Conjunctions

A CONJUNCTION IS A WORD THAT CONNECTS OTHER WORDS, PHRASES, CLAUSES, OR SENTENCES. There are several different types of conjunctions in the English language, including:

Coordinating conjunctions: (e.g., "and", "but", "or", "nor", "for", "so", "yet")
Subordinating conjunctions: (e.g., "after", "although", "as", "because", "before", "if", "since", "unless", "until", "when", "while")
Correlative conjunctions: (e.g., "both...and", "either...or", "neither...nor", "not only...but", "also", "whether...or")

Conjunctions play an important role in making sentences coherent and well-structured and help convey the relationship between different elements within a sentence.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

THE SIMPLE, LITTLE conjunctions called coordinating conjunction ("and", "but", "or", "yet", "for", "nor", "so") are some of the most common words in the English language. Without them, it would be difficult to make more complicated sentences.

For example:
I went to the store, and I bought some bread.
I wanted to go for a walk, but it was raining.
Do you want to go to the park or stay at home?

Coordinating conjunctions can also be used to link clauses of equal importance within a sentence. For example:

I was tired, so I went to bed early.

In this sentence, the coordinating conjunction "so" is linking two clauses of equal importance: "I was tired" and "I went to bed early."

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

ALSO KNOWN as subordinators, these conjunctions link an independent clause with a dependent clause, establishing a relationship where one clause becomes dependent on the other. The subordinator indicates that the dependent clause has information to the main idea of the sentence. It could show a cause-and-effect relationship, or that to events happened at the same time, or at different times.

When the word "when" is used as a conjunction, it means "at the time that..." It creates a subordinate clause and needs a main clause to complete it.

Unlike coordinators, subordinators do not give equal emphasis to the ideas that they connect. The clause which begins with a conjunction - the dependent clause - receives less emphasis.

"IF" IS ONE of the most powerful conjunctions, and it creates conditional clauses.

"Provided" is another conjunction.

We use "because" to focus on the reason for something, and "while" and "as' to focus on the result.

Adverbial clauses can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They use a trigger word or "subordinating conjunction" to create dependent clauses which explain how or why things happen. When Adverb Clauses are used with adjectives or adverbs, however, they compare different things and use a conjunction like "than" or "as".

Examples: After, before, until.

CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

"Either" means one of two. "Neither", on the other hand, means "none of two".

One of my Japanese students wrote this sentence: "For example, there was the most demand on books until 2000, and the figure was 50% in 1995 and 43% in 2000." "Until" is a conditional conjunction, whereas "before" is not.
For example: "Do not let your feet start moving before the gun fires, then give it everything you've got..."

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