All about Coordinating Conjunctions

The conjunctions are the words which join two words, sentences, clauses and phrases with each other. The most common conjunctions are so, but, that, and, till etc. There are three types of conjunctions - coordinating conjunction, correlative conjunction and subordinating conjunction.

The coordinating conjunction are those which join two words, sentences, clauses and phrases having equal syntactic importance. It means that the sentences they connect have complete meaning in themselves. There are seven coordinating conjunctions – For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, Soon.  The acronym to remember these is ‘FANBOYS’ which has the initial alphabet of every conjunction.  

The functions of these conjunctions are mentioned below.

For: It is used to express reason.

Example:  I slept after reaching home for it had been a long journey.

And: It is used to join two similar ideas.

Example:  Tanya lives in Delhi and studies in Delhi University. 

Nor: It is used to join two negative sentences.

Example: It’s is neither so bog nor small.

But: It is used to join two contrasting sentences.

Example: John is a good tennis player but Sam is the best.

Or: It is used to join two alternative sentences. 

Example: You should study hard for this exam or you will fail.

Yet: It means “but”. It is used to connect those sentences that show a contrast or an exception.

Example: He is nervous yet confident to get this job.

So:  It used to join those sentences where one is the result of another.

Example: I was very tired so I slept early.

Conjunctions and its uses in English

In English language, the conjunctions functions as a “connector”. Thus it is defined as the part of speech that connects words, clauses, phrases and sentences to complete their meaning.

Conjunctions are divided into three categories Coordinating, Subordinating and Correlative.

1) Coordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions join two statements of equal importance. 

The seven common coordinating conjunctions are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so and can be memorized in their abbreviated form as F.A.N.B.O.Y.S (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

2) Subordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions join two sentences, one of which depends on other for its complete meaning. They are helpful in writing paragraphs.

The most common examples of subordinating conjunctions are although, as, because, before, if, since, so, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, whereas, while etc.

3) Correlative Conjunctions: These are the pair of conjunctions used to join two syntactic equivalent statements, to complete their meanings.

The examples of correlative conjunctions are mentioned below.

• either , or

• neither, nor

• whether, or

• not only, but

• just as, so

• both, and