Conjunction (grammar)

"But" redirects here. For other uses, see BUT (disambiguation).

In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated conj or cnj) is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins.

The definition can also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function as a single-word conjunction (as well as, provided that, etc.).

Many students are taught that certain conjunctions (such as "and", "but", and "so") should not begin sentences, although this belief has "no historical or grammatical foundation".^[1]

Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions that join two or more items of equal syntactic importance, such as words, main clauses, or sentences. In English the mnemonic acronym FANBOYS can be used to remember the coordinators for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.^[2][3] These are not the only coordinating conjunctions; various others are used, including^{[4]:ch. 9[5]:p. 171} "and nor" (British), "but nor" (British), "or nor" (British), "neither" ("They don't gamble; neither do they smoke"), "no more" ("They don't gamble; no more do they smoke"), and "only" ("I would go, only I don't have time").

Here are the meanings and some examples of coordinating conjunctions in English:

• for: presents a reason ("He is gambling with his health, for he has been smoking far too long.") (though "for" is more commonly used as a preposition)
• and: presents non-contrasting item(s) or idea(s) ("They gamble, and they smoke.")
• nor: presents a non-contrasting negative idea ("They do not gamble, nor do they smoke.")
• but: presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, but they don't smoke.")
• or: presents an alternative item or idea ("Every day, they gamble or they smoke.")
• yet: presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, yet they don't smoke.")
• so: presents a consequence ("He gambled well last night, so he smoked a cigar to celebrate.")

Correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together to coordinate two items. English examples include both…and, [n]either…[n]or, and not [only]…but [also], whether... or.

Examples:

• Either do your work or prepare for a trip to the office.
• Not only is he handsome but he is also brilliant.
• Neither the basketball team nor the football team is doing well.
• Both the cross country team and the swimming team are doing well.
• Whether you stay or go is your decision.

Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that introduce a dependent clause. The most common subordinating conjunctions in the English language include the following: after, although, as if, as much as, as long as, as soon as, as though, because, before, but, even if, even though, if, in that, in order that, lest, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, and while. Complementizers can be considered to be special subordinating conjunctions that introduce complement clauses (e.g., "I wonder whether he'll be late. I hope that he'll be on time"). Some subordinating conjunctions (until, while), when used to introduce a phrase instead of a full clause, become prepositions with identical meanings.

In many verb-final languages, subordinate clauses must precede the main clause on which they depend. The equivalents to the subordinating conjunctions of non-verb-final languages such as English are either

• clause-final conjunctions (e.g. in Japanese), or
• suffixes attached to the verb and not separate words^[6]

Such languages in fact often lack conjunctions as a part of speech because:

1. the form of the verb used is formally nominalised and cannot occur in an independent clause
2. the clause-final conjunction or suffix attached to the verb is actually formally a marker of case and is also used on nouns to indicate certain functions. In this sense, the subordinate clauses of these languages have much in common with postpositional phrases.

In other West-Germanic languages like German or Dutch, the word order after a subordinating conjunction is different from the one in an independent clause, e.g. in Dutch want (for) is coordinating, but omdat (because) is subordinating. The clause after the coordinating conjunction has normal word order, but the clause after the subordinating conjunction has verb-final word order. Compare:

Hij gaat naar huis, want hij is ziek. ("He goes home, for he is ill.")

Hij gaat naar huis, omdat hij ziek is. ("He goes home because he is ill.")

Similarly, in German, "denn" (for) is coordinating, but "weil" (because) is subordinating:

Er geht nach Hause, denn er ist krank. ("He goes home, for he is ill.")

Er geht nach Hause, weil er krank ist. ("He goes home because he is ill.")

See also

• Asyndeton
• Conjunctive adverb
• Conjunctive mood, sometimes used with conjunctions
• List of common English usage misconceptions
• Logical conjunction
• On a white bus
• Polysyndeton
• Relativizer
• Syndeton

References

1. ^ University of Chicago (2010). The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.). Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. p. 257. ISBN 9780226104201. 
2. ^ Curzan, Anne; Adams, Michael (2009), How English Works: A Linguistic Introduction (2nd ed.), New York: Pearson Longman, p. 152, ISBN 9780205605507 
3. ^ Merriam-webster.com
4. ^ Algeo, John. British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns, 2006, Cambridge Univ. Press.
5. ^ Burchfield, R. W., editor, Fowler's Modern English Usage, third edition, 1996.
6. ^ Dryer, Matthew S. 2005. "Order of adverbial subordinator and clause". In The World Atlas of Language Structures, edited by Martin Haspelmath, Matthew S. Dryer, David Gil, and Bernard Comrie. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199255911