CONJUNCTIONS - Parts of Speech - Advanced Grammar - Types of Conjunctions with Examples

Hi there, and welcome back to our parts of speech series.

In this lesson, you’re going to learn about conjunctions.

We’ll first discuss what a conjunction is, and then we’ll look

at the four main types of conjunctions, and how

to avoid the most common mistake that people

with them – that is, how to punctuate conjunctions

correctly in writing.

Alright, let’s begin.

As always, if you have any questions, just let

me know in the comments section below and I will

talk to you there.

OK, so first, what is a conjunction?

A conjunction is a word that connects parts of a sentence – it can connect

words or it can connect phrases or even clauses.

Look at these examples.

In number one, “When you go to London, you must try fish and chips.”

Fish and chips is a popular food in the UK.

So here, the conjunction ‘and’ connects two

words – fish and chips.

In the next sentence, “My cell phone is either on the table or

in the drawer.”

The conjunction is the combination of ‘either .. or’ and it connects two phrases

‘on the table’ and ‘in the drawer’.

And in number three, can you find the conjunction?

The conjunction is ‘but ’ and it connects two

clauses (clauses are just like sentences) –

“Yazmin went to see her manager” is the first

clause and the second clause is “he wasn’t in his office.”

So you see here that conjunctions can connect any two parts of a sentence.

Alright so now let’s talk about the different types of

conjunctions in English.

Conjunctions come in four major types: coordinating conjunctions (these are the words

and, or, but, so, yet, for and nor), subordinating conjunctions (like because,

after, although, if, until etc.), correlative conjunctions (these are pairs

of conjunctions such as either .. or,

neither .. nor, not only .. but also etc.) –

so in each one, you see two words that always go together.

And finally, conjunctive adverbs.

These are words like as a result, however, in addition and therefore.

They are adverbs but they act like conjunctions (that is, they

help to join parts of a sentence).

Now don’t be scared by all these names – the names

are not important, what is important is knowing

how to use the conjunctions correctly.

Of course, conjunctions are a huge topic and there are many grammar rules relating to them.

So today, we will focus on avoiding the most common type of mistake with conjunctions,

and that is, punctuating them correctly in writing.

We won’t be discussing correlative conjunctions because there aren’t any special punctuation

rules with them – but we will be discussing the

other three.

So let’s start with coordinating conjunctions first.

Coordinating conjunctions are probably the most commonly used type of conjunction in

English.

These are the words: and, or, but, so, yet, for and nor.

Now, the words for and nor can be used as conjunctions but they’re

not used a lot (the word for is used much more

as a preposition not a conjunction).

But the other five are very common.

Alright, let’s talk about how to punctuate them correctly.

On the screen, there are four sentences.

You will notice that there are no commas in these.

So in all four sentences, I want you to put commas wherever necessary.

Pause the video and think about your answers, then play the video

again and check.

OK, let’s look at the answers: in the first two sentences, did you put a comma anywhere?

Actually, you don’t need any commas in these two sentences.

That is because when a conjunction only connects two words or two

phrases, we don’t use commas.

In number one, the conjunction is ‘and ’ and it connects

the adjectives ‘beautiful’ and ‘spacious’.

Only two items – so no comma.

In number two, the conjunction is ‘or’ and it connects two noun phrases:

‘a library’ and ‘a restaurant’.

So again, only two items, so we don’t use a comma.

In sentences three and four, commas are required.

When we have lists of three or more items, we

use commas to separate them.

In number three, “We need to buy sugar (comma) butter (comma)

flour (comma) and vanilla extract for the cake.”

Notice that there is a conjunction ‘and’ before

the last item, and the comma goes before this conjunction.

Similarly, in number four, there is a list of three items – guitar, piano,

violin.

This time, the conjunction is ‘or’.

And just like in the previous example, we use commas

to separate the items, and the last comma goes

before the conjunction.

Now there’s another very important rule regarding coordinating conjunctions.

And that is that when a conjunction connects two

independent clauses, you should always put a

comma after the first clause.

Take a look at these examples.

Look at sentence number one: you see here that

it has two parts.

The first part is “Abdul gifted his mother an iPad for her birthday.”

If you read this carefully, you will realize that this can be a complete sentence by itself.

So it’s called an independent clause.

The same is true for the second part – “she loved

it.”

