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

LEARNING GRAMMAR FREE

Grammar is the systematic structure of any Language and thus called as its foundation. It is impossible to speak any Language without learning its grammar.  Though profound knowledge is not required but the basic concepts should be clear for fluency. In English grammar, if the parts of Speech are clear then one can speak fluently.

The parts of speech consist of Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Prepositions, Adverbs, Conjunctions and Interjections. 

The nouns are the naming words like the name of a person, place or a thing while the pronouns are the words which replace nouns like he, she, it, you, we and they.  The verbs are the action words and tell what a noun and pronoun do. For example walk, talk, look, eat, sleep etc.

Prepositions are the words which establish the relation of a noun & pronoun with other words to make a meaningful sentence. The prepositions can be categorised according to their usage, like place, time, and direction. Most common prepositions often used are at, in, on. They can be used to talk about time as well as for place. For example: I will see you on Sunday (“on” as time preposition). The book is on the table. (“On” as place preposition).

The adverbs are the words which modify a verb and conjunction functions as a connector for more than one sentence and the interjection shows the emotions & sentiments of speaker.

Thus in nutshell grammar is the mechanism to combine words to make meaningful sentences.

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