THE CONJUNCTION

A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or

sentences. Conjunctions are considered to be invariable grammar particles, and
they may or may not stand between items they conjoin.

Coordinating Conjunctions

The simple conjunctions linking parts of sentences or sentences on the same

syntactical level are called coordinating conjunctions :

Coordinating Conjunctions
and but or yet for nor so

When a coordinating conjunction connects two independent clauses, it is often (but

not always) accompanied by a comma:

 John wants to graduate from Harvard, but he has had trouble meeting the academic
requirements.

When the two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction are nicely
balanced or brief, many writers will omit the comma:

 Tom has a great jump shot but he isn't quick on his feet.

The comma is always correct when used to separate two independent clauses
connected by a coordinating conjunction. A comma is also correct when and is used
to attach the last item of a serial list, although many writers (especially in newspapers)
will omit that final comma:

 Ulysses spent his summer studying basic math, writing, and reading comprehension.

When a coordinating conjunction is used to connect all the elements in a series, a

comma is not used:

 Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists are the prevalent Protestant congregations
in Oklahoma.

A comma is also used with but when expressing a contrast:

  This is a useful rule, but difficult to remember.

In most of their other roles as joiners (other than joining independent clauses),
coordinating conjunctions can join two sentence elements without the help of a
comma.

 Hemingway and Fitzgerald are among the American expatriates of the between-the-
wars era.
 Hemingway was famous for his clear style and his insights into American notions of
male identity.
 It is hard to say whether Hemingway or Fitzgerald is the more interesting cultural
icon of his day.
 Although Hemingway is sometimes disparaged for his unpleasant portrayal of
women and for his glorification of machismo, there are also to be found some
sympathetic, even heroic, female figures in his novels and short stories.

Beginning a Sentence with And or But

A frequently asked question about conjunctions is whether and or but can be used
at the beginning of a sentence. This is what R.W. Burchfield has to say about this
use of and:

There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but
this prohibition has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-
Saxon times onwards. An initial And is a useful aid to writers as the narrative
continues.

The same is true with the conjunction but. A sentence beginning

with and or but will tend to draw attention to itself and its transitional function.
Writers should examine such sentences with two questions in mind: (1) would the
sentence and paragraph function just as well without the initial conjunction? (2)
should the sentence in question be connected to the previous sentence? If the
initial conjunction still seems appropriate, use it.

Among the coordinating conjunctions, the most common, of course, are and, but,
and or. Here are the uses of these three connectives.

AND

a. To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to another: Mary sent in her
applications and waited by the phone for a response.
b. To suggest that one idea is the result of another: "Willie heard the weather
report and promptly boarded up his house."
 c. To suggest that one idea is in contrast to another (frequently replaced by but in this
usage): "Juanita is brilliant and Shalimar has a pleasant personality.
d. To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes replaced by yet in this usage):
"Hartford is a rich city and suffers from many symptoms of urban blight."
e. To suggest that one clause is dependent upon another, conditionally (usually the first
clause is an imperative): "Use your credit cards frequently and you'll soon find
yourself deep in debt."
f. To suggest a kind of "comment" on the first clause: "Charlie became addicted to
gambling — and that surprised no one who knew him."

BUT

a. To suggest a contrast that is unexpected considering the first clause: "Joey lost a
fortune in the stock market, but he still seems able to live quite comfortably."
b. To suggest in an affirmative sense what the first part of the sentence implied in a
negative way (sometimes replaced by on the contrary): "The club never invested
foolishly, but used the services of a sage investment counselor."
c. To connect two ideas with the meaning of "with the exception of" (and then the
second word takes over as subject): "Everybody but Smith is trying out for the
team."

