Connect Your Ideas with Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions

You will discover how to use special connecting words called conjunctions to make your sentences more interesting and clear. These connecting words help you join ideas together so your writing flows better and makes more sense to your readers.

Coordinating conjunctions are connecting words that join two equal ideas together. You can remember the seven coordinating conjunctions using the word FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. When you use these words, you connect two complete thoughts that are equally important.

For example, you might write "I like pizza and I like pasta" or "The dog barked but the cat stayed calm." Both parts of these sentences could stand alone, but the connecting words help them work together to share more information.

Subordinating conjunctions work differently because they connect a dependent idea to a main idea. Words like "because," "while," "if," "after," "since," and "unless" are subordinating conjunctions. The dependent part cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

When you write "I was happy because I found my toy," the part "because I found my toy" needs the main part "I was happy" to make complete sense. This helps you explain why things happen or when they occur.

You can use coordinating conjunctions to create compound sentences that join two complete ideas. When you use subordinating conjunctions, you create complex sentences that show relationships between ideas.

These skills connect to what you learned about creating simple and compound sentences and prepare you for more advanced topics like using commas before conjunctions.

Coordinating Conjunction: A connecting word that joins two equal ideas together, like "and," "but," or "so."

Subordinating Conjunction: A connecting word that connects a dependent idea to a main idea, like "because," "while," or "if."

FANBOYS: A helpful way to remember the seven coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

Dependent Clause: A group of words that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and needs to be connected to a main idea.

Compound Sentence: A sentence that uses coordinating conjunctions to join two complete ideas together.

Complex Sentence: A sentence that uses subordinating conjunctions to attach dependent ideas to main ideas.

Conjunction: A connecting word that helps you join ideas together in your sentences.

You can practice by writing sentences about your daily activities using different conjunctions. Try connecting ideas about what you do at school, at home, or during playtime. Start with simple coordinating conjunctions like "and" and "but," then challenge yourself with subordinating conjunctions like "because" and "while."

Before learning about conjunctions, you should understand syntax and sentence structure and know how to identify complete sentences. Understanding compound sentence structure and formation will also help you succeed with this topic.

This topic builds on your knowledge of creating simple and compound sentences and connects to syntax and sentence structure. You will use these conjunction skills when you learn about connecting ideas with linking words and connecting opinions with linking words.

After mastering conjunctions, you will be ready to learn using commas before conjunctions and fixing sentence fragments and runons. These skills also prepare you for advanced grammar topics like relative pronouns and using relative pronouns and adverbs.