This is also a complete sentence, so it’s an

independent clause as well.

So the conjunction ‘and’ connects two independent clauses

here, so we put a comma after the first clause and

before ‘and’.

That is the rule.

In all of these examples, there are two independent clauses connected by a conjunction.

In number two, “Kim wanted to work in Paris” is the first clause, and the second clause

is “she couldn’t find a job there.”

The conjunction ‘but’ connects these clauses

and shows contrast, i.e. it shows that the two

clauses are opposites.

In number three, the conjunction ‘or’ shows

that there are two options: “we can go to the movies” (that’s the

first option – it’s also the first clause),

and the second option is “we can clean the house.”

(that’s the second clause).

For number four, imagine that we’re at a restaurant.

And you ask me, “what do you want to eat?”

And I say, “Oh, I’m not very hungry” (now that’s the reason), so the result is

“I’ll just have a milkshake.”

Both of these are independent clauses.

Finally, in number five, you see the conjunction ‘yet’.

The meaning of this sentence is that Revati is very good at

programming but still she teaches economics.

So the word ‘yet’ is like saying but still.

Here, the first clause is “Revati is an expert

at computer programming” and the second clause

is “she teaches economics.”

So in all of these sentences, we put a comma after the first clause and before the conjunction.

But you have to be careful here.

Now have a look at these next two sentences.

You see that there is no comma.

And this is correct.

But can you tell me why there’s no comma?

It’s because in both of these sentences, there’s

only one clause.

In number six, “Mr. Burns” is the subject, followed by two verb phrases – “made

a bad investment” is one verb phrase; “lost all

his savings” is another verb phrase.

Remember the rule?

If a conjunction connects only two words or phrases, no comma.

It’s the same in number seven – the subject is “I”, then

there are two verb phrases – “ordered a T-shirt

online two weeks ago” is the first phrase, and

“still haven’t received it” is the second phrase.

So no comma.

Alright, let’s now move on to our next topic and talk about punctuation rules with

subordinating conjunctions.

Subordinating conjunctions are words like because, unless, before, after, if etc.

But why are these called subordinating?

Well, look at this example:

“After Luisa gets home from work,” Is this a

complete sentence?

It is not.

Because it has the word ‘after’ in it.

If we remove it, the sentence can stand alone -

“Luisa gets home from work” – it’s fine.

But if I say “After Luisa gets home from work”

you will ask OK then what?

What does she do?

So you see the sentence isn’t complete.

Thus, this is a dependent clause (which also called

a subordinate clause).

The conjunction ‘after’ makes it a subordinate clause or dependent,

so ‘after’ is called a subordinating conjunction.

To complete this sentence, we can add an independent clause – so

“After Luisa gets home from work, she likes to watch TV for an hour.”

Alright now look at these examples.

You see three pairs of sentences.

In each pair, sentence (a) and sentence (b) mean the same

thing.

But notice that sentences (a) have a comma, but sentences (b) don’t have a comma.

And this is correct.

I want you look at these examples carefully, and then say why there

is a comma in (a) but no comma in (b).

Stop the video if you want, think about it and then

play the video again and check.

OK, here’s the rule: when you connect a dependent clause and an independent clause,

if you put the dependent clause first, you put

a comma after it.

If the independent clause goes first, no comma.

That symbol means no comma.

So in all of these, in sentences (a), what comes first is a dependent or subordinate

clause, meaning it is not a full sentence, so

we put a comma after it.

In sentences (b), the first clause is independent.

The dependent clause comes second.

So no comma.

This is an important rule, so don’t forget it.

OK, now finally, let’s turn to punctuation rules with conjunctive adverbs.

Now you might be thinking, why are we talking about adverbs in a conjunctions lesson?

Well the reason is that some adverbs act like

conjunctions, so we call them conjunctive adverbs.

These are words like however, therefore, as a result, otherwise, moreover

and so on.

Here are some examples.

You see that there is no punctuation inside the sentences.

That’s because I wanted to ask you: how should I punctuate these sentences?

Should I put commas?

Where should I put them?

If you want, stop the video, think about it, then play the video again and check.

Alright, here’s the correct punctuation.

What do you see?

Well, you see that there are both commas and semicolons.

This is a special rule of using conjunctive adverbs.

Take the first sentence: there are two clauses – the first

is “Zach loves living in San Francisco”,

the second is “his wife hates the traffic and the pollution.”

