Conjunctions
Elementary School
Definition
A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses, such as "and," "but," "or," and "because." For example, "I wanted to go, but it was raining." Conjunctions connect ideas and help build longer, more complex sentences.
Worked examples
"I wanted pizza, but my brother chose tacos."
The conjunction 'but' joins two complete clauses and shows contrast between the two ideas.
"She studied hard because she wanted an A."
The conjunction 'because' connects the clauses and explains why she studied hard.
"The cat and the dog played in the yard."
The conjunction 'and' joins two nouns to show both animals were playing together.
Common mistakes
- "I like apples, I like oranges." → "I like apples, and I like oranges." or "I like apples. I like oranges." Two complete sentences need a conjunction or a period between them; a comma alone creates a comma splice.
- "Because it was raining." (as a complete sentence) → "We stayed inside because it was raining." A subordinating conjunction like 'because' creates a fragment unless it connects to a main clause.
- "And then we went home." (starting a formal sentence) → "Then we went home." or join it to the previous sentence Starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions is often too informal for academic writing.
Where you'll use it next
You'll use conjunctions throughout writing to build compound and complex sentences, and you'll study specific types—coordinating, subordinating, and correlative—when learning sentence structure and grammar rules.
See also
Reviewed by Pat Cheng, M.Ed. — StudyPug Curriculum Lead · Last updated June 6, 2026