Conjunctions

 A conjunction is a joiner, a word that connects
(conjoins) parts of a sentence. There seem to be
three basic types of conjunctions. They
are: coordinating conjunctions used to connect
two independent clauses , subordinating
conjunctions used to establish the relationship
between the dependent clause and the rest of
the sentence, and correlative
conjunctions which always travel in pairs,
joining various sentence elements that should be
treated as grammatically equal.

 Thedevelopmental order of
acquisition for the main types of
conjunctions is: coordinating -
subordinating - correlative. An
attempt (see below) has also been
made to order the specific
conjunction lexicon within each of
the main conjunction types.

COORDINATING
CONJUNCTIONS.
SUBORDINATING
CONJUNCTIONS.
Correlative
CONJUNCTIONS .

The simple, little conjunctions are
called coordinating conjunctions .
Coordinating conjunctions may join
single words, or they may join
groups of words, but they must
always join similar elements: e.g.
subject + subject , verb phrase +
verb phrase, sentence + sentence.
The seven coordinating
conjunctions in English are:

 FOR - is to introduce the reason for
the preceding clause
 AND - joins two similar ideas
together
 NOR - The conjunction nor is not
extinct, but it is not used nearly as
often as the other conjunctions. Its
most common use is as the little
brother in the correlative pair,
neither-nor
 BUT - joins two contrasting ideas
together
 OR - joins two alternative ideas

YET - is very similar to 'but' as it
also joins two contrasting ideas
together
SO - shows that the second idea
is the result of the first
An easy way to remember these
six conjunctions is to think of the
word FANBOYS. Each of the
letters in this somewhat unlikely
word is the first

 letter
of one of the coordinating
conjunctions.
 Among the coordinating
conjunctions, the most common, of
course, are AND, BUT and OR.

note
(It may help you remember these
conjunctions by recalling that they
all have fewer than four letters.
Also, remember the
acronym FANBOYS:

For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So. Be
careful of the
words then and now; neither is a
coordinating conjunction, so
what we say about coordinating
conjunctions' roles in a sentence
and punctuation does not apply
to those two words.)

 When a coordinating conjunction connects
two independent clauses, it is often (but
not always) accompanied by a comma:
 Ulysses wants to play for Conn , but he has
had trouble meeting the academic
requirements.
 When the two independent clauses
connected by a coordinating conjunction are
nicely balanced or brief, many writers will
omit the comma:
 Ulysses has a great jump shot but he isn't
quick on his feet.

 The comma is always correct when used to
separate two independent clauses connected
by a coordinating conjunction.
See Punctuation Between Two Independent
Clauses for further help.
 A comma is also correct when and is used to
attach the last item of a serial list, although
many writers (especially in newspapers) will
omit that final comma:
 Ulysses spent his summer studying basic
math, writing , and reading comprehension.
 When a coordinating conjunction is used to
connect all the elements in a series, a
comma is not used:

 Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists are
the prevalent Protestant congregations in
Oklahoma.
 A comma is also used with but when
expressing a contrast:
 This is a useful rule, but difficult to
remember.
 In most of their other roles as joiners (other
than joining independent clauses, that is),
coordinating conjunctions can join two
sentence elements without the help of a
comma.
 Hemingway and Fitzgerald are among the
American expatriates of the between-the-
wars era.

 Hemingway was renowned for his
clear style and his insights into
American notions of male identity.
 It is hard to say whether
Hemingway or Fitzgerald is the more
interesting cultural icon of his day.
 Although Hemingway is sometimes
disparaged for his unpleasant
portrayal of women and for his
glorification of machismo, we
nonetheless find some sympathetic,
even heroic, female figures in his
novels and short stories.

 Beginning a Sentence with And or But
 A frequently asked question about conjunctions
is whether and or but can be used at the
beginning of a sentence. This is what R.W.
Burchfield has to say about this use of and:
 There is a persistent belief that it is improper to
begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition
has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors
from Anglo-Saxon times onwards. An
initial And is a useful aid to writers as the
narrative continues.
 Among the coordinating conjunctions, the most
common, of course, are and, but, and or. It
might be helpful to explore the uses of these
three little words. The examples below by no
means exhaust the possible meanings of these
conjunctions.

