ESL Study Guide, Grammar - Conjunctions

Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect words or groups of words and show how the words are related. There
are three kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions.

1. Coordinating conjunctions link similar words or word groups. There are seven coordinating
conjunctions: for and nor but or yet so

Quick Tip

Use this mnemonic to help you remember the seven coordinating conjunctions:
FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

2. Correlative conjunctions also link similar words or word groups, but they are always used
in pairs. Here are the correlative conjunctions:
both . . .and either . . . or
neither . . . nor not only . . . but also whether . . . or

3. Subordinating conjunctions link an independent clause (complete sentence) to a dependent
clause (fragment). Here are the most often used subordinating conjunctions:
after although as as if
as long as as soon as as though because
before even though if in order that
since so that though till
unless until when whenever
where wherever