CONJUNCTION

A conjunction is a linking word such as and, or, but. Conjunctions are used to connect words or sentences.

Some words are satisfied spending an evening at home, alone, eating ice-cream right out of the box, watching Seinfeld re-runs on TV, or reading a good book. Others aren't happy unless they're out on the town, mixing it up with other words; they're joiners and they just can't help themselves. A conjunction is a joiner, a word that connects (conjoins) parts of a sentence.

Coordinating Conjunctions

AND, BUT, OR, YET, FOR, NOR, SO

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.

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.