 To suggest that one idea is chronologically
sequential to another: "Tahoma sent in her
applications and waited by the phone for a
response."
 To suggest that one idea is the result of
another: "Willie heard the weather
report and promptly boarded up his house."
 To suggest that one idea is in contrast to
another (frequently replaced by but in this
usage): "Juanita is brilliant and Shalimar has
a pleasant personality.

 To suggest that one clause is dependent upon
another, conditionally {usually the first
clause is an imperative}: "Use your credit
cards frequently and you'll soon find yourself
deep in debt."
 To suggest a kind of "comment" on the first
clause: "Charlie became addicted to
gambling — and that surprised no one who
knew him."
 To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes
replaced by yet in this usage): "Hartford is a
rich city and suffers from many symptoms of
urban blight."

 To suggest a contrast that is unexpected in light
of the first clause: "Joey lost a fortune in the
stock market, but he still seems able to live
quite comfortably."
 To suggest in an affirmative sense what the first
part of the sentence implied in a negative way
{sometimes replaced by on the contrary}: "The
club never invested foolishly, but used the
services of a sage investment counselor."
 To connect two ideas with the meaning of "with
the exception of" {and then the second word
takes over as subject}:
"Everybody but Goldenbreath is trying out for
the team."

 To suggest that only one possibility can be
realized, excluding one or the other: "You
can study hard for this exam or you can fail."
 To suggest the inclusive combination of
alternatives: "We can broil chicken on the
grill tonight, or we can just eat leftovers.
 To suggest a refinement of the first clause:
"Smith College is the premier all-women's
college in the country, or so it seems to most
Smith College alumnae."
 To suggest a restatement or "correction" of
the first part of the sentence: "There are no
rattlesnakes in this canyon, or so our guide
tells us."

 To suggest a negative condition: "The New
Hampshire state motto is the rather grim
"Live free or die."
 To suggest a negative alternative without the
use of an imperative {see use of and above}:
"They must approve his political style or they
wouldn't keep electing him mayor."

 The conjunction NOR is not extinct, but it is
not used nearly as often as the other
conjunctions, so it might feel a bit odd
when nor does come up in conversation or
writing. Its most common use is as the little
brother in the correlative pair , neither-nor
(see below):
 He is neither sane nor brilliant.
 That is neither what I said nor what I meant.
 It can be used with other negative expressions
like :

 That is not what I meant to say, nor should you
interpret my statement as an admission of guilt.
 It is possible to use nor without a preceding
negative element, but it is unusual and, to an
extent, rather stuffy:
 George's handshake is as good as any written
contract, nor has he ever proven untrustworthy.
 The word YET functions sometimes as an adverb
and has several meanings: in addition ("yet
another cause of trouble" or "a simple yet noble
woman"), even ("yet more expensive"), still ("he
is yet a novice"), eventually ("they may yet
win"), and so soon as now ("he's not here yet"). It
also functions as a coordinating conjunction
meaning something like "nevertheless" or "but."
The word yet seems to carry an element of
distinctiveness that but can seldom register.

 John plays basketball well, yet his favorite sport is badminton.
 The visitors complained loudly about the heat, yet they
continued to play golf every day.
 In sentences such as the second one, above, the pronoun subject
of the second clause ("they," in this case) is often left out. When
that happens, the comma preceding the conjunction might also
disappear: "The visitors complained loudly yet continued to play
golf every day."
 Yet is sometimes combined with other conjunctions, but or and.
It would not be unusual to see and yet in sentences like the ones
above. This usage is acceptable.
 The word FOR is most often used as a preposition, of course, but
it does serve, on rare occasions, as a coordinating conjunction.
Some people regard the conjunction for as rather highfalutin and
literary, and it does tend to add a bit of weightiness to the text.
Beginning a sentence with the conjunction "for" is probably not a
good idea, except when you're singing "For he's a jolly good
fellow. "For" has serious sequential implications and in its use
the order of thoughts is more important than it is, say,
with because or since. Its function is to introduce the reason for
the preceding clause:

 John thought he had a good chance to get the job, for his
father was on the company's board of trustees.
 Most of the visitors were happy just sitting around in the
shade, for it had been a long, dusty journey on the train.
 Be careful of the conjunction SO. Sometimes it can
connect two independent clauses along with a comma, but
sometimes it can't. For instance, in this sentence,
 Soto is not the only Olympic athlete in his family, so are
his brother, sister, and his Uncle Chet.
 where the word so means "as well" or "in addition," most
careful writers would use a semicolon between the two
independent clauses. In the following sentence,
where so is acting like a minor-league "therefore," the
conjunction and the comma are adequate to the task:
 Soto has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it is
no surprise that he avoids crowds of his adoring fans.
 Sometimes, at the beginning of a sentence, so will act as a
kind of summing up device or transition, and when it
does, it is often set off from the rest of the sentence with
a comma:
 So, the sheriff peremptorily removed the child from the
custody of his parents.

