Conjunctions are words that are used
in joining two or more grammatical items (it could be words, phrases and
clauses).
Types of Conjunction
In English language, we have three
types of conjunctions: Coordinating Conjunction, Subordinating Conjunction and
Correlating Conjunction.
1. Coordinating Conjunction
Coordinating conjunctions are
conjunctions that link or join two grammatical entities that are of equal
status. Coordinating conjunctions are 'linkers' and are also called 'main' or
'primary' conjunctions. There are three main Coordinating conjunctions in
English: 'and', 'or', 'but’.
AND
'And' joins two things that are of
equal grammatical status, and from the semantic point of view, it means
addition.
Examples
1.
Union Bank is big, strong and reliable.
2.
Mary and John are my friends.
'And' can also mean result, e.g., He drove recklessly and crashed
into the river.
It can also mean contrast, e.g., Mary is tall and John is
short.
OR
'Or' suggests alternative, e.g., You can study English or History.
It also means restatement, e.g., He is clever or so he
thinks he is.
It can join two clauses, e.g., You can study history or can
go to school of Nursing.
BUT
'But', as a coordinating conjunction, is
contrastive. It shows or means contrast.
Examples:
1.
John is young but he is lazy.
2.
The man is very rich but he is very miserable.
2. Subordinating Conjunction
Subordinating conjunctions are also
called binders. They bind two things that are of unequal
grammatical status. Subordinating conjunctions bind a main/independent clause
and a subordinating/dependent clause.
Examples
1. If it
rains tonight, I will not go out.
2. There will not be
peace until men and women love themselves.
3. Whereas he
walked out, his sister spent her time parking.
The underlined words are the subordinating conjunctions. Other Examples of subordinating conjunctions are if, as, while, whilst, before, although, though, where, until, whereas, because etc.
3. Correlating Conjunction
This type of conjunction involves the
use of two conjunctions in linking or joining words, phrases or clauses
together. The correlating conjunctions we have are: 'either or' and 'neither
nor.'
Examples
1. Neither you nor Emeka
gave her the money.
2. Either Joy or her
sister brought the book.