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Karl J Sherlock
Associate Professor, English
Email: karl.sherlock@gcccd.edu
Phone: 619-644-7871

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are categorized as one of the eight main parts of speech. Conjunctions help to answer questions like "How else?" or "What else?"


Many conjunctions are little words, but they serve a big function: they fasten together, or conjoin, words, phrases and clauses into complex and compound relationships. They accomplish this in three ways, all of which come with hazards that lead to errors.

The menu at right will take you to these.

 

It's important to know, some kinds of sentences depend on the effective use of conjunctions:

  • When conjunctions are used to coordinate two or more independent clauses, they create compound sentences.
  • When conjunctions are used to subordinate one or more clauses to another, they create complex sentences.
  • When conjunctions are used to correlate two or more expressions, they create parallel structures.
  • When conjunctions are used in combination to coordinate and subordinate, they create compound-complex sentences.

 

 

Related Resources

"A Handbook of Usage and Tone" copyright 2015, Karl J. Sherlock. Written and graphical contents of this site may not be used for profit. Unauthorized use, whether whole or in part, is prohibited. Direct inquiries and comments to the author. Thank you.