OR

a. To suggest that only one possibility can be realized, excluding one or the other:
"You can study hard for this exam or you can fail."
b. To suggest the inclusive combination of alternatives: "We can broil chicken on the
grill tonight, or we can just eat leftovers.
c. To suggest a refinement of the first clause: "Smith College is the premier all-
women's college in the country, or so it seems to most Smith College alumnae."
d. To suggest a restatement or "correction" of the first part of the sentence: "There are
no rattlesnakes in this canyon, or so our guide tells us."
e. To suggest a negative condition: "The New Hampshire state motto is the rather grim
"Live free or die."
f. To suggest a negative alternative without the use of an imperative: "They must
approve his political style or they wouldn't keep electing him mayor."

The Others . . .
The conjunction NOR is not completely ignored, but it is not used nearly as often as the
other conjunctions, so it might feel a bit odd when nor does come up in conversation
or writing. Its most common use is in the correlative pair, neither-nor:

 He is neither sane nor brilliant.

 That is neither what I said nor what I meant.

>It can be used with other negative expressions:

  That is not what I meant to say, nor should you interpret my statement as an
admission of guilt.

Nor may be used without a preceding negative element, but it is unusual and, to an
extent, rather stuffy:

 George's handshake is as good as any written contract, nor has he ever proven
untrustworthy.

The word YET functions sometimes as an adverb and has several meanings: in
addition ("yet another cause of trouble" or "a simple yet noble woman"), even ("yet
more expensive"), still ("he is yet a novice"), eventually ("they may yet win"), and so
soon as now ("he's not here yet"). It also functions as a coordinating conjunction
meaning something like "nevertheless" or "but." The word yet seems to carry an
element of distinctiveness that but can seldom register.

 John plays basketball well, yet his favorite sport is badminton.

 The visitors complained loudly about the heat, yet they continued to play golf every
day.

In sentences such as the second one, above, the pronoun subject of the second clause
("they," in this case) is often left out. When that happens, the comma preceding the
conjunction might also disappear: "The visitors complained loudly yet continued to
play golf every day."

Yet is sometimes combined with other conjunctions, but or and. It would not be
unusual to see and yet in sentences like the ones above. This usage is acceptable.

The word FOR is most often used as a preposition, of course, but it does serve, on
rare occasions, as a coordinating conjunction. Some people regard the
conjunction for as rather sophisticated and literary, and it does tend to add a bit of
weightiness to the text. Beginning a sentence with the conjunction "for" is probably
not a good idea, except when you're singing "For he's a jolly good fellow. "For" has
serious sequential implications and in its use the order of thoughts is more important
than it is, say, with because or since. Its function is to introduce the reason for the
preceding clause:

 John thought he had a good chance to get the job, for his father was on the
company's board of trustees.
 Most of the visitors were happy just sitting around in the shade, for it had been a
long, dusty journey on the train.
 The conjunction SO can sometimes connect two independent clauses along with a
comma, but sometimes it can't. For instance, in this sentence,

 Soto is not the only Olympic athlete in his family, so are his brother, sister, and his
Uncle Chet.

where the word so means "as well" or "in addition," most careful writers would use a
semicolon between the two independent clauses. In the following sentence,
where so is acting like a minor-league "therefore," the conjunction and the comma are
adequate to the task:

 Soto has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it is no surprise that he avoids
crowds of his adoring fans.

Sometimes, at the beginning of a sentence, so will act as a kind of summing up device

or transition, and when it does, it is often set off from the rest of the sentence with a
comma:

 So, the sheriff peremptorily removed the child from the custody of his parents.

Subordinating Conjunctions

A Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a dependent word or

subordinator) comes at the beginning of a Subordinate (or Dependent)
Clause and establishes the relationship between the dependent clause and the rest
of the sentence. It also turns the clause into something that depends on the rest of
the sentence for its meaning.

 He took to the stage as though he had been preparing for this moment all his life.
 Because he loved acting, he refused to give up his dream of being in the movies.
 Unless we act now, all is lost.

Some of the subordinating conjunctions in the table below — after, before, since
— are also prepositions, but as subordinators they are being used to introduce a clause
and to subordinate the following clause to the independent element in the sentence.

