Conjunctions join two parts of a sentence and come in different types, including simple (and, but, or), compound (that, like), and correlative (so and that, or and or, both and and). Coordinating conjunctions balance equal sentence elements, while subordinating conjunctions show dependence between ideas.
Love and marriage, fish or chicken: English speakers couldn’t function without conjunctions. A quick glance at the joining syllables should be enough to tell any educated reader that the word means to join. The prefix, with, means together with. An intersection, of course, is the intersection of two things or ideas. Conjunctions, therefore, are grammatical bits that marry two parts of a sentence.
Few things in English are simple and conjunctions are proof of that. They are available in different types of packaging. The simplest conjunctions are just one word. A simple conjunction can join two things in an equal, exclusive, or other relationship. One-word conjunctions include and, but, and or as well as for and yet.
Most grammatical uses of for are prepositional. Marital usages can make the speaker a bit pretentious. For example, a speaker who announces “I was late to the party because I wanted to stop early to buy flowers” will likely have few people to talk to at the party, flowers or not.
Yet it is another conjugal word that has other grammatical functions as well as other definitions. As a conjunction, it still means or but. An example is found in the statement “she wishes she were thinner, but she won’t stop munching on sour cream chips”.
Compound conjunctions are more complex. These are sentences that end with words like that or like. The overweight girl from the previous paragraph will find that as soon as she dumps the chips, she will begin to dump her weight.
Another more complicated type of conjunction are the correlatives. These are pairs of conjunctions used to match pairs of words or ideas. In the statement “Whether or not you understand calories, they still matter,” whether or not they’re related. Other commonly used correlative conjunctions include so and that, or and or, and both and and.
These three forms of conjunction satisfy two distinct types of work. In the first case, coordinating conjunctions are used to balance two equal sentence elements. Imagining a seesaw that contains two words or phrases of equal weight makes this idea clearer. Yesterday and today may be at opposite extremes, or going to the movies may balance staying at home.
The second function is performed by the subordinating conjunctions. Words like why, since, and although fill this category. In sentences that use subordinate conjunctions, one idea depends on another: unless that woman stops eating potato chips with sour cream, she will never lose weight.
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