Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses together.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions allow you to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal grammatical rank in a sentence. The most common coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so; you can remember them by using the mnemonic device FANBOYS.

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together. Some examples are either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also.

Subordinating conjunctions

If you need to combine a dependent clause with an independent clause, you need a subordinating conjunction. There are a lot more subordinating conjunctions than there are coordinating conjunctions, and they can be divided into categories according to their function.

Compound sentences connect two simple sentences, but they often do not show a clear relationship between the two parts.

If the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, add a comma after the dependent clause. If the main clause comes first, no comma is needed between the two.

A compound-complex sentence contains two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

• This is the most sophisticated type of sentence you can use.