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2017 Conjunct ons

C Select from the follow ng

Def n t on
Some words are sat sf ed spend ng an even ng at home, alone, eat ng ce-cream r ght out
of the box, watch ng Se nfeld re-runs on TV, or read ng a good book. Others aren't happy
unless they're out on the town, m x ng t up w th other words; they're jo ners and they just can't
help themselves. A conjunct on s a jo ner, a word that connects (conjo ns) parts of a
sentence.

Coord nat ng Conjunct ons

The s mple, l ttle conjunct ons are called coord nat ng conjunct ons (you can cl ck on
the words to see spec f c descr pt ons of each one):

Coordinating Conjunctions
and but or yet for nor so

(It may help you remember these conjunct ons by recall ng that they all have fewer than
four letters. Also, remember the acronym FANBOYS: For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So. Be
careful of the words then and now; ne ther s a coord nat ng conjunct on, so what we say about
coord nat ng conjunct ons' roles n a sentence and punctuat on does not apply to those two
words.)

When a coord nat ng conjunct on connects two

ndependent clauses, t s often (but not always) accompan ed
by a comma:

Ulysses wants to play for UConn, but he has had

trouble meet ng the academ c requ rements.

When the two ndependent clauses connected by a coord nat ng

conjunct on are n cely balanced or br ef, many wr ters w ll om t JunctClon"
ck on "Conjunct on
to read and hear Bob
the comma: Dorough's "Conjunct on
Junct on" (from Scholast c
Ulysses has a great jump shot but he sn't qu ck on Rock, 1973).
h s feet. Schoolhouse Rock and ts
characters and other
elements are trademarks
The comma s always correct when used to separate two and serv ce marks of Amer can
ndependent clauses connected by a coord nat ng conjunct on. Broadcast ng Compan es, Inc.
See Punctuat on Between Two Independent Clauses for Used w th perm ss on.

further help.

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A comma s also correct when and s used to attach the last tem of a ser al l st, although many
wr ters (espec ally n newspapers) w ll om t that f nal comma:

Ulysses spent h s summer study ng bas c math, wr t ng, and read ng

comprehens on.

When a coord nat ng conjunct on s used to connect all the elements n a ser es, a comma s not
used:

Presbyter ans and Method sts and Bapt sts are the prevalent Protestant
congregat ons n Oklahoma.

A comma s also used w th but when express ng a contrast:

Th s s a useful rule, but d ff cult to remember.

In most of the r other roles as jo ners (other than jo n ng ndependent clauses, that s),
coord nat ng conjunct ons can jo n two sentence elements w thout the help of a comma.

Hem ngway and F tzgerald are among the Amer can expatr ates of the between-
the-wars era.
Hem ngway was renowned for h s clear style and h s ns ghts nto Amer can
not ons of male dent ty.
It s hard to say whether Hem ngway or F tzgerald s the more nterest ng cultural
con of h s day.
Although Hem ngway s somet mes d sparaged for h s unpleasant portrayal of
women and for h s glor f cat on of mach smo, we nonetheless f nd some
sympathet c, even hero c, female f gures n h s novels and short stor es.

Beg nn ng a Sentence w th And or But

A frequently asked quest on about conjunct ons s whether and or but can
be used at the beg nn ng of a sentence. Th s s what R.W. Burchf eld has to
say about th s use of and:

There s a pers stent bel ef that t s mproper to beg n a

sentence w th And, but th s proh b t on has been cheerfully
gnored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon t mes
onwards. An n t al And s a useful a d to wr ters as the
narrat ve cont nues.
from The New Fowler's Modern Engl sh Usage
ed ted by R.W. Burchf eld. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.
Used w th the perm ss on of Oxford Un vers ty Press.

The same s true w th the conjunct on but. A sentence beg nn ng w th and or

but w ll tend to draw attent on to tself and ts trans t onal funct on. Wr ters
should exam ne such sentences w th two quest ons n m nd: (1) would the
sentence and paragraph funct on just as well w thout the n t al conjunct on?
(2) should the sentence n quest on be connected to the prev ous sentence?
If the n t al conjunct on st ll seems appropr ate, use t.

Among the coord nat ng conjunct ons, the most common, of course, are and, but, and or.
It m ght be helpful to explore the uses of these three l ttle words. The examples below by no
means exhaust the poss ble mean ngs of these conjunct ons.

AND
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a. To suggest that one dea s chronolog cally sequent al to another: "Tashonda sent n
her appl cat ons and wa ted by the phone for a response."
b. To suggest that one dea s the result of another: "W ll e heard the weather report
and promptly boarded up h s house."
c. To suggest that one dea s n contrast to another (frequently replaced by but n th s
usage): "Juan ta s br ll ant and Shal mar has a pleasant personal ty.
d. To suggest an element of surpr se (somet mes replaced by yet n th s usage):
"Hartford s a r ch c ty and suffers from many symptoms of urban bl ght."
e. To suggest that one clause s dependent upon another, cond t onally (usually the
f rst clause s an mperat ve): "Use your cred t cards frequently and you'll soon f nd
yourself deep n debt."
f. To suggest a k nd of "comment" on the f rst clause: "Charl e became
add cted to gambl ng and that surpr sed no one who knew h m."

BUT
a. To suggest a contrast that s unexpected n l ght of the f rst clause: "Joey lost a
fortune n the stock market, but he st ll seems able to l ve qu te comfortably."
b. To suggest n an aff rmat ve sense what the f rst part of the sentence mpl ed n a
negat ve way (somet mes replaced by on the contrary): "The club never nvested
fool shly, but used the serv ces of a sage nvestment counselor."
c. To connect two deas w th the mean ng of "w th the except on of" (and then the
second word takes over as subject): "Everybody but Goldenbreath s try ng out for
the team."

OR
a. To suggest that only one poss b l ty can be real zed, exclud ng one or the other:
"You can study hard for th s exam or you can fa l."
b. To suggest the nclus ve comb nat on of alternat ves: "We can bro l ch cken on the
gr ll ton ght, or we can just eat leftovers.
c. To suggest a ref nement of the f rst clause: "Sm th College s the prem er all-
women's college n the country, or so t seems to most Sm th College alumnae."
d. To suggest a restatement or "correct on" of the f rst part of the sentence: "There are
no rattlesnakes n th s canyon, or so our gu de tells us."
e. To suggest a negat ve cond t on: "The New Hampsh re state motto s the rather
gr m "L ve free or d e."
f. To suggest a negat ve alternat ve w thout the use of an mperat ve (see use
of and above): "They must approve h s pol t cal style or they wouldn't
keep elect ng h m mayor."
Author ty used for th s sect on on the uses of and, but, and or: A Un vers ty Grammar of Engl sh by Randolph Qu rk
and S dney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used w th perm ss on. Examples our own.

The Others . . .
The conjunct on NOR s not ext nct, but t s not used nearly as often as the other
conjunct ons, so t m ght feel a b t odd when nor does come up n conversat on or wr t ng. Its
most common use s as the l ttle brother n the correlat ve pa r, ne ther-nor (see below):

He s ne ther sane nor br ll ant.

That s ne ther what I sa d nor what I meant.

>It can be used w th other negat ve express ons:

That s not what I meant to say, nor should you nterpret my statement as an
adm ss on of gu lt.
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It s poss ble to use nor w thout a preced ng negat ve element, but t s unusual and, to an
extent, rather stuffy:

George's handshake s as good as any wr tten contract, nor has he ever proven
untrustworthy.

The word YET funct ons somet mes as an adverb and has several mean ngs: n add t on
("yet another cause of trouble" or "a s mple yet noble woman"), even ("yet more expens ve"),
st ll ("he s yet a nov ce"), eventually ("they may yet w n"), and so soon as now ("he's not here
yet"). It also funct ons as a coord nat ng conjunct on mean ng someth ng l ke "nevertheless" or
"but." The word yet seems to carry an element of d st nct veness that but can seldom reg ster.

John plays basketball well, yet h s favor te sport s badm nton.

The v s tors compla ned loudly about the heat, yet they cont nued to play golf
every day.

In sentences such as the second one, above, the pronoun subject of the second clause ("they,"
n th s case) s often left out. When that happens, the comma preced ng the conjunct on m ght
also d sappear: "The v s tors compla ned loudly yet cont nued to play golf every day."

Yet s somet mes comb ned w th other conjunct ons, but or and. It would not be unusual to see
and yet n sentences l ke the ones above. Th s usage s acceptable.

The word FOR s most often used as a prepos t on, of course, but t does serve, on rare
occas ons, as a coord nat ng conjunct on. Some people regard the conjunct on for as rather
h ghfalut n and l terary, and t does tend to add a b t of we ght ness to the text. Beg nn ng a
sentence w th the conjunct on "for" s probably not a good dea, except when you're s ng ng
"For he's a jolly good fellow. "For" has ser ous sequent al mpl cat ons and n ts use the order
of thoughts s more mportant than t s, say, w th because or s nce. Its funct on s to ntroduce
the reason for the preced ng clause:

John thought he had a good chance to get the job, for h s father was on the
company's board of trustees.
Most of the v s tors were happy just s tt ng around n the shade, for t had been a
long, dusty journey on the tra n.

Be careful of the conjunct on SO. Somet mes t can connect two ndependent clauses
along w th a comma, but somet mes t can't. For nstance, n th s sentence,

Soto s not the only Olymp c athlete n h s fam ly, so are h s brother, s ster, and h s
Uncle Chet.

where the word so means "as well" or " n add t on," most careful wr ters would use a
sem colon between the two ndependent clauses. In the follow ng sentence, where so s act ng
l ke a m nor-league "therefore," the conjunct on and the comma are adequate to the task:

Soto has always been nervous n large gather ngs, so t s no surpr se that he avo ds
crowds of h s ador ng fans.

Somet mes, at the beg nn ng of a sentence, so w ll act as a k nd of summ ng up dev ce or

trans t on, and when t does, t s often set off from the rest of the sentence w th a comma:

So, the sher ff peremptor ly removed the ch ld from the custody of h s parents.

The Case of Then and Than

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In some parts of the Un ted States, we are told,

then and than not only look al ke, they sound
al ke. L ke a teacher w th tw ns n her
classroom, you need to be able to d st ngu sh
between these two words; otherw se, they'll
become m sch evous. They are often used and
they should be used for the r ght purposes.

Than s used to make compar sons. In the

sentence "P ggy would rather be rescued then stay on the sland,"
we have employed the wrong word because a compar son s be ng
made between P ggy's two cho ces; we need than nstead. In the
sentence, "Other than P ncher Mart n, Gold ng d d not wr te another
popular novel," the adverb al construct on "other than" helps us make
an mpl ed compar son; th s usage s perfectly acceptable n the
Un ted States but careful wr ters n the UK try to avo d t (Burchf eld).

Generally, the only quest on about than ar ses when we have to dec de
whether the word s be ng used as a conjunct on or as a prepos t on. If t's a
prepos t on (and Merr am-Webster's d ct onary prov des for th s usage), then
the word that follows t should be n the object form.

He's taller and somewhat more handsome than me.

Just because you look l ke h m doesn't mean you can play better
than h m.

Most careful wr ters, however, w ll ns st that than be used as a

conjunct on; t's as f part of the clause ntroduced by than has been
left out:

He's taller and somewhat more handsome than I [am

handsome].
You can play better than he [can play].

In formal, academ c text, you should probably use than as a

conjunct on and follow t w th the subject form of a pronoun (where a
pronoun s appropr ate).

Then s a conjunct on, but t s not one of the l ttle conjunct ons l sted
at the top of th s page. We can use the FANBOYS conjunct ons to
connect two ndependent clauses; usually, they w ll be accompan ed
(preceded) by a comma. Too many students th nk that then works the
same way: "Caesar nvaded Gaul, then he turned h s attent on to
England." You can tell the d fference between then and a
coord nat ng conjunct on by try ng to move the word around n the
sentence. We can wr te "he then turned h s attent on to England"; "he
turned h s attent on, then, to England"; he turned h s attent on to
England then." The word can move around w th n the clause. Try that
w th a conjunct on, and you w ll qu ckly see that the conjunct on
cannot move around. "Caesar nvaded Gaul, and then he turned h s
attent on to England." The word and s stuck exactly there and
cannot move l ke then, wh ch s more l ke an adverb al conjunct on
(or conjunct ve adverb see below) than a coord nat ng
conjunct on. Our or g nal sentence n th s paragraph "Caesar
nvaded Gaul, then he turned h s attent on to England" s a comma
spl ce, a faulty sentence construct on n wh ch a comma tr es to hold
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together two ndependent clauses all by tself: the comma needs a

coord nat ng conjunct on to help out, and the word then s mply
doesn't work that way.

Subord nat ng Conjunct ons

A Subord nat ng Conjunct on (somet mes called a dependent word or subord nator)
comes at the beg nn ng of a Subord nate (or Dependent) Clause and establ shes the
relat onsh p between the dependent clause and the rest of the sentence. It also turns the clause
nto someth ng that depends on the rest of the sentence for ts mean ng.

He took to the stage as though he had been prepar ng for th s moment all h s l fe.
Because he loved act ng, he refused to g ve up h s dream of be ng n the mov es.
Unless we act now, all s lost.

Not ce that some of the subord nat ng conjunct ons n the table below after, before,
s nce are also prepos t ons, but as subord nators they are be ng used to ntroduce a clause
and to subord nate the follow ng clause to the ndependent element n the sentence.

Common Subord nat ng

Conjunct ons
after f though
although f only t ll
as n order that unless
as f now that unt l
as long as once when
as though rather than whenever
because s nce where
before so that whereas
even f than wherever
even though that wh le

The Case of L ke and As

Str ctly speak ng, the word l ke s a prepos t on, not a conjunct on. It
can, therefore, be used to ntroduce a prepos t onal phrase ("My
brother s tall l ke my father"), but t should not be used to ntroduce a
clause ("My brother can't play the p ano l ke as he d d before the
acc dent" or "It looks l ke as f basketball s qu ckly overtak ng
baseball as Amer ca's nat onal sport."). To ntroduce a clause, t's a
good dea to use as, as though, or as f, nstead.

L ke As I told you earl er, the lecture has been postponed.

It looks l ke as f t's go ng to snow th s afternoon.
Johnson kept look ng out the w ndow l ke as though he had
someone wa t ng for h m.

In formal, academ c text, t's a good dea to reserve the use of l ke for
s tuat ons n wh ch s m lar t es are be ng po nted out:

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Th s commun ty college s l ke a two-year l beral arts college.

However, when you are l st ng th ngs that have s m lar t es, such as s
probably more su table:

The college has several h ghly regarded ne ghbors, l ke such as

the Mark Twa n House, St. Franc s Hosp tal, the Connect cut
H stor cal Soc ety, and the UConn Law School.

Om tt ng That
The word that s used as a conjunct on to connect a subord nate
clause to a preced ng verb. In th s construct on that s somet mes
called the "explet ve that." Indeed, the word s often om tted to good
effect, but the very fact of easy om ss on causes some ed tors to take
out the red pen and str ke out the conjunct on that wherever t
appears. In the follow ng sentences, we can happ ly om t the that (or
keep t, depend ng on how the sentence sounds to us):

Isabel knew [that] she was about to be f red.

She def n tely felt [that] her fellow employees hadn't supported
her.
I hope [that] she doesn't blame me.

Somet mes om tt ng the that creates a break n the flow of a

sentence, a break that can be adequately br dged w th the use of a
comma:

The problem s, that product on n her department has dropped.

Remember, that we d dn't have these problems before she
started work ng here.

As a general rule, f the sentence feels just as good w thout the that,
f no amb gu ty results from ts om ss on, f the sentence s more
eff c ent or elegant w thout t, then we can safely om t the that.
Theodore Bernste n l sts three cond t ons n wh ch we should
ma nta n the conjunct on that:

When a t me element ntervenes between the verb and the

clause: "The boss sa d yesterday that product on n th s
department was down f fty percent." (Not ce the pos t on of
"yesterday.")
When the verb of the clause s long delayed: "Our annual report
revealed that some losses susta ned by th s department n the
th rd quarter of last year were worse than prev ously thought."
(Not ce the d stance between the subject "losses" and ts verb,
"were.")
When a second that can clear up who sa d or d d what: "The
CEO sa d that Isabel's department was slack ng off and that
product on dropped prec p tously n the fourth quarter." (D d the
CEO say that product on dropped or was the drop a result of
what he sa d about Isabel's department? The second that makes
the sentence clear.)
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Author ty for th s sect on: Dos, Don'ts & Maybes of Engl sh Usage by
Theodore Bernste n. Gramercy Books: New York. 1999. p. 217. Examples
our own.

Beg nn ng a Sentence w th Because

Somehow, the not on that one should not beg n a sentence w th the
subord nat ng conjunct on because reta ns a myster ous gr p on
people's sense of wr t ng propr et es. Th s m ght come about because
a sentence that beg ns w th because could well end up a fragment f
one s not careful to follow up the "because clause" w th an
ndependent clause.

Because e-ma l now plays such a huge role n our

commun cat ons ndustry.

When the "because clause" s properly subord nated to another dea

(regardless of the pos t on of the clause n the sentence), there s
absolutely noth ng wrong w th t:

Because e-ma l now plays such a huge role n our

commun cat ons ndustry, the postal serv ce would very much
l ke to see t taxed n some manner.

Correlat ve Conjunct ons

Some conjunct ons comb ne w th other words to form what are called correlat ve
conjunct ons. They always travel n pa rs, jo n ng var ous sentence elements that should be
treated as grammat cally equal.

She led the team not only n stat st cs but also by v rtue of her enthus asm.
Polon us sa d, "Ne ther a borrower nor a lender be."
Whether you w n th s race or lose t doesn't matter as long as you do your best.

Correlat ve conjunct ons somet mes create problems n parallel form. Cl ck HERE for help
w th those problems. Here s a br ef l st of common correlat ve conjunct ons.

both . . . and ne ther . . . nor

not only . . . but whether . . . or
also as . . . as
not . . . but
e ther . . . or

Conjunct ve Adverbs
The conjunct ve adverbs such as however, moreover, nevertheless, consequently, as a
result are used to create complex relat onsh ps between deas. Refer to the sect on on
Coherence: Trans t ons Between Ideas for an extens ve l st of conjunct ve adverbs
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categor zed accord ng to the r var ous uses and for some adv ce on the r appl cat on w th n
sentences ( nclud ng punctuat on ssues).

Gu de to Grammar Pr nc ples of
Index
and Wr t ng Compos t on

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