Conjunctions are composed of two categories: subordinating conjunctions and coordinating conjunctions. The function of conjunctions is to link ideas. Unlike subordinating conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions have not received much attention in second language acquisition, because it is generally believed that coordinating conjunctions are easy to acquire due to simplistic notions of parallelism. Given the overall frequency with which the word “and” occurs in spoken and written English, it should be assumed that its function is both pervasive and essential.
The simple, little conjunctions are calledcoordinating conjunctions. They are for, and, nor, but, or, so, so. Among the coordinating conjunctions, the most common, of course, areand,but, andor. It might be helpful to explore the uses of these three little words.
To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to another: “Tashonda sent in her applications and waited by the phone for a response.”
To suggest a contrast that is unexpected in light of the first clause: “Joey lost a fortune in the stock market, but he still seems able to live quite comfortably.”
To suggest that only one possibility can be realized, excluding one or the other: “You can study hard for this examor you can fail.”
. “AND “does have important functions in reading and written discourse and that it occurs so frequently that it deserves thorough examination. Also, the primary concern is that there is a gap between reading textbooks and grammar textbooks. That is why students do not acquire the conjunction “and” well. The scope of this paper will be narrowed by analyzing students’ essays to see if production, particularly error patterns, can help us understand students’ acquisition of conjunctions with the sole focus on “and”.
Coordination is a process of combining two constituents of the same type to produce another, larger constituent of the same type.” in the famous “The Grammar Book “.There are three major ways of using conjunctions in English. The first is to combine like constituents with a coordinating conjunction, such as and, but, or, which is considered as simple coordination. The second is called ellipsis, in which redundancies in the VP are eliminated. The third option includes use of a pro-form, as in the following example:
High frequency use conjunction “and”:
“Annie plays softball, and she plays soccer too.” In the example, “and” links two independent clauses of equal importance in terms of meaning.
In this sentence, the pronoun “she” substitutes “Annie” to eliminate the redundancy, and “too” means “also”. This coordinating conjunctive is used many times either in writing or in speaking. Even though there are some synonyms, “and “is a high frequency coordinating conjunction because it is short, easy to pronounce and also can be used in both writing and in speaking.
Medium frequency use conjunction “so”:
“Yes, you can make the legal argument; the TARP isn’t a bankruptcy court,sothe Feds had only two choices; let AIG go into bankruptcy, with possibly disastrous consequences, or pay up its contracts in full.” The excerpt is:
“So” also links two independent clauses in equal importance; however, “so” also introduce the reason or result for what I just mentioned. In specific, by using “so” the Feds had two options because as a result TARP is not a bankruptcy court. People use “so” in many ways when they speak and when they write, and as this reason, teaching this conjunction to the second language students would be very necessary.
Low frequency use conjunction “yet”:
“John plays basketball well,yethis favorite sport is badminton.”
The wordyetseems to carry an element of distinctiveness that “but”can seldom register.
A conjunctive adverb will also introduce, interrupt, or conclude a single main clause. In this situation, you will often need commas to separate the conjunctive adverb from the rest of the sentence.
High use conjunctive adverb” however”:
“However, never daunted, I will cope with adversity in my traditional manner … sulking and nausea.”
“However joins words, phrases, orclausestogether to clarify what the writer is saying. Their presence provides smooth transitions from one idea to another.
Medium use conjunctive adverb “instead”:
“At 10 a.m., Paul was supposed to be taking his biology midterm. Instead, he was flirting with the pretty waitress at the coffee house.”
In the place of something previously mentioned the conjunctive adverb “instead” is used as a substitute or an equivalent.
Low use conjunctive adverb “accordingly”:
“She was accordingly quite interested in grammar.”
Conjunctive adverbs can indeed function as simple adverbs. In such a situation, they merely modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. When they behave this way, they do not need any special punctuation. They are simply functioning as adjectives.
Subordinating conjunction:
High frequency subordinating conjunction “because”:
“I went out because the sun was shining”.
The conjunction “because” is used while stating an explanation for a statement. We can consider the following example as an explanatory for the above statement. “Because” is highly used by the second language students and also natives. Since this conjunction is one of the basic transition words: the students use this conjunction many times in writing and speaking, so I assume that all the level students know this conjunction. In the example, “because” indicates there is cause; a jumbo size loan and a high foreclosure rate and a result; his mortgage is divided into two categories in a sentence.
“He is called Mitch, because his name is Mitchell”.
Indicate the relationship between the ideas expressed in a clause and the ideas expressed in the rest of a sentence.
Medium frequency subordinating conjunction “so that”:
“I am saving money so that I can buy a bicycle.”
Subordinating conjunctions also join two clauses together, but in doing so, they make one clause dependent (or “subordinate”) upon the other.
Low frequency subordinating conjunction “whether”:
“I do not know whether she was invited.”A subordinating conjunction is a word which joins together a dependent clause and an independent clause. This page will explain the most common subordinating conjunctions and how to use them. “Because it was raining, I took my umbrella”. The important word here is “because”. This is a subordinating conjunction. It is used to show the relationship between the two clauses. A subordinating conjunction usually comes at the beginning of the dependent clause, but the dependent clause itself can be before the main clause usually followed by a comma or after it sometimes following a comma.
“Although it was hot, he was wearing a coat”
“He was wearing a coat although it was hot.”
Some of the most important subordinating conjunctions fall into two groups: contrast, and cause and effect.
Subordinating conjunction is also called as, adverbial conjunctions. Conjunctive adverbs are pathetic, confused little creatures. They can’t decide if they are adverbs or conjunctions in traditional grammar! Accordingly, they try to be both. This leads to all sorts of punctuation problems.
Conjunctive adverb connects two clauses. Conjunctive adverbs show cause and effect, sequence, contrast, comparison, or other relationships. Sometimes conjunctive adverbs try to pretend they are full conjunctions and hook two independent clauses together. This pretension is indeed a sad travesty! They are not really full conjunctions, and they can’t do that job by themselves. Typically, they lurk just behind a semicolon in this situation, and it is the semicolon that does the real job of joining the two independent clauses. A comma should always follow the conjunctive adverb in such instances.
For example:
The bank robber dodged the bullet; however, Joey was shot seventeen times in the tibia.
Conjunctive adverb is not strong enough to join two independent clauses without the aid of a semicolon.
Comma is used following the conjunctive adverb when it appears at the beginning of the second clause unless the adverb is one syllable. When compared to other adverbs, conjunctive adverbs may move around in the clause or sentence in which they appear. When they appear at the end of the clause, they are preceded by a comma. If they appear in the middle of the clause, they are normally enclosed in commas, though this rule is not absolute and is not always applied to very short clauses.
Conjunctions have one job, to connect. They join words, phrases and clauses together to clarify what the writer is saying. Their presence provides smooth transitions from one idea to another. When the job of an adverb is to connect ideas, we call it a conjunctive adverb.
A conjunctive adverb can join two main clauses. In this situation, the conjunctive adverb behaves like a coordination conjunction connecting two complete ideas. Notice, however, that you need a semicolon not a comma, to connect the two clauses.