Lesson 120 👩‍🏫 Basic English with Jennifer - Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS)

Hi everyone! I’m Jennifer from English with Jennifer. This is a very special lesson. It’s the last lesson with my dear students from Brazil, Flavia and Andreia.

We had to stop our lessons in 2020 because of COVID, but in early 2021, we were able to meet on Zoom. I wanted to teach the ladies a few more things before we said goodbye.

Would you like to learn how to join ideas together? Let’s practice coordinating conjunctions.

Okay, ladies. I'm going to show you a picture.

Do you see?

Mmm. Aw.

Yeah. What do you see?

Baby elephant. Yeah. A baby elephant and?

Her mom?

Maybe the mom. It could be he or she. The baby elephant and its mother because we don't know if the baby elephant is a boy or girl.

The baby elephant and its mother. And what's the baby elephant doing?

Or where is it?

Close. Close. Why do you think the baby elephant is close to the mother?

Because it's love...

Yeah. It loves its mom. How does it feel? How do you think the baby elephant feels?

Say it. Protect. Protected. Safe. Protected. The mother is protecting the baby. Yeah. Good things.

Something I heard that was good is "because." There are different ways to join our ideas. "Because" is one of them.

The baby is with its mother because it loves its mother. The mother is with its baby because it's protecting the baby. Right?

There are other ways we join ideas together, and this for speaking and for writing.

Have you ever heard about FANBOYS? Has any teacher taught you that?

It's just a way to remember some joining words that we call conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions.

So, FANBOYS are...stands for FOR, AND, NOR, BUT, OR, YET, and SO. Those are coordinating conjunctions. Okay?

So, I'm going to go over here, and put them there for you to see.

These are words that we use to join whole ideas together, or whole clauses. I know you use "and" and "but." Maybe you also use "or" as well. "So" is very common.

The baby is with its mother. The mother can protect it.

Which of those words, which of those conjunctions shows the reason? The result? What would you put in there?

Say it again. So. "So" makes a lot of sense. "So" is like saying, um, "and as a result" or "for that reason."

So, "so" is good for introducing reasons. Right? Results.

Why is the baby with its mother? So the mother can protect it. The baby is with its mother, so the mother can protect it now.

Mm-hmm. What if I say, um, "The baby elephant is large." It's not like a cute little rabbit. Right? So, the baby elephant is large.

"It's still small enough to need protection."

So, yes, it's large. But... It's a contrast. "But it's still small enough to need protection." It's not like its mom. Yes, a baby elephant is big, but it's a baby.

It's still small enough to need protection. We're joining with "but." Mm-hmm. Um, this is what I know about elephants.

Elephants are smart. Elephants are loyal. Right? They have family. They stick with their family. They protect each other.

How can we join them?

And? Yes. So, what could we say? Elephants are... You have a couple choices. Elephants are smart...

And here you don't want to keep repeating words. You could say, "And they are loyal." But again, you could even shorten that more if we have two similar words

and they have similar grammar. "Smart" and "loyal" are adjectives, so you don't even have to write that long sentence. You could say, "Elephants are smart..."

What's the shortest sentence I can make? Loyal. Yeah. Elephants are smart and loyal. Right?

If it's a short sentence and I just have two adjectives (Elephants are smart and loyal), and I use "and." If it's a longer sentence with two ideas, what do I use? What's that punctuation mark?

Comma. Comma. So, when you're joining ideas together, and there are two complete ideas. This has a subject and a verb. This has a subject and a verb.

That's when we use ",and" / ", but"/ ", so." When you're writing and you join these longer ideas together, that's when you need a comma.

When we're speaking, um, it's more just a pause. Elephants are smart, and they are loyal.

Okay? So, "and" is for additions. "But" is for contrast. "So" is like introducing the reason or the result. What about "or"?

There's two possibilities for food, and we're sorry if we're incorrect. We aren't experts on elephants. The elephants eat leaves. People might feed them nuts.

Putting these ideas together, what's the long sentence? What if I want to show this is possible; this is possible?

Or. Or. The contrast. The alternative. "Or people might feed them nuts."

The most common coordinating conjunctions are AND, OR, BUT, SO.

Practice some more. Use each conjunction once in the following sentences.

How do you want to study? We can meet in person, or we can meet on Zoom.

Notice, by the way, we're joining complete ideas, each with a subject and a verb. But we can use coordinating conjunctions with shorter ideas.

How would you like to study? We can meet in person or on Zoom.

Flavia and Andreia live close to the city, but I live farther away in the suburbs.

Andreia has pets, and she works in at an animal shelter, so it’s clear that she loves animals.

What about "yet"? It's like "but." It shows a contrast. You can use "yet" alone. Some people use "and yet" together because you're adding information, but it's a contrast.

The ladies learned a lot, and yet there is much more for them to study!

How about NOR and FOR? Those are more formal conjunctions. Watch and learn.

You might have learned "yet" as a time word. Like, "Are you done?" "Not yet." Like, "I need more time."

But we can also use "yet" to join ideas together, and there's a contrast. It's a little more formal. It's not very common, so right now, I would say I want you to understand it.

You don't really have to use it right now, but I want you do understand if you see it or hear it. "Yet" can be a contrast word.

Sometimes people put it together with "and." Not just "yet," but "and yet." So, you'll hear that. And yet. Elephants are gentle, yet they can protect themselves.

Elephants are gentle, and yet they can fight to protect themselves. It's another way to express a contrast. It's a little bit more formal.

Especially if we're going to use it in speaking, I hear people join it together with "and." And yet...

And you hear my voice. But. And yet.

They definitely can fight to protect themselves. So, we've done "and." Oh! There's two in there that we haven't talked about.

F for "for" and N for "nor." Mm-hmm. Let's do "nor." Does that sound like affirmative or negative?

Negative. Negative. This is very...It's much more formal. Remember how we practiced "Neither do I"?

You may hear people say, "Nor do I." There's number four.

Nor am I. Nor do I. You will not likely say this. It sounds...It's not just for agreement. It could be for other statements, like, um, "Her husband doesn't smoke, nor does mine." Nor does he. Yes.

It's just a negative word to add on, but the difference is we should continue the sentence. Elephants don't sing, nor do they dance.

So, I don't start a new sentence. I can continue a sentence. Again, these are words that join ideas.

So, just like ", and"/ ", but"/ ", so"/ ", nor."

And what follows with "nor" is an addition, but a negative addition. They don't sing, nor do they dance. Nor do they dance. Mm-hmm.

And look at the grammar there. I have to use the verb before the subject. Nor do they dance. Right?

I'm going to show you one more because it's part of the FANBOYS collection here. The conjunctions. All these words that join ideas together.

"For" is another one, and it's very similar to "because." It's more formal, so again, I want you do understand it. You may not necessarily want to use it yet in writing or speaking

because it's kind of formal, but it's another way to say "because." The mother will protect her baby, for that is what a mother does. (Repeats.) Because that is what a mother does.

Okay? So again, these are all words that join ideas together, and they're complete ideas: subject + verb, subject + verb. And the joining word is called "conjunction." So, FANBOYS is a way to remember them.

F for "for." N for "nor." Y for "yet." Those three are a little more formal. You won't use them as much as BUT, OR, AND, SO. Right? But they're there.

Can you change this sentence and use "for"?

Never fear mistakes in your language studies, for mistakes are part of the process.

Can you correct the mistake in this sentence?

First, let me tell you about the word "contributions." That's a noun. A plural noun. It comes from the verb "contribute," which means to add something useful, something of value.

Flavia and Andreia contributed to my videos. They made special contributions.

Remember with "nor" we need to switch the position of the subject and verb.

So the correct sentence is: I will never forget Flavia and Andreia, nor will I stop being thankful for their contributions.

Well, do you think this is a recent photo or a very old photo? Recent. Recent. Yeah.

