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In
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
, a conjunction (
abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
or ) is a
part of speech In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are as ...
that connects
words A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
,
phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
s, or clauses that are called the
conjunct {{For, the linguistic and logical operation of conjunction, Logical conjunction In linguistics, the term conjunct has three distinct uses: *A conjunct is an adverbial that adds information to the sentence that is not considered part of the propos ...
s of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech and so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
. In English, a given word may have several
sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system re ...
s and be either a preposition or a conjunction, depending on the syntax of the sentence. For example, ''after'' is a preposition in "he left after the fight" but is a conjunction in "he left after they fought". In general, a conjunction is an invariable (non- inflected) grammatical particle that may or may not stand between the items conjoined. The definition of conjunction may also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function, "as well as", "provided that". A simple literary example of a conjunction is "the truth of nature, ''and'' the power of giving interest" (
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
's ''Biographia Literaria''). A conjunction may be placed at the beginning of a sentence: "''But'' some superstition about the practice persists."


Separation of clauses

Commas are often used to separate clauses. In English, a comma is used to separate a dependent clause from the
independent clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
, if the dependent clause comes first: ''After I fed the cat, I brushed my clothes.'' (Compare this with ''I brushed my clothes after I fed the cat.'') A
relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the argument ...
takes commas if it is non- restrictive, as in ''I cut down all the trees, which were over six feet tall.'' (Without the comma, this would mean that only the trees more than six feet tall were cut down.) Some style guides prescribe that two
independent clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
s joined by a coordinating
conjunction Conjunction may refer to: * Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech * Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator ** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic * Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...
(''for'', ''and'', ''nor'', ''but'', ''or'', ''yet'', ''so'') must be separated by a comma placed before the conjunction. In the following sentences, where the second clause is independent (because it can stand alone as a sentence), the comma is considered by those guides to be necessary: * ''Mary walked to the party, but she was unable to walk home.'' * ''Designer clothes are silly, and I can't afford them anyway.'' * ''Don't push that button, or twelve tons of high explosives will go off right under our feet!'' In the following sentences, where the second half of the sentence is not an independent clause (because it does not contain an explicit subject), those guides prescribe that the comma be omitted: * ''Mary walked to the party but was unable to walk home.'' * ''I think designer clothes are silly and can't afford them anyway.'' However, such guides permit the comma to be omitted if the second independent clause is very short, typically when the second independent clause is an imperative, as in: * ''Sit down and shut up.'' The above guidance is not universally accepted or applied. Long
coordinate clause In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated or ) is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech and so what constitutes a ...
s are nonetheless usually separated by commas: * ''She had very little to live on, but she would never have dreamed of taking what was not hers.'' A comma between clauses may change the connotation, reducing or eliminating ambiguity. In the following examples, the thing in the first sentence that is relaxing is the cool day, whereas in the second sentence it is the walk, since the introduction of commas makes "on a cool day" parenthetical: :''They took a walk on a cool day that was relaxing.'' :''They took a walk, on a cool day, that was relaxing.'' As more clauses are introduced, ambiguity accumulates, but when commas separate each clause, the clauses clearly become modifiers of just one thing. In the second sentence below, that thing is ''the walk'': :''They took a walk in the park on a cool day that was relaxing.'' :''They took a walk, in the park, on a cool day, that was relaxing.'' In some languages, such as German and Polish, stricter rules apply on comma use between clauses, with dependent clauses always being set off with commas, and commas being generally proscribed before certain coordinating conjunctions. The joining of two independent sentences with a comma and no conjunction (as in ''"It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark."'') is known as a '' comma splice'' and is sometimes considered an error in English; in most cases a semicolon should be used instead. A comma splice should not be confused, though, with the literary device called ''
asyndeton Asyndeton (, ; from the el, ἀσύνδετον, "unconnected", sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include '' veni, vidi, vic ...
'', in which coordinating conjunctions are purposely omitted for a specific stylistic effect.


Etymology

Beginning in the 17th century, an element of a conjunction was known as a ''conjunct''. A conjunction itself was then called a ''connective''. That archaic term, however, diminished in usage during the early 20th century. In its place, the terms ''coordinating conjunction'' (coined in the mid-19th century) and ''correlative conjunction'' (coined in the early 19th century) became more commonly used.


Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions that join, or
coordinate In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sign ...
, two or more items (such as words, main clauses, or sentences) of equal syntactic importance. In English, the
mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...
acronym ''FANBOYS'' can be used to remember the coordinators ''for'', ''and'', ''nor'', ''but'', ''or'', ''yet'', and ''so''. These are not the only coordinating conjunctions; various others are used, including "and nor" (British), "but nor" (British), "neither" ("They don't gamble, neither do they smoke"), "no more" ("They don't gamble, no more do they smoke"), and "only" ("I would go, only I don't have time"). Types of coordinating conjunctions include cumulative conjunctions, adversative conjunctions, alternative conjunctions, and illative conjunctions. Here are some examples of coordinating conjunctions in English and what they do: *For – an ''illative'' (i.e. inferential), presents rationale ("They do not gamble or smoke, for they are ascetics.") *And – a ''cumulative'', adds non-contrasting items or ideas ("They gamble, and they smoke.") *Nor – presents an ''alternative'' non-contrasting (also negative) idea ("They do not gamble, nor do they smoke.") *But – an ''adversative'', presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, but they don't smoke.") *Or – presents an ''alternative'' non-contrasting item or idea ("Every day they gamble, or they smoke.") *Yet – an ''adversative'', presents a strong contrast or exception ("They gamble, yet they don't smoke.") *So – an ''illative'' (i.e. inferential), presents a
consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...
("He gambled well last night, so he smoked a cigar to celebrate.") Only ''and'', ''or'', ''nor'' are actual coordinating logical operators connecting atomic propositions or syntactic multiple units of the same type (subject, objects, predicative, attributive expressions, etc.) within a sentence. The cause and consequence (illative) conjunctions are pseudocoordinators, being expressible as antecedent or
consequent A consequent is the second half of a hypothetical proposition. In the standard form of such a proposition, it is the part that follows "then". In an implication, if ''P'' implies ''Q'', then ''P'' is called the antecedent and ''Q'' is called ...
to
logical implication Logical consequence (also entailment) is a fundamental concept in logic, which describes the relationship between statements that hold true when one statement logically ''follows from'' one or more statements. A valid logical argument is one ...
s or grammatically as subordinate conditional clauses.


Correlative conjunctions

Correlative In grammar, a correlative is a word that is paired with another word with which it functions to perform a single function but from which it is separated in the sentence. In English, examples of correlative pairs are ''both–and, either–or, nei ...
conjunctions work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal weight in a sentence. There are many different pairs of correlative conjunctions: * either...or * not only...but (also) * neither...nor * both...and * whether...or * just as...so * the...the * as...as * as much...as * no sooner...than * rather...than * not...but rather Examples: * You ''either'' do your work ''or'' prepare for a trip to the office. (Either do or prepare) * He is ''not only'' handsome ''but also'' brilliant. (Not only A but also B) * ''Neither'' the basketball team ''nor'' the football team is doing well. * ''Both'' the cross country team ''and'' the swimming team are doing well. * You must decide ''whether'' you stay ''or'' you go. * ''Just as'' many Americans love basketball, ''so'' many Canadians love ice hockey. * ''The'' more you practice dribbling, ''the'' better you will be at it. * Football is ''as'' fast ''as'' hockey (is (fast)). * Football is ''as much'' an addiction ''as'' it is a sport. * ''No sooner'' did she learn to ski ''than'' the snow began to thaw. * I would ''rather'' swim ''than'' surf. * He donated money ''not'' to those in need, ''but rather'' to those who would benefit him.


Conjunctions of time

Examples:


Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that join an
independent clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
and a dependent clause, and also introduce adverb clauses. The most common subordinating conjunctions in the English language include ''after'', ''although'', ''as'', ''as far as'', ''as if'', ''as long as'', ''as soon as'', ''as though'', ''because'', ''before'', ''even if'', ''even though'', ''every time'', ''if'', ''in order that'', ''since'', ''so'', ''so that'', ''than'', ''that'', ''though'', ''unless'', ''until'', ''when'', ''whenever'', ''where'', ''whereas'', ''wherever'', and ''while''.
Complementizer In linguistics (especially generative grammar), complementizer or complementiser (glossing abbreviation: ) is a functional category (part of speech) that includes those words that can be used to turn a clause into the subject or object of a se ...
s can be considered to be special subordinating conjunctions that introduce
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...
clauses: e.g. "I wonder ''whether'' he'll be late. I hope ''that'' he'll be on time". Some subordinating conjunctions, when used to introduce a phrase instead of a full clause, become prepositions with identical meanings. The subordinating conjunction performs two important functions within a sentence: illustrating the importance of the independent clause and providing a transition between two ideas in the same sentence by indicating a time, place, or cause and therefore affecting the relationship between the clauses. In many verb-final
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s,
subordinate clauses A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
must precede the main clause on which they depend. The equivalents to the subordinating conjunctions of non-verb-final languages such as English are either * clause-final conjunctions (e.g. in
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
); or * suffixes attached to the
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
, and not separate words Such languages often lack conjunctions as a
part of speech In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are as ...
, because: * the form of the
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
used is formally nominalised and cannot occur in an independent clause * the clause-final conjunction or suffix attached to the verb is a marker of case and is also used in
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
s to indicate certain functions. In this sense, the subordinate clauses of these languages have much in common with postpositional phrases. In other West Germanic languages like German and Dutch, the word order after a subordinating conjunction is different from that in an independent clause, e.g. in Dutch ('for') is coordinating, but ('because') is subordinating. The clause after the coordinating conjunction has normal word order, but the clause after the subordinating conjunction has verb-final word order. Compare: : . ('He goes home, for he is ill.') : ('He goes home because he is ill.') Similarly, in German, ('for') is coordinating, but ('because') is subordinating: : ('He goes home, for he is ill.') : ('He goes home, because he is ill.')