Notice that both of these are independent clauses, that is they are full sentences.

Conjunctive adverbs are generally used to connect independent clauses.

The word ‘however’ has almost the same meaning

as ‘but’.

You can actually say “Zach loves living in San Francisco,

but his wife hates the traffic and the pollution.”

The meaning is the same.

The difference is that ‘however’ is more formal, and the punctuation

rules are different.

Can you see the difference?

With ‘but’ we only use a single comma before it.

With however , or any conjunctive adverb, the

most common way to punctuate them is with a

semicolon before, and a comma after.

You can see this in all of sentences.

There’s another way to write them - you can also write them

with a period (or full-stop) in front.

If you do this, you end the first sentence, and then

start a new sentence with the conjunctive adverb: that’s also correct.

And you can write it this way with all of the conjunctive adverbs

– therefore, moreover etc.

Sometimes, you will see the conjunctive adverb in the middle or

end position like you see on the screen now.

All of these mean the same thing.

Notice that when ‘however’ is in the middle, it is

interrupting the sentence, so we put a comma before and

after to make it easy to read.

If these rules are a little confusing, don’t worry – you will get them will practice

but with conjunctive adverbs, make sure to remember

the most important rule: semicolon or period before (the period is also called a full-stop

in British English) and the comma after.

Alright, now let’s do a quick recap of all the rules that we learned in this lesson.

And then I will give you a test to see if you

can punctuate conjunctions correctly.

Rule number one – if a conjunction only connects

two words or phrases, no comma.

Rule number two – in lists of three or more items, put a comma after each item (except

the last).

Put the last comma before the conjunction.

Rule number three – when connecting two independent clauses with a conjunction,

always put a comma after the first clause.

Rule number four – when connecting a dependent clause to an independent clause, if the

dependent clause comes first, put a comma after

it.

If the independent clause comes first, no comma.

And finally rule number five – when using conjunctive adverbs, either put a

semicolon before and a comma after the adverb.

Or a period before and a comma after.

Alright, now it’s time for the test.

On the screen, there are eight sentences, and

I want you to punctuate them with commas (,) and semicolons (;) where necessary.

Stop the video if you want, think about your answers,

then play the video again and check.

Alright, let’s look at the answers: in sentence number one, commas have to go after

English and Spanish.

This is a list with three items, so we put commas after each item (except

the last).

Remember that the last comma goes before the conjunction (and).

But in sentence number two, you don’t need any

commas.

This is because ‘and’ only connects two items: Tuesday and Wednesday.

In number three, there are two clauses.

The first is “We didn’t know it was going to rain”.

Then there’s the conjunction ‘so’ and then

the second clause “we didn’t bring our umbrellas.”

Both of these clauses are independent meaning that

they can stand alone as sentences.

For this reason, we put a comma after the first clause.

What about number four?

In this sentence, you need no commas.

Notice that the conjunction is ‘but’.

You might think that it’s connecting two clauses here, but that’s not the case.

There’s only one subject (Lamar) with two verb

phrases - “got job offers from four different companies”

and “didn’t accept any of them”.

So the conjunction is just connecting two phrases

– that’s why no comma.

In number five, we have two clauses.

The first clause “When you see Shelly” is a dependent

clause because it’s not a full sentence.

The second clause – “can you tell her to come

and see me?” is independent.

Yes, it’s a question, but it’s still a complete, meaningful sentence.

What comes first is the dependent clause with the conjunction ‘when.’

For this reason, we put a comma after it.

What about number six?

Comma or no comma?

Well, how many clauses do you see?

There are two: one is independent and the other is dependent.

The first clause – “I can’t log in” – which is

that?

It’s the independent clause because it’s complete.

But the second clause, “because I can’t remember my password” is dependent

because it’s not complete.

Which comes first?

The independent clause, so no comma.

Remember, only if the dependent clause comes first,

we put a comma after it.

In sentences seven and eight, notice that we

have conjunctive adverbs – ‘however’ in seven,

and ‘therefore’ in eight.

So what’s the rule with conjunctive adverbs?

The rule is: semicolon before, comma after.

You see this is number seven.

Another way to punctuate conjunctive adverbs is with a period before

and comma after.

You can see this now with number eight.

Both forms are correct.

Alright, how many did you get right?

Let me know in the comments.

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