Conjunctions~

A conjunction is a word that connects other words or groups of words. There are 3 types of conjunction which are coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions and correlative conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions which connect two equal parts of a sentence.  The most common ones are and, or, but, and so.

·         ‘and’ is used to join or add words together                      Eg:  They ate and drank. ·         ‘or’ is used to show choice or possibilities             Eg:  He will be here on Monday or Tuesday. ·         ‘but’ is used to show opposite or conflicting ideas             Eg:  She is small but strong. ·         ‘so’ is used to show result             Eg:  I was tired so I went to sleep.

Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence that are not equal and will be discussed more in another class.  For now, you should know some of the more common subordinating conjunctions such as:

after                   before                unless     although             if                        until     as                       since                   when     because              than                    while

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together.  The most common correlative conjunctions are:

both . . .and       either . . . or       neither . . . nor       not only . . . but also For examples: - Both Jan and Meg are good swimmers. - You can borrow either this book or that one. - Neither David nor Peter attended the meeting. - Ali not only won the competition but also became   the best participant.