Common Subordinating
Conjunctions
after if though
although if only till
as in order that unless
as if now that until
as long as once when
as though rather than whenever
because since where
before so that whereas
even if than wherever
even though that while

The Case of Like and As

The word like is a preposition, not a conjunction. It can, therefore, be used
to introduce a prepositional phrase ("My brother is tall like my father"), but
it should not be used to introduce a clause ("My brother can't play the
piano like as he did before the accident" or "It looks like as if basketball is
quickly overtaking baseball as America's national sport."). To introduce a
clause, it's a good idea to use as, as though, or as if, instead.

-Like As I told you earlier, the lecture has been postponed.

-It looks like as if it's going to snow this afternoon.

-Johnson kept looking out the window like as though he had someone waiting for
him.

In formal, academic text, it's a good idea to reserve the use of like for
situations in which similarities are being pointed out:

-This community college is like a two-year liberal arts college.

However, when you are listing things that have similarities, such as is
probably more suitable:

-The college has several highly regarded neighbors, like such as the Mark Twain
House, St. Francis Hospital, the Connecticut Historical Society, and the UConn
Law School.
 Omitting That
The word that is used as a conjunction to connect a subordinate clause to
a preceding verb. In this construction that is sometimes called the
"expletive that." Indeed, the word is often omitted to good effect, but the
very fact of easy omission causes some editors to take out the red pen
and strike out the conjunction that wherever it appears. In the following
sentences, we can happily omit the that (or keep it, depending on how the
sentence sounds to us):

“Isabel knew [that] she was about to be fired.”

“She definitely felt [that] her fellow employees hadn't supported her.”

“I hope [that] she doesn't blame me.”

Sometimes omitting the that creates a break in the flow of a sentence, a

break that can be adequately bridged with the use of a comma:

“The problem is, that production in her department has dropped.”

“Remember, that we didn't have these problems before she started working here.”

As a general rule, if the sentence feels just as good without the that, if no
ambiguity results from its omission, if the sentence is more efficient or
elegant without it, then we can safely omit the that. Theodore Bernstein
lists three conditions in which we should maintain the conjunction that:

“When a time element intervenes between the verb and the clause: "The boss said
yesterday that production in this department was down fifty percent."

“When the verb of the clause is long delayed: "Our annual report
revealed that some losses sustained by this department in the third quarter of last
year were worse than previously thought." (Notice the distance between the
subject losses and its verb, were.)”

“When a second that can clear up who said or did what: "The CEO said that
Isabel's department was slacking off and that production dropped precipitously in
the fourth quarter." (Did the CEO say that production dropped or was the drop a
result of what he said about Isabel's department? The second that makes the
sentence clear.)”
 Beginning a Sentence with Because
Somehow, the notion that one should not begin a sentence with the
subordinating conjunction because retains a mysterious grip on people's
sense of writing proprieties. This might come about because a sentence
that begins with because could well end up a fragment if one is not careful
to follow up the "because clause" with an independent clause.

 Because e-mail now plays such a huge role in our communications

industry.

When the "because clause" is properly subordinated to another idea

(regardless of the position of the clause in the sentence), there is
absolutely nothing wrong with it:

 Because e-mail now plays such a huge role in our communications

industry, the postal service would very much like to see it taxed in
some manner.

Correlative Conjunctions
Some conjunctions combine with other words to form what are called correlative
conjunctions. They always travel in pairs, joining various sentence elements that
should be treated as grammatically equal.

 She led the team not only in statistics but also by virtue of her enthusiasm.
 Polonius said, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
 Whether you win this race or lose it doesn't matter as long as you do your best.

Correlative conjunctions sometimes create problems in parallel form. Here is a brief

list of common correlative conjunctions.

both . . . and neither . . . nor

not only . . . but also whether . . . or
not . . . but as . . . as
either . . . or
Conjunctive Adverbs
The conjunctive adverbs such as however, moreover, nevertheless, consequently,
as a result are used to create complex relationships between ideas