Conjunctions are words that join two complete ideas in a sentence together, or words that join a complete idea to additional information about that idea. For example, the word "or" in the previous sentence is a conjunction.
The following conjunctions are used to join two complete ideas as described in What is a Compound Sentence? (hint: use the mnemonic "FANBOYS" to remember these seven conjunctions):
- For
- And
- Nor
- But
- Or
- Yet
- So
By contrast, the following conjunctions (sometimes called "dependent markers" or "dependent words") join additional information to a single, complete idea in a sentence to describe a time, a purpose or cause, a condition, or a contrast or comparison with the main idea in the sentence (hint: the words below are often used with "dependent clauses").
- After, before, as soon as, until, while
- Because, since, so that
- If, unless, in case
- Although, even though, where as
- Just as, as though, rather than
To learn more about how these conjunctions work in complex sentences, Where can I find information on writing transitions? as well as clauses.
