conjunction

conjunction

A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but, for, if, or, and when which is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Coordinating conjunctions join like with like: The room is large and bright / She would have to go back and look for it / You can come in but you cannot stay long / Would you like tea or coffee?. Subordinating conjunctions join a subordinate clause to a main clause: I shan't go if you won't come with me / As we're early let's have a drink / I was late because I missed the train. Pairs of conjunctions such as either…or…and neither…nor…are called correlative conjunctions: He must be either drunk or mad / I neither know nor care. Some conjunctions are much more common in BrE than in AmE; these are whilst

• (I would like to thank many friends and colleagues for their encouragement whilst I was writing this book —R. Jackson, 1981)

now

• (Now the tourist season's starting it's better to have someone there, like a caretaker —Iris Murdoch, 1980)

and nor

• (Nobody in the dying Constituent Assembly believed it, and nor did the royal family —W. Doyle, 2003)

and but nor

• (I don't need any cosseting but nor am I too independent —Saga Magazine, 2004.

The more important conjunctions are treated in separate articles: see and, because, but, for, etc.