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You hear the song dont you? (Whats that function?). Conjunctions are connecting words that join
words or groups of words. Seriously, Google the song, it explains it much better. There are three
different types of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative and subordinating.
Coordinating Conjunctions
A coordinating conjunction is a single word that joins words or a group of words. The most common
ones are:
Yes, thats right, take the first letters and you have FANBOYS (decent movie about Star Wars fans). As
most geeks are called Fanboys (or fangirls but that does not work for our purposes) it works well for this
guide. Coordinating conjunctions always join items of the same part of speech:
Tricorder and wallet are both nouns and the coordinating conjunction and
joins them.
The Redshirt gasped and fell when the phaser beam came near him.
Gasped and fell are both verbs and the coordinating conjunction and joins
them.
Near an active volcano and next to an open flame are both prepositional
phrases with the coordinating conjunction or joining them.
Correlative conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are almost the same as coordinating conjunctions but they come in pairs (like
Vulcan ears). Some common ones are:
Raising shields not only protects the crew but also the ship as well.
RED ALERT
Certain words might act as conjunctions in some sentences and prepositions in others.
Adama was a good commander, but was a hell raiser when he was younger.
In this sentence but is a preposition, the prepositional phrase being but Kruge.
Subordinating conjunctions
The subordinate conjunction has two jobs. First, it provides a necessary transition between the two
ideas in the sentence. This transition will indicate a time, place, or cause and effect relationship. You will
only find these in complex sentences which have both an independent clause and a dependent clause
(more on clauses later, but not the Santa kind). Common subordinating clauses are:
After although as because before even if even though if in order that once provided that
rather than since so that than that though unless until when whenever where whereas
Dr. McCoy will find the cure to that disease in the nick of time once Spock stops lecturing him for being
emotional.
In this sentence the subordinating conjunction, once, shows a time linking the two ideas.
The second job of the subordinate conjunction is to reduce the importance of one clause so
that a reader understands which of the two ideas is more important. The more important idea
belongs in the main clause, the less important in the clause introduced by the subordinate
conjunction. The main clause does not have to begin the sentence however.
As he turned off his targeting computer, Luke destroyed the Death Star.
In this sentence the less important clause, as he turned off his targeting computer, leads the
sentence with the main clause, he destroyed the Death Star following.
In this sentence the main clause, Vader cut off Lukes hand, precedes the lesser clause of after a flick of
his lightsaber.
Do or do not be too confused. As stated earlier we will be talking more about clauses (but not sanity
clauses) later.
A friendly Bat-reminder If you link a list of items together with conjunctions, you dont need to separate
the items with a comma.
Batman has a Bat Plane and a Bat Boat and a Batmobile and a Bat Snowmobile and a Bat Chopper.
No commas needed.
Interjections!
Yippee! Like the squeal of young Anakin Skywalker interjections are simply words that express emotions.
Generally these words are separated from the sentence with an exclamation point.
If the emotion being expressed is not as strong it is set off from the sentence by a comma.
Its time to play Wheres Waldo conjunction style. See how many conjunctions
you can find in the following sentences. Just for laughs label them correlative or
coordinating.
Below you will find some sentence ideas. Use your positronic neural net and turn
them into sentences adding details and
conjunctions.
Directions: Write 10 simple sentences. Then create one compound sentence from
the two
simple sentences by using a conjunction.
Its time to play Wheres Waldo conjunction style. See how many conjunctions you can find in the
following sentences. Just for laughs label them correlative or coordinating.
Conjunction fever
Below you will find some sentence ideas. Use your positronic neural net and turn them into sentences
adding details and conjunctions. Answers will vary.
Directions: Read each sentence below. Underline the conjunction that connects the two phrases.
Example A: Stephen loves to play seeker, for he is very fast.
Answer: for
Directions: Write 10 simple sentences. Then create one compound sentence from the two
simple sentences by using a conjunction.
Interjections (is a big word that you cant spell) (thank you MADtv)
Add interjections to the following sentences to express emotions. Answers will vary.