Starting a sentence

It is now generally agreed that a sentence may begin with a coordinating conjunction like ''and'', ''but,'' or ''yet''. While some people consider this usage improper, ''
Follett's Modern American Usage ''Follett's Modern American Usage'' is the book published with the title ''Modern American Usage'' which was left in draft form and unfinished by Wilson Follett at his death. It was completed and edited by his friend Jacques Barzun in collaboratio ...
'' labels its prohibition a "supposed rule without foundation" and a "prejudice
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
lingers from a bygone time." Some associate this belief with their early school days. One conjecture is that it results from young children's being taught to avoid simple sentences starting with ''and'' and are encouraged to use more complex structures with subordinating conjunctions. In the words of Bryan A. Garner, the "widespread belief ... that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as ''and'', ''but'', or ''so'' has no historical or grammatical foundation", and good writers have frequently started sentences with conjunctions. There is also a misleading guideline that a sentence should never begin with ''because''. ''Because'' is a subordinating conjunction and introduces a dependent clause. It may start a sentence when the main clause follows the dependent clause.


Examples

* "And now we have Facebook and Twitter and Wordpress and Tumblr and all those other platforms that take our daily doings and transform them into media." * "So any modern editor who is not paranoid is a fool". * "And strikes are protected globally, existing in many of the countries with labour laws outside the Wagner Act model."


In other languages


Warlpiri

In Warlpiri, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken in Australia, conjunctions function differently from English or other Germanic languages. In unembedded contexts, Warlpiri uses the coordinator , such that P Q translates to "P and Q": means "Cecilia and Gloria went to town", but in the negative contexts, P Q translates to "neither P nor Q", such that means "I won't give you cookies or lollipops", as is a form of the Warlpiri negative marker.


See also

*
Asyndeton Asyndeton (, ; from the el, ἀσύνδετον, "unconnected", sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include '' veni, vidi, vic ...
*
Cohesion (linguistics) Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical linking within a text or sentence that holds a text together and gives it meaning. It is related to the broader concept of coherence. There are two main types of cohesion: * grammatical cohesion: based on ...
* Conjunctive adverb * Conjunctive mood, sometimes used with conjunctions *
Genitive connector A genitive connector is a part of speech used in formation of compound terms through conjunctions. It is used especially in the Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by th ...
*
Logical conjunction In logic, mathematics and linguistics, And (\wedge) is the truth-functional operator of logical conjunction; the ''and'' of a set of operands is true if and only if ''all'' of its operands are true. The logical connective that represents thi ...
*
Logical disjunction In logic, disjunction is a logical connective typically notated as \lor and read aloud as "or". For instance, the English language sentence "it is raining or it is snowing" can be represented in logic using the disjunctive formula R \lor ...
* Polysyndeton *
Relativizer In linguistics, a relativizer (abbreviated ) is a type of conjunction that introduces a relative clause. For example, in English, the conjunction ''that'' may be considered a relativizer in a sentence such as "I have one that you can use."Fox, Bar ...
*
Serial comma In English-language punctuation, a serial comma (also called a series comma, Oxford comma, or Harvard comma) is a comma placed immediately after the penultimate term (i.e., before the coordinating conjunction, such as ''and'' or ''or'') in a se ...
– the comma used immediately before a coordinating conjunction preceding the final item in a list of three or more items *
So (word) ''So'' is an English word that, apart from its other uses, has become increasingly popular in recent years as a coordinating conjunctive opening word in a sentence. This device is particularly used when answering questions although the questioner m ...
* Syndeton


References


External links


Subordinating Junctions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammatical Conjunction Grammar Parts of speech English usage controversies