Conjunctions

It is highly likely to come across words, phrases, and sentences that are joined together by conjunctions in our daily conversations. This form of the phrase is referred to as a "conjunctional phrase" in the English language.

Conjunction meaning: It is a linking word that joins two or more words, phrases, or clauses together in a single sentence. It is one of the eight parts of speech in English. If you want to put together two or more sentences, phrases, or words, you need to use a conjunction. There are various types of conjunctions, each with its own set of criteria. 

Types of Conjunctions   

As you can see, there are a number of different sorts of conjunctions that may be used to improve your writing, connect concepts, and create more complicated sentences.

There are four sorts of conjunction words:

  1. Coordinating Conjunction Words

  2. Subordinating Conjunction Words

  3. Correlative Conjunction Words

  4. Conjunctive Adverbs

1) Coordinating Conjunctions

These are used to link two coordinating or independent clauses. They are referred to as conjunctive coordination because they join and link together two or more sentences or pieces of speech that have the same syntactic priority.

Conjunction examples: I’m starving, but there’s nothing in the fridge.

2) Subordinating Conjunctions

They are useful in binding together a dependent clause and a free clause.

Subordinating Conjunctions such as which, who, after, when, where, while, before, though are used most often.

Conjunction examples: The girl who can speak Spanish is my friend.

3) Correlative Conjunctions

It is possible to establish cohesion in a sentence by using these conjunctions in pairs to link words or phrases of equal importance in a sentence. These Conjunctions are often used in pairs at the conclusion of a sentence to connect two grammatical components that are equal in value. These are some of the most often used correlative conjunctions, including but not limited to Neither…Nor, Either….Or, Not only… But also, etc.

Conjunction examples: Either Jack or his father did the task.

4) Compound Conjunctions

Compound Conjunction meaning is phrases that are used as conjunctions in a sentence or paragraph. Due to these factors, compound conjunction such as such that and similar expressions are the most often seen.

Conjunction examples: Her behaviour is so rude such that the students get afraid. 

Examples of Subordinating Conjunctions in a Sentence

Here are a few examples of subordinating conjunctions in action:

  1. That’s because he taught me the basics of starting a company.

  2. If you start from the beginning, everything will fall into place.

  3. The only way to find out whether something works is to do it.

  4. When I wake up in the morning, I write a fresh entry in my appreciation diary.

  5. I’m writing this letter to say my last farewells.

  6. In Chile, I’ve had the best time of my life.

Using a Comma Correctly

Sometimes, the comma is more difficult to utilize than other punctuation marks. This is how to use commas with conjunctions in general.

  • Coordinating conjunctions

When linking two or more independent sentences, use a comma before the conjunction to separate them. A comma should not be used to join two non-independent clauses:

For dessert, I like strawberries, but I can take vanilla or chocolate too. (comma)

  •  Subordinating conjunctions

Unless a subordinating clause is used at the beginning of a sentence, you don’t require a comma. If this is the case, the full subordinate clause should be separated by a comma:

  1. Due to my dedication to my studies, it was no problem for me to pass the exam.

  2. Correlative conjunctions: When using correlative conjunctions, the comma isn’t necessary. Commas that are not being used to separate modifiers may occur near them, but they are not required to. For instance,

  3. Both Abby, who was unaware of what had transpired, and Will, who was aware, were on the line.

Conclusion

Conjunctions are one of the parts of speech that connect two or more words, or phrases together. A bit of knowledge about the use of Conjunctions is required for a number of competitive exams, including the GMAT, banking tests, and the SSC, among others. The conjunctions “and,” “or,” “but,” and “because” are used most often. Correlative conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and correlative conjunctions are the three most common types of conjunctions in the English language.