So, What Is a Conjunction?
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
What is a conjunction?
A conjunction is a word that joins two or more words, phrases, orclauses.
Think of them as glue words. They glue words, phrases, or clauses together.
For example, if you would like to have your friend bring music and snacks to your party, it's pretty hard to do it without a conjunction.
You could say:
But it's more efficient to say:
And it's more polite to say:
See how the conjunction and glues the words music and snacks together?
Words, Phrases, and Clauses
Okay, read this question and then try to answer it with your eyes closed: What is a conjunction?
How did you do? Did you remember that they join words, phrases, and clauses?
Words: silver and gold
Phrases: over the river and through the woods
Clauses: Marianne planted a flower, and she watched it grow.
In all of the above examples, we used the conjunction and which is one of the most common conjunctions.
But, of course, there are many more conjunctions out there. While all conjunctions perform the same basic function (gluing things together), there are three types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, andcorrelative. To see a list of these conjunctions.
What is a conjunction? It is a gluing word.
Coordinating Conjunctions
These are the most common, and there are only seven of them (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). Some people remember these with the acronym FANBOYS. They glue together sentence elements that are equal.
Such as...
Two words: pie or cake
Two phrases: in the car or on the bike
Two independent clauses: You must study, or you won't learn grammar.
Subordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions glue subordinate clauses to independent clauses.
A subordinate clause is a clause that cannot stand alone. (Remember that a clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb.) It is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction.
Subordinate Clause Examples:
whenever I see your cat
since you are coming
These are not complete sentences. They all have subjects (you, I, you) and verbs (are, see, are coming), but since they cannot stand alone, they are subordinate clauses.
An independent clause is also a group of words with a subject and a verb. But, unlike a subordinate clause, an independent clause can stand alone.
Independent Clause Examples:
I sneeze.
I won't bring my cat.
These are all complete sentences. They all have subjects (I), verbs (will bring, sneeze, won't bring), and they can stand alone.
Subordinating conjunctions let us join subordinate clauses with independent clauses:
Examples:
Whenever I see your cat, I sneeze.
Since you are coming, I won't bring my cat.
Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are always used in pairs. (either... or, both... and).
Example:
