Coordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions are words that their main job is joining two equal grammatical notions together. Here, we will discuss them more thoroughly.
What Are Coordinating Conjunctions?
A coordinating conjunction joins two parts of a sentence that are grammatically similar, like two nouns or independent clauses that are grammatically similar. Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.
Coordinating Conjunctions in English
In English, we have seven coordinating conjunctions. You can see them in the list below:
How to use Coordinating Conjunctions?
Coordinating Conjunctions with Words and Phrases
As we mentioned before, we can use coordinating conjunctions to join phrases. You may know that we have different types of phrases and we can use different coordinating conjunctions to join them. For example:
The officer was talking to a crying woman
two noun phrases
The question was completely clear
two adjective phrases
The fans showed up to support the team
two adverb phrases
We can make
two verb phrases
Keep in mind that coordinating conjunctions can join
Neither him
two pronouns
Can he text
two verbs
We have flights to
two prepositions
The queen was a beautiful
two adjectives
The bird is singing happily
two adverbs
Rules to know:
1. When you join two nouns and use an adjective and a determiner to modify them, be careful about the position of the adjective and the determiner. Look at the examples:
Put on your
both the 'hat' and the 'jacket' is black.
Put on
The hat is black, but not the jacket.
Put on your
The hat is black, but not the jacket.
Put on your
It is clear that the ‘hat’ is black and the ‘jacket’ is red.
2. When you want to make a list, before the last item you use the coordinating conjunction 'and', then you put a comma before it. In some styles of writing, putting the comma is optional. Look at the example:
My favorite meal is pasta, hot dogs, soup, salad (,)
3. As you can see in the sentences above, you can join more than two words or phrases using coordinating conjunctions. For example:
The dish was completely clear
three adjective phrases
The officer was talking to a crying woman, a suspicious man,
three noun phrases
I ordered a pizza, a salad,
three nouns
Coordinating Conjunctions to Join Words and Phrases in English
Let us learn more about the coordinating conjunctions that we can use to join words and phrases.
And
'And' adds two or more phrases together. Look at the sentences:
I had some bread
Mike
He could win the race slowly
But
'But' as a coordinating conjunction is used to show the contrast between two words or phrases of equal importance. Let us see some examples:
The princess has a beautiful face
She is beautiful
Nor
'Nor' introduces a second negative idea to join a negative idea before it. For example:
Neither meat
Death spares neither small
He never forgives
using 'and' as a coordinating conjunction
Or
'Or' is used to express another alternative or a choice. It can be used between two of the same part of speech as well as two phrases. Look at the examples:
Are you guys having a boy
Would you rather read the book
Yet
'Yet' represents an idea that is contrasting to another idea that is already mentioned. Look at the sentences below:
The food is bad-smelling
She is a smart
Coordinating Conjunctions with Clauses
We can use coordinating conjunctions to join dependent clauses.
Rules to know:
1. When two independent clauses (clauses that can stand alone as complete sentences) are joined by a coordinating conjunction, we need to put a comma before the conjunction. For example:
Alex wants to travel to Germany, so he's studying German.
2. But if the independent clauses are short it is not necessary to put a comma. For example:
Willy is scared so he can't pet the llama.
Coordinating Conjunctions to Join Clauses in English
And
'And' can be used to join two independent clauses. Look at the example:
Sleep now
But
'But' can be used to join two independent clauses to show the contrast between them. Look at the example:
I like chocolate ice cream,
Nor
'Nor' introduces a second negative idea to join a negative idea in the first clause. Look at the sentence below:
He didn't take the kids to the zoo,
Or
'Or' can be used to link two alternatives expressed by two independent clauses. Look at the example:
Leave now
Yet
'Yet' shows contrast and means 'but' or 'nevertheless'. It presents an idea that is contrasting to an idea that is already mentioned. Look at the sentences below:
It's a weird-looking dish,
I really want a cola,
So
We can only use 'so' to join independent clauses, not phrases. Let us see some examples:
They were out of coffee,
For
'For' as a conjunction is not used very often in modern English. It is considered old-fashioned or literary. Normally with two independent clauses, it is synonymous with 'because' and explains a reason or purpose. Remember that we can only use 'for' to join clauses, not phrases or words. Pay attention to the examples:
I love taking long walks,
Forget about the past,
Using Coordinating Conjunction to Join Dependent Clauses
It is also possible to use coordinating conjunctions to join two or more dependent clauses. These clauses can be noun clauses, adjective clauses, or adverb clauses. Let us see some examples:
Unless you try hard
adverb clauses
The man who killed his mother
adjective clauses
To text on the phone
noun clauses
Talking to her friends
noun clauses
Review
Coordinating conjunctions are used to connect two or more
| Coordinating Conjunctions | |
|---|---|
| Words | and, but, yet, or, nor |
| Phrases | and, but, yet, or, nor |
| Clauses | and, but, yet, or, nor, so, for |
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