Conjunction combines words, phrases or clauses.

  • Conjunction etymology
    • con- = with
    • junct from Latin iugare for "to join"
      • note that Latin has no letter "J", so the English "J" sound is cognate with the Latin "iu" sound (yoo)
      • junct is from PIE origin *yeug- "to join"
    • -ion = makes a noun

Types of conjunctions

  • conjunctions are used to combine words, sentence elements and ideas
  • thus a conjunction

Simple conjunction

  • joins words
  • ex.
    • "She and he went shopping."
    • "Apples or oranges are good for you"

Coordinating conjunction

Correlative conjunction

  • "correlates" to conjunctions
  • as / as
    • the test was not as bad as I thought
  • either / or
    • Either you go or I will
  • no sooner / than
    • No sooner than I got there, I realized I left my wallet behind
  • neither / nor
    • Neither you nor she can go
  • rather / than
    • The mailman would rather deliver in the rain than snow.
  • whether / or
    • Whether you like it or not...

Subordinating conjunction

Prepositions as conjunctions

  • a preposition and its object (prepositional phrase) modify another noun or verb
  • however, some prepositions can also act as a conjunction
    • ex.
      • preposition: We ate dinner after the reception
      • conjunction: We ate dinner after the guests left

Adverbial conjunction

Rules for conjunctions

  • todo:
  • When using "or" in a list of subjects, the verb conjugates to the last subject
  • ex.
    • Girls or the boy is