Lesson Three

LESSON THREE 

In this Lesson you will learn a little bit more about the  two major types of conjunctions -- Co-ordinate Conjunctions and  Subordinate Conjunctions. You will need to review the lists of these  conjunctions to familiarize yourself with them again.  

REVIEW: By this time you are quite familiar with Independent and  Dependent Clauses because you know how to find verb children and  their subjects. You also know that a complete sentence must have at  least one Independent Clause in it. Some sentences may have several  Independent Clauses in them. Some sentences may have at least one  Independent Clause and perhaps one or more Dependent Clauses in  them.  

To help you find clauses more easily, you need to learn the types of  conjunctions. Conjunctions are divided up into two main categories: Co-ordinate Conjunctions join words or word groups of equal  rank. There are two small subgroups of Co-ordinate Conjunctions. The first is called Simple Co-ordinate Conjunctions - - but, or, yet, (sometimes) for, and, nor. These conjunctions will be  referred to as Simple. 

TYPES OF CO-ORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS SIMPLE CO-ORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS

SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS 

A second major group of conjunctions is called Subordinate  Conjunctions. These conjunctions begin a certain type of  Dependent Clause (Adverb Clause). The important thing to  remember about these conjunctions is that they begin Dependent  Clauses; and since Dependent Clauses cannot stand on their own, these word groups (globs which stick together) cannot be written as a complete sentence. Here is an example. Because is a Subordinate  Conjunction. Because it is raining outside is a Dependent Clause. Is  raining is the verb; it is the subject of the verb. Even though you have  a subject and a verb, you do not have a complete thought in this  group of words; therefore, you have a Dependent Clause and must  not write Because it is raining outside with a period at the end because it  is not a complete sentence.  

To review, here is an outline that will help you. 

TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS 

I. Co-ordinate Conjunctions -- join word groups of equal rank 

 A. Simple Co-ordinate Conjunctions -- but, or, yet, (sometimes) for, and, nor 

 B. Correlative Co-Ordinate Conjunctions – 

whether...or 

either...or 

neither...nor 

both...and 

not only...but also 

just as...so  

Remember: twins

II. Subordinate Conjunctions -- used to introduce Adverb  Dependent Clauses -- although, as if, because, if, so that, than,  unless, even though, when, where, while, that, though,  whenever, wherever, whether, as long as, as though, in order  that, provided, whatever, as far as, considering, inasmuch as,  so long as, whereas -- (those which are also on the preposition list)  -- after, as, before, since, until, till 

The important thing to remember about Subordinate Conjunctions is that they are stuck to a glob of words and cannot be unstuck when  testing for a complete thought. Because it is raining outside is a  Dependent Clause, and because is stuck to it is raining outside.  

TYPES OF CLAUSES 

I. Independent Clause -- a group of words with at least one  subject, at least one verb, and at least one complete thought 

II. Dependent Clause -- a group of words with at least one subject,  at least one verb, but not a complete thought