Conjunctions are used to link phrases and clauses together. There aretwo types:
1 Coordinating conjunctions (or simply ‘coordinators’) are used tolink elements of equal grammatical status.The main coordinators are and, but, and or:
The weather was [cold] and [wet].
[Paul plays football] and [Amy enjoys tennis].
[Simon is coming] but [he can’t stay for long].
[I read your book] but [I didn’t enjoy it].
Would you prefer [coffee] or [cappuccino]?
[You can leave now] or [you can wait here].
The coordinator or is used with either:
You can have either [pizza] or [a hamburger].
In the negative counterpart of this, the coordinator nor is used
with neither:
You can have neither [pizza] nor [a hamburger].
2 Subordinating conjunctions (or simply ‘subordinators’) introduce a subordinate clause:
Paul has to leave because he has a dental appointment.
Here, the main clause is Paul has to leave. The subordinate clause
is because he has a dental appointment, and it is introduced by the
subordinator because.
Other subordinators include:
although that
after unless
as until
before when(ever)
if whereas
since while
Multi-word subordinators include the following:
as long as in order that
as soon as provided that
as though so long as
except that such that
1 Coordinating conjunctions (or simply ‘coordinators’) are used tolink elements of equal grammatical status.The main coordinators are and, but, and or:
The weather was [cold] and [wet].
[Paul plays football] and [Amy enjoys tennis].
[Simon is coming] but [he can’t stay for long].
[I read your book] but [I didn’t enjoy it].
Would you prefer [coffee] or [cappuccino]?
[You can leave now] or [you can wait here].
The coordinator or is used with either:
You can have either [pizza] or [a hamburger].
In the negative counterpart of this, the coordinator nor is used
with neither:
You can have neither [pizza] nor [a hamburger].
2 Subordinating conjunctions (or simply ‘subordinators’) introduce a subordinate clause:
Paul has to leave because he has a dental appointment.
Here, the main clause is Paul has to leave. The subordinate clause
is because he has a dental appointment, and it is introduced by the
subordinator because.
Other subordinators include:
although that
after unless
as until
before when(ever)
if whereas
since while
Multi-word subordinators include the following:
as long as in order that
as soon as provided that
as though so long as
except that such that
