. Subordinating conjunctions must always begin a clause, whereas linking adverbs can be placed in different positions within a sentence.

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27 views

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are linking words that connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. There are three main types: coordinating conjunctions like and, or, and but; subordinating conjunctions like after, although, and before; and correlative conjunctions like either...or and neither...nor. Coordinating conjunctions connect items of the same grammatical type, while subordinating conjunctions introduce subordinate clauses that depend on a main clause. Some conjunctions are single words, while others consist of multiple words like as long as or so that. Subordinating conjunctions must always begin a clause, whereas linking adverbs can be placed in different positions within a sentence.

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selver.tulgar
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Conjunctions (coordinating, subordinating, and correlative.

Conjunctions are linking words like and, or, but, then and because:
They knocked down all the houses and they built a car park.
Are there four or five people living in that house?
My shoes look great but are not very comfortable.

And, but, either … or, etc. (coordinating conjunctions)


Coordinating conjunctions connect items which are the same
grammatical type, e.g. words, phrases, clauses. The most common
coordinating conjunctions are and, or, but.

 One-word conjunctions

Connecting words
Which do you prefer? [word]Red or [word]blue?

Connecting phrases
The meal was [phrase]very expensive and [phrase]not very nice.

Connecting clauses
[clause]There are seats outside but [clause]some people don’t like
sitting outdoors.
Connecting sentences
My grandmother’s name was Wall. But she became Jenkins when she
got married to my grandfather. (In very formal writing, we don’t
normally start a sentence with but.)

Connecting prefixes
[prefix]Pro- and [prefix]anti-government supporters waited outside the
parliament.

 Two-word conjunctions
Some coordinating conjunctions have two parts: either … or …, neither
… nor …, both … and …:
 You can drink chocolate milk either hot in the winter or cold in the
summer.
 Neither Lisa nor Helena had been to Italy before. (Lisa hadn’t been
to Italy before and Helena hadn’t been to Italy before.)
 Both you and I know what really happened. (You know and I know
what happened.)
Warning:
Apart from two-word conjunctions, we only use one conjunction to
connect words or phrases:
Because my alarm didn’t go off, I was late for work.
Not: Because my alarm didn’t go off, so I was late for work.
After, although, as soon as, etc. (subordinating conjunctions)
Common subordinating conjunctions are: after, (al)though, as,
before, if, since, that, until, when, whereas, while, once, so, as soon
as, provided that. When a clause follows these conjunctions, it
becomes a subordinate clause, which needs a main clause to make a
complete sentence.

 One-word conjunctions
 [subordinate clause] After we had talked on the phone, [main
clause] I wrote down what we had decided.
 [main clause] Everyone enjoyed the fishing trip [subordinate
clause] although no one caught any fish!
 [subordinate clause] Before we left at four o’clock, [main clause]
we had something to eat.
When the subordinate clause comes before the main clause, we
usually put a comma at the end of the clause. When the main clause
comes first, we don’t need to use a comma.

 Conjunctions with more than one word


Some subordinating conjunctions consist of more than one word: as
long as, as soon as, except that, in order that, so as to, provided
that:
 As long as the waves are high enough, we can go surfing.
 Provided that he pays a fine, he will not have to go to jail. (formal)
Conjunctions that can be modified by adverbs
Some subordinating conjunctions may be modified by adverbs
(underlined).
For example just when, ever since, only if, just as, simply because,
right before:
 The phone rang just when I’d gone to bed.
 I have been afraid to swim in the sea ever since I was young.

 Position of subordinating conjunctions


 Words and phrases such as:
above all, anyway, as a result, as
well, eventually, firstly, however, overall, rather, then, therefore, thou
gh, on the contrary (linking adjuncts) can create similar meanings to
conjunctions (e.g. adding, cause and effect). These words are adverb
phrases and can come in any position which an adverb can occupy:
 He left home late. (As a result) he (as a result) didn’t arrive until 8
pm (as a result).
We cannot do this with subordinating conjunctions, which must
come at the beginning of the clause. Subordinating conjunctions
create a grammatical connection between two clauses, making one
dependent on the other.

Compare
These two sentences mean the same thing but they are
connected differently:
Subordinating conjunction so:  So makes a subordinating link between the
He couldn’t get money from the cause/reason (He couldn’t get money from the
bank so he couldn’t buy a house. bank) and the result (he couldn’t buy a house).
This is a grammatical link. The position
of so cannot change.

Linking adjunct as a result:  As a result creates a link between two clauses


He couldn’t get money from the based on meaning. We can move as a result
bank. As a result he couldn’t buy (He couldn’t get money from the bank. He
a house. couldn’t buy a house as a result).

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