Why do you think it's recent, Flavia? Because of the mask. Uh-huh. The mother is wearing a mask...

Must be...I think that the case. I'm using "must" because I'm certain. I'm pretty certain I'm right. Right? Which conjunction fits in here? For.

Oh. No? I'll show you. If you did for, I would switch it around. The photo must be recent, for the mother is wearing a mask. Because the mother is wearing a mask.

You could do that. Right? It's not possible in the first? No. No. These conjunctions...they join in the middle. They join idea #1 and idea #2 together.

I think "so." Again, yes. Yes. I think "so" again.

What can we say about the child?

Watch this. The child...too. The child is too. Now you could write that as a separate sentence, or I could join these together. And how would they be joined?

And? And. Mm-hmm. And the child is too. The mother is dressed warmly, and the child is too. Okay Again, when we're writing, you're going to see that comma + conjunction.

Right? When we're speaking, you're going to hear it. Right? The mother is wearing a mask, so the photo must be recent.

The photo must be recent, for the mother is wearing a mask. The mother is dressed warmly, and the child is too. There's that little pause.

Aha! And do you also hear my voice? The mother is dressed warmly, and the child is too. Right? You'll hear my voice pause, and you'll also hear me go down at the very end. This is the end of my sentence. This is just the middle.

I chose this photo for you. What can you tell me about that photo?

Oh, how about this? Let me change this. He is... I'm going to change this to..."at." What word logically fits?

But. Mm-hmm. It's a contrast. Right? And if he's not a player, what do we call the people in the stadium? "Yay! Go team!"

Fan? Fan. He's a fan. He's a fan. Okay? We'll do one or two more. How about this guy?

And yet. You may see this. "Yet" is...because I don't want to use "but" twice. But I need another contrast word. The man is good-looking, but the car is not, and yet the photo is very nice.

It's like "and still." You know. "And yet." So these are contrast words. Not everyone will say that's right. You just might use the one.

But often, especially in less formal English, I hear this used together. And yet the photo is very nice. Okay?

One last one. Here's our last photo.

What do you see, Flavia?

They are laugh...laughing.

Nor are they... Yes. Nor are they arguing. Because "nor" is already negative. They are not angry, nor are they arguing.

And this means they are not arguing. So that's what it means. "And they are not arguing either" is what you're saying. And they are not arguing either. Okay?

So, this might be the first time you're seeing NOR, YET, FOR. This is the time just to understand and start looking and listening, and you'll see more examples.

The ones I want you to feel confident about: BUT, AND, SO, OR. Those ones are more common. Okay? So, those are our FANBOYS. Right?

If you want to practice, you could always create your own sentences, and send them to me. I would check them for you and let you know. Okay?

All right, ladies. Um, we're going to be finishing up, but I personally want to thank you so, so very much for not just this lesson, but all the lessons that you made with me.

And for showing people how you can learn English, and it's okay to make mistakes, and it's okay to laugh. It's okay to get angry, and I think you guys have been wonderful students

showing people how to learn English with a good attitude. We are so grateful for you to listen, to teach us a lot of things that we don't know. And now we are more confident.

Yay! And I hope we will stay in touch. We'll definitely stay in touch. When we can take off the masks. After the vaccines. Then we can see each other, and we can give real hugs. Right? Okay?

Thank you so much, Jennifer. You are very special in our lives. And you are too. I'm very happy we were able to do this, so thank you. Thank you very much.

Yesterday I talked with my husband, and I remembered the first class when Flavia and I don't say nothing. You didn't say anything. You were shy. Because we are so nervous.

And we can...we couldn't talk with you because we were afraid. And now we are more confident. I don't speak very well yet, but now I have confidence. And that's good. Confidence is important. It's very important,

and you've modeled that very, very well for everyone. Just try. So try. All right.

Like Flavia and Andreia, you're probably ready now for my other videos. Before we say goodbye, why don't you take a quiz to test your knowledge.

How did you do? Well, it’s time to end. Remember I have many other playlists.

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