Conjunctions

Conjunctions are linking words like and, or, but, then and because:

1.  They knocked down all the houses and built a car park.

2.  I went home and had lunch.

3.  Are there four or five people living in that house?

4.  My shoes look great, but they are not very comfortable.

And, but, either … or, etc. (coordinating conjunctions)

Coordinating conjunctions connect items which are the same grammatical type, e.g. words, phrases, clauses. The most common coordinating conjunctions are and, or, but.

One-word conjunctions

Connecting words

Which do you prefer? Red or blue?

Connecting phrases

The meal was very expensive and not very nice.

Connecting clauses

There are seats outside, but some people don’t like sitting outdoors.

Connecting sentences

My grandmother’s name was Jane. But, she became William when she got married to my grandfather. 

Connecting prefixes

Pro- and anti-government supporters waited outside the parliament.

Two-word conjunctions

coordinating conjunctions have two parts: either … or …, neither … nor …, both … and …

You can learn either Tamil or Pali.

You can eat either bread or rice.

Either Ravi or Roshan helps you.

Either students or teacher clean/cleans the classroom.

Either teacher or students clean/cleans the classroom.

Neither …. nor

You can drink chocolate milk either hot in the winter or cold in the summer.

Neither …. Nor

I have neither brothers nor sisters.

I have no brothers and sisters.

I don’t eat bread. I don’t eat butter.

I eat neither bread nor butter.