A subordinating conjunction joins
a subordinate clause to a main clause.

 After  As thought
 until  Because
 As  Even if
 If  Even thought
 Although  Though
 As long as  That
 As much as  Than
 Unless  So that
 Before  Since
 As soon as  provided

 Whenever  Till
 When  Til
 Where  How
 While  If
 Whenever  In as much
 Since  In order that
 So that
 Now that
 least

 The subordinate conjunction has two jobs. First,
it provides a necessary transition between the
two ideas in the sentence. This transition will
indicate a time, place, or cause and
effect relationship. Here are some examples:
 Louisa will wash the sink full of her dirty
dishes once her roommate Shane cleans his
stubble and globs of shaving cream from the
bathroom sink.
 We looked on top of the
refrigerator, where Jenny will often hide a bag
of chocolate chip cookies.
 Because her teeth were chattering in fear, Lynda
clenched her jaw muscle while waiting for her
turn to audition.

 Subordinating conjunctions also join two
clauses together, but in doing so, they make
one clause dependent (or "subordinate")
upon the other.
 A subordinating conjunction may appear at a
sentence beginning or between two clauses
in a sentence.
 A subordinate conjunction usually provides a
tighter connection between clauses than a
coordinating conjunctions does.
 Loose: It is raining, so we have an umbrella.
 Tight: Because it is raining, we have an
umbrella.

 When the dependent clause is
placed first in a sentence, use a
comma between the two
clauses. When the independent
clause is placed first and the
dependent clause second, do not
separate the two clauses with a
comma.

Some conjunctions combine with
other words to form what are
called correlative conjunctions.
They always travel in pairs,
joining various sentence elements
that should be treated as
grammatically equal.

 both . . . and
 not only . . . but also
 not . . . but
 either . . . or neither .
. . nor
 whether . . . or
 as . . . as

 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-coordinating conjunction
linked to an adjective or adverb.}
 The highlighted words in the following
sentences are correlative conjunctions:
 Both my grandfather and my father worked in
the steel plant .In this sentence, the
correlative conjunction "both...and" is used to
link the two noun phrases that act as
the compound subject of the sentence: "my
grandfather" and "my father".

 Bring either a Jelly salad or a potato scallop .
Here the correlative conjunction "either...or"
links two noun phrases: "a Jelly salad" and "a
potato scallop."
 Corinne is trying to decide whether to go to
medical school orzo go to law school . Similarly,
the correlative conjunction "whether ... or" links
the two infinitive phrases "to go to medical
school" and "to go to law school."
 The explosion destroyed not only the school but
also the neighboring pub . In this example the
correlative conjunction "not only ... but also"
links the two noun phrases ("the school" and
"neighboring pub") which act as direct objects.
 Note: some words which appear as conjunctions
can also appear as prepositions or as adverbs.

 Summer days are
hot and sunny.

 In Summer, I like to
sail because the weather is nice.

 Sailing in Summer is great, but I
don't have a sailing boat.

Punctuation Rules
The Special Case of Conjunctive
Adverbs

 Rule : A semicolon and a comma
are used together when a
conjunctive adverb separates two
main clauses.

example
I wanted to go; however, I was too busy.

Here is a list of common conjunctive
adverbs.
accordingly
accordingly
furthermore
moreover
Similarly
also
hence
namely

still
anyway
however
Nevertheless
then
besides
Incidentally
next
Thereafter
Certainly
indeed
nonetheless
Therefore

now
thus
finally
likewise
Otherwise
undoubtedly
further
meanwhile.

 The conjunctive adverbs such as
however, moreover, nevertheless,
consequently, as a result are used
to create complex relationships
between ideas. Refer to the
section on Coherence: Transitions
Between Ideas for an extensive list
of conjunctive adverbs
categorized according to their
various uses and for some advice
on their application within
sentences (including punctuation
issues).

