Come on down to Conjunction Junction!  School House Rock - Conjunction Junction - Check it out on You Tube! click here!

 

 

There are three types of conjunctions - Coordinating, Correlative, and Subordinate.

 

So... what does a conjunction do anyway??  It joins words or word groups.

 

• The easiest to remember and most commonly used are coordinating conjunctions.  You can remember these with the acronym FAN BOYS. For And Nor  But Or Yet So.  But can also be a preposition.  How do you know?  If you can replace but with except, and the sentence still makes sense, you have a preposition on your hands.

 

• Next up in the "easiest to remember" category - correleative conjunctions.  These come in pairs

either ... or

neither ... nor

not only ... but also

whether ... or

both ... and

not ... but

as ... as

 

• Now, for those pesky subordinate conjunctions.  Some of these (in red) can also be prepositions.  How do you know?  A subject and verb will follow a subordinate conjunction, creating a subrodinate clause.

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 wherever whether while why