CONJUNCTION 



1540 



CONJUNCTION 



he is building actual sentences and not merely 

 rehearsing a lifeless set of rules which may or 

 may not be of real use to him. L.M.B. 



CONJUNCTION, kon junk' shun, a term ap- 

 plied in astronomy to the position of two heav- 

 enly bodies at the time of their nearest ap- 

 proach to each other. A planet and the sun 

 are in superior conjunction when the planet is 

 beyond the sun. The moon, when "new," is 

 said to be in conjunction; at the full it is at 

 its greatest distance, or elongation, from the 

 sun, and is in opposition. The moon is in 

 syzygy (pronounced siz'iji) when sun, moon 

 and earth are in a nearly straight line, the 

 term syzygy meaning yoked together. 



CONJUNCTION. When the words in the 

 English language were classified by gram- 

 marians it was found that they could be di- 

 vided, according to their use, into eight differ- 

 ent groups, known as the parts of speech. One 

 of these groups consists of words which do 

 not modify, but serve the sole purpose of con- 

 necting. To this group the name of conjunction 

 was given, derived from two Latin words 

 meaning joined with. A complete grammatical 

 definition would be: A conjunction is a word 

 used to connect phrases, clauses, sentences, or 

 other words. There are two kinds, called 

 coordinate conjunctions and subordinate con- 

 junctions. 



Coordinate Conjunctions. A coordinate con- 

 junction is one which connects two sentences, 

 two words, two phrases, or two clauses which 

 are grammatically equal. The first use may 

 be illustrated by a sentence like this: "He 

 reads well, but his sister reads better." But 

 is a coordinate conjunction which connects the 

 two simple sentences, "He reads well" and 

 "His sister reads better," each of which is com- 

 plete in itself. In the sentence, "He and his 

 sister read well," and is a coordinate conjunc- 

 tