Conjunction

In English, words are grouped into word classes based on the function they perform in a sentence. There are nine main word classes in English; nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections. This explanation is all about conjunctions.

Conjunctions in grammar

A conjunction is a word that joins or connects two words, clauses, or phrases. They are an important grammatical tool as they help to form longer, more complex sentences out of simple sentences.

Thanks to conjunctions, the short, simple sentences 'I sing', 'I play the piano', and 'I don't play the guitar' can become one longer, more complex sentence, e.g. 'I sing and play the piano but I don't play the guitar'. The conjunctions 'and' and 'but' connect the shorter sentences.

Examples of conjunctions

There are plenty of conjunctions in the English language. Let's see if you can think of a few yourself in the following exercise.

Try to think of some words to fill in the blank in the following sentence:

He is my brother __ I love him

The conjunctions such as 'and' (he is my brother and I love him), 'so' (he is my brother, so I love him), and 'therefore' (he is my brother; therefore I love him) can be used to connect the two shorter clauses.

Other examples of conjunctions include:

• because

• for

• so

• for this reason

• firstly

• such as

• even though

• now that

• as soon as

Types of conjunctions

There are three types of conjunctions used for different purposes in English grammar. These are coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and correlating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join two parts of a sentence that have equal meaning or are equal in importance. These are what many people think of as conjunctions and are the easiest to spot.

For example, the sentences 'Chloe went to school' and 'Faye rode her bike' are equally important and quite similar. They both contain a subject (Chloe/Faye), a verb (went/rode), and an object (school/bike). Therefore, these sentences can be joined by coordinating conjunctions, e.g. 'Chloe went to school, and Faye rode her bike.

Coordination can also reduce the number of words in a sentence. For example, 'I like dogs' and 'I like cats' can be joined together to create 'I like dogs and cats'.

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English. These can remember them by using the acronym 'FANBOYS'.

Fig 1. FANBOYS

Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions join two parts of a sentence that have unequal meaning or are unequal in importance as one clause/phrase depends on the other.

The more 'important' clause is the independent clause. These are clauses that can stand alone and have a subject and a verb e.g. 'I don't like cake'. The less important clause is the dependent clause. Dependent clauses can't stand alone as they depend on the independent clause to get their meaning (they are 'subordinate').

If someone came up to you in the street and said 'unless it is chocolate fudge cake', you would have no idea what they meant. Therefore, the independent clause 'I don't like cake' and subordinating conjunction are required to complete the meaning.

Fig 2. Example of subordinating conjunction

Subordinating conjunctions are used to show cause and effect, a contrast, or a relationship of time/place between clauses. For example:

Fig 3. Uses of subordinating conjunctions

There are also multi-word subordinating conjunctions such as:

• assuming that

• in case of

• in order to

• so that

• provided that

• except that

Fig 4. I don't like cake unless it's chocolate fudge cake - Pixabay

Correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are two conjunctions that work together in a sentence. They are like two peas in a pod that are normally seen together. They may also be called 'paired conjunctions'.

Examples of correlative conjunctions include:

• either + or

• neither + nor

• not only + but (also)

• whether + or

• both + and

• hardly + when

Starting a sentence with a conjunction

You may have been told by parents or teachers, 'do not start a sentence with because' or 'do not start a sentence with but'. So, why do we so often see writers starting their sentences with a conjunction?

Putting conjunctions at the beginning of a sentence is a great way to add emphasis and is not grammatically incorrect. Think about the following sentence:

'Because it was Christmas, Emma put carrots out for the reindeer'.

Putting the conjunction 'because' at the beginning of the sentence emphasizes the fact that it is Christmas. It sounds a bit more exciting than the alternative 'Emma put carrots out for the reindeer because it was Christmas'.