Conjunctions in grammar: Coordinating, Correlative, Subordinating Conjunctions are used to join two relatable ideas. These ideas can be a group of words, phrases or clauses. Basically, there are three types of conjunctions:
- Coordinating
- Correlative
- Subordinating
Let us discuss them one by one.
I. Coordinating Conjunctions in grammar
These types of conjunctions are used to join two words, phrases, or independent clauses.
Note, the sentence should follow a parallel structure. To know about parallel structure click here.
There are only seven coordinating conjunctions and those are for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so.
Tricks Magical suggest to learn about Parallel Structure in Essay.
Examples of sentences with coordinating conjunctions:
I love to play cricket or football on weekends.
Guardians should lay restrictions on the time spent by children on television, and they should encourage them to read books.
II. Correlative Conjunctions in grammar
These types of conjunctions generally use a pair of words to show a contrast or compare two parts of a sentence. Here also a parallel structure should be followed.
These conjunctions can be listed as below:
not only….but also,
either…..or,
neither…..nor,
whether…..or,
both…..and,
not……but.
Examples of sentences with correlative conjunctions:
He loves both Italian and Mexican food.
Neither Ram nor Ali can work for more than nine hours in a day.
Not only he is handsome but he is clever also.
III. Subordinating Conjunctions
These types of conjunctions are used to join two clauses or two parts of a sentence: one independent and one dependent.
Here both clauses need not be parallel, but they have to be relatable with each other. The clauses should show contrast or similarity with each other based on the type of subordinating conjunction used.
Here, the word ‘subordinate’ itself shows the dependency of parts of a sentence on each other.
The most common subordinating conjunctions are following (but they are not all)
- After
- Before
- While
- Although
- If
- Until
- Since
- Because
- When
- That
- Which
- As
and many more………..
Sometimes they are in the phrasal form also
For eg.
- Even if
- Even though
- so that
- as long as
- as soon as
- and many more……
Examples of sentences with subordinating conjunctions:
When I reached Mohit’s home, he had left already.
As I love ice-cream, I eat it a lot.
Older buildings should be maintained because of their cultural significance.
To recapitulate, coordinating and correlative conjunctions join two parts of a sentence which are parallel in structure whereas subordinating conjunctions joins two unparallel but relatable parts of a sentence.