Choose the correct conjunction.
I need to work hard so that I can
pass the exam.
 Although he was the best qualified
party candidate, he didn't win the
elections.
 When you come back from your trip,
we'll meet to discuss the problem.
 They said that the movie was
fantastic, so I watched it.

 Although he was very ill, he didn't
take any medicine.
 I don't know where I can buy a
pair of jeans.
 She went to the shops but couldn't
find anything she liked.
 Everybody likes him because he is
nice and helpful.
 Since he was angry with her, he
didn't utter a word.
 Keep quiet or go out.

[1] Things were different _____ I was young.
 WHEN
[2] I do it _____ I like it.
 BECAUSE
[3] Let us wait here _____ the rain stops.
 UNTILL
[4] You cannot be a lawyer _____ you have
a law degree.
 UNLESS
[5] That was years _____ years ago.
 END

[6] She has not called _____ she left last week.
 SINCE
[7] I saw him leaving an hour _____ two ago.
 OR
[8] This is an expensive _____ very useful
book.
 BUT
[9] We were getting tired _____ we stopped for
a rest.
 SO
[10] He was angry _____ he heard when
happened.
 WHEN

[11] Walk quickly _____ you will be late.
 OR
[12] He had to retire _____ of ill health.
 BECAUSE
[13] We will go swimming next Sunday
_____ it's raining.
 UNLESS
[14] I heard a noise _____ I turned the light
on.
 SO
[15] Would you like a coffee _____ tea?
 OR

[16 ]Do you know _____ she will arrive?
 WHEN
[17] _____ the car is old it still runs well.
 ALTHOUGH
[18] Do you want a pen _____ a bit of
paper?
 AND
[19] I would like to go _____ I am too busy.
 BUT
[20] She will die _____ the doctors operate
immediately.
 UNLESS

Conjunctions: and, but, or, so

We will visit Australia ......... New Zealand
during our next vacation.

(a) and(b) but(c) so

 My teeth were hurting ......... I made an
appointment to go the dentist.
o
(a) or(b) so(c) but

•
Have you seen ......... heard the latest musical
by Andrew Lloyd Webber?

(a) but(b) so(c) or

 I wanted to go to the rock concert ......... all
the tickets were already sold.
o
(a) so(b) but(c) and



I wanted to eat sushi for dinner ......... I went to
a Japanese restaurant.

(a) but(b) so(c) or


I wanted to eat fish for lunch ......... the fish
and chip shop had closed for the day.

(a) or(b) but(c) so



I am going to do my homework ......... take a
shower when I get home from school.

(a) and(b) but(c) so


My father wanted to watch a soccer match on
television ......... my mother was already
watching another program.
o
(a) but(b) so(c) or

 My brother wanted to buy a novel ......... he
went to the book store after he finished
work.

(a) so(b) or(c) but



I wanted to visit my grandmother last
week ......... she had an accident and had to
be taken to hospital.

(a) but(b) or(c) so

A
B
C
B
B
B
A
A
A
A

 Frogs can hop, but they can't fly.
 Peter has a fever and a terrible headache.
 You have to speak louder because he
can't hear well.
 Tom studied hard,but he failed the test.
 They like to watch soap operas and films on
TV.
 Jim is happy because he won the
race.

For each sent ence, choose
t he best w d or phr ase t o
or
com et e t he gap f r om t he
pl
choi ces bel ow.
 ---- - - - - all the students had arrived, we
started the weekly revision test.
 once
 You will be able to get into the cinema -------
you arrive before the film starts.
 As long as
 -------- the large amount of food at the party,
Shohei couldn't find anything he wanted to eat.
 despite
 At one point in the lesson it looked ------ the
teacher was going to give us some chocolate but
then he took the chocolate away at the end of
the lesson.

 Peter decided to pay extra for a flat near the
school,--------- have to walk a many miles every
morning from a cheaper but more distant
location.
 Rather than
 I enjoyed the movie because of the great
story, fantastic soundtrack and ---------- .
 Believable characters
 In England we have short daylight hours in winter
and very long daylight hours in summer ------
the days are always the same length in
Singapore.
 Where as
 Our teacher always brings a bar of chocolate to
class on test days in case one of the students ----
one hundred percent.
 gets

Conjunctions

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Conjunctions