Meaning
Conjunctions are basically words that are used to link clauses or sentences. They are also referred to as “joining words”. Some common examples that you might have come across or can relate to are given below:
They knocked down all the buildings and built a football stadium.
Are there three or four people living in that apartment?
My sneakers look great but are not very easy to wear.
We will take a look at the different types of conjunctions.
Coordinating Conjunctions
They connect words that are of similar grammatical types. And, but, or etc are the most commonly used coordinating conjunctions. Different types of coordinating conjunctions are given below:
| Type of Coordinating Conjunction | Example within a sentence | Explanation |
| Connecting words | Which do you like? Green or black? | Here, the two words, ‘green’ and ‘black’ are joined using ‘but’ |
| Connecting phrases | The dress was very costly and not very comfortable. | Two phrases are connected here using the ‘and’ conjunction |
| Connecting clauses | There is free food available but some people don’t like things for free | Here, two clauses are joined using ‘but’ |
| Connecting sentences | My brother used to be good at sports. But he had to stop participating in sports after he failed for a subject. | Two different sentences are connected using But. Here, the conjunction is used at the beginning of a new sentence. |
| Connecting Prefixes | Pro- and aanti-liberalgroups marched towards the Assembly House. | Two prefixes alone are joined here using the ‘and’ conjunction |
| Two word conjunctions | Neither Ravi nor Ashok had been to Mumbai before
Both you and I know what the issue is. |
Neither….. nor is the two word conjunction that is used in the first sentence. Both.. and is the other two word conjunction used.
|
Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating Conjunctions are the conjunctions that connect the main clause and a subordinate clause. It is best understood when explained with an example:
After we had talked over the telephone, I jotted down what we had discussed.
[subordinate clause] [main clause]
Everyone enjoyed the movie although it had no proper story-line.
[main clause] [subordinate clause]
