The study of grammar often entails learning technical terms for words we use every day. Why else would English speakers–at least the ones without the benefit of a Schoolhouse Rock education–struggle to identify what a conjunction is? The issue is partially related to forgetting your grade school education but is also related to the fact that conjunctions come in three different types:
1. COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating conjunctions are the ones that tend to come to mind when we think of this critical part of speech, the signal words that connect words, phrases, and clauses. A simple mnemonic taught to most students identifies all seven coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS…
For–And–Nor–But–Or–Yet–So
2. SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
Subordinating conjunctions connect a dependent clause to an independent clause, e.g., Although technical grammar terms aren’t tested on the SAT and ACT, students still benefit from knowing them. The list of subordinating conjunctions is long, but words like because, while, unless, and the various flavors of though stand out as common and useful.
3. CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS
Some conjunctions combine with other words to form what are called correlative conjunctions. These constructions appear in pairs to link equivalent sentence elements. Classic correlative conjunctions include either-or, neither-nor, and between-and. Knowing correlative conjunctions is important to avoid errors like neither-or.
Ultimately, everyone should recognize conjunctions as linking words that signal the relationships between words, phrases, and clauses. Writers and test takers alike should go deeper to learn the different types of conjunctions and the special punctuation rules that depend on them.
Mike Bergin