Conjunctions in English

The rules of using conjunctions in English will be analysed in this article. It will also provide illustrative examples of sentences with conjunctions, and consider the difference between English conjunctions and other parts of speech.

Contents

1. All what you need to know about English conjunctions
2. Types of conjunctions in English
     2.1. Simple
     2.2. Derivative
     2.3. Compound
     2.4. Composite
     2.5. Coordinating
     2.6. Subordinating
3. Difference between conjunctions and other parts of speech

All what you need to know about English conjunctions
 

A conjunction is a service part of speech that connects words, phrases, parts of a sentence or separate clauses. 

To understand the role of conjunctions in English better, let's have a look at some examples. First, read these sentences:

• Mary came to the office. Her boss was really mad at her. She was late.
• This summer we will go to Brazil for the New Year. We will go without our children.
• I am going to eat pizza. I am going to eat salad.

The main meaning of these sentences is clear, but they do not look like a whole thing. That's why we use conjunctions – to connect sentences (or parts of sentences) together, to make them more harmonious and easier to understand. So after adding a few English conjunctions to the sentences above we can see such examples:  

• Mary came to the office but her boss was really mad at her because she was late.
• This summer we will go to Brazil for the New Year, however we will go without our children.
• I am going to eat either pizza or salad.

Now our examples are more complete, clear and understandable.

Types of conjunctions in English
 

There are six types of conjunctions in English:

1. Simple
2. Derivative
3. Compound
4. Composite
5. Coordinating
6. Subordinating

Let's move on to examples that will help you to understand their usage.
 

Simple conjunctions
 

It appears in the form of one word in English:

1. And
2. Or
3. But
4. As
5. So
6. Then
7. If
8. Till, until

The table below shows examples:

Derivative conjunctions
 

They are formed by adding a prefix or a suffix:

1. Because
2. Until
3. Unless

Here are some sentences with derivative English conjunctions:

Compound conjunctions

They are formed from two conjunctions (two roots) or by adding suffixes or prefixes:

1. However
2. Whenever
3. Although
4. Whereas

Let's take a look at how they are used in practice:

Composite conjunctions
 

They are made up of two words or more:

1. As soon as
2. As well as
3. In order to
4. In case of
5. Either… or…
6. Neither… nor…
7. Not only… but also…
8. Both… and…
9. Rather… or…

There’re some examples below:

Coordinating conjunctions
 

They are used in English when you need to combine certain words, phrases or even several sentences into one. Look at the list:

1. And
2. Or
3. But
4. Yet
5. So

Here are some examples of sentences with coordinating conjunctions:

Subordinating conjunctions
 

The purpose of subordinating conjunctions is to connect parts of a sentence where one part depends on the other one in terms of content and meaning. Let's have a look at the list:

1. If
2. Before
3. After
4. When
5. That
6. Provided that
7. In case
8. Unless
9. Because
10. Since

There are more examples in the table below:

Difference between conjunctions and other parts of speech
 

Conjunctions in English can often be confused with adverbs or prepositions. To distinguish them, you need to understand the function of certain words in a sentence. Please pay attention that conjunctions are never a part of the sentence, it only connects other words or parts of the sentence together.

Let's have a closer look at the word “before” to demonstrate the difference between English conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions. It can function as these three parts of speech: to connect two parts of a sentence, to indicate a feature or condition, and to express a relationship between words.