In English, conjunctions are the words that connect words, phrases or clauses. They join different parts of speeches together, creating relationships between parts of a sentence or different ideas and objects. To demonstrate different relationships, there are different types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating and correlative conjunctions. So how do we define and use these different conjunctions? Here are some explanations and examples.

Coordinating Conjunctions

The most common, and simplest, conjunction is the coordinating conjunctions. These join words, phrases and clauses as a simple link, as equal grammatical components.

Cats and dogs are animals. (connecting two words)
We wanted to walk in the forest or on the hill. (connecting two phrases)
They went to the park and had a picnic. (connecting two clauses)

Coordinating conjunctions include and, or, for, so, but, yet and nor. These can create relationships that show, for example, a contrast, a decision, or consequences, but in all cases the they connect words, phrases and clauses that do not have a grammatical impact on each other.

I wanted to go, but decided to stay. (contrast)
She did not know whether to go left or right. (decision)
It started raining, so he went home. (consequence)

Coordinating conjunctions do not require a comma before them when connecting single words or ideas, but require a comma when listing more than one word, phrase or clause.

They ate cheese, biscuits and fruit for desert.

They also usually require a comma when connecting two independent clauses.

I liked the car, but I could not afford to buy it.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions connect an independent clause to a dependent clause. They show consequences, connecting two ideas – and are different from coordinating conjunctions because they occur in sentences where the dependent clause would not work on its own.

They played football while it was sunny.

Here, it was sunny is a dependent clause; it is a grammatically complete idea but it does not really make sense on its own (leading you to ask what was sunny, or when was it sunny, without the independent clause to provide context).

Subordinating clauses can demonstrate a wide variety of relationships between two clauses. They can also come at the beginning of clauses, as well as connecting clauses in the middle.

We were happy because our team won.
Because our team won, we were happy.

Common subordinating conjunctions include:

after
although
as
as far as
as if
as soon as
because
before
even if
how
if
in case
in that
no matter how
now that
once
provided
since
so that
supposing
though
unless
until
when
wherever
whether
while
while

Check the next edition of this blog to see examples for all of these conjunctions!

Correlative Conjunction

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that connect equal sentence parts in specific ways. These can connect or contrast ideas. An example that I have previously discussed in detail is not only…but also.

This is not only fun, but also interesting.

Other examples include:

both… and
either… or
neither… nor
not only… but also
so… as
whether… or

These create specific relationships between words that are generally used for emphasis. For example, we could connect two ideas simply with and, but it emphasises that the two ideas share a certain quality if we say both… and.

My mother and sister were ill.
Both my mother and sister were ill.

In the second sentence, this may emphasise that for both people to be ill is surprising or alarming. The first sentence is more of a dry statement of fact.

Conjunctive Adverbs

Clauses and phrases can also be connected with certain adverbs which connect ideas. These can be used in the same way as conjunctions, but are not specifically conjunctions. They can be single adverbs or adverb phrases.

He bought two oranges in addition to the bag of grapes.
We finished watching the film, although no one understood it.

These are usually used in the form of subordinating conjunctions, although they can also introduce new sentences (following a related sentence). As such they can come at the beginning or middle of a sentence.

I like old books, for example The Illiad.
I like old books. For example, The Illiad is very good.

Examples of more conjunctive adverbs include:

after all
as a result
consequently
finally
for example
furthermore
hence
however
in addition
in fact
incidentally
indeed
instead
likewise
meanwhile
on the contrary
on the other hand
otherwise
still
therefore
thus

Using Conjunctions

Conjunctions, in all three forms, and including conjunctive adverbs, are very useful for connecting both simple and complex ideas in English. They create relationships and can be useful for flow. They are simple in theory, but can be as complicated as the phrases and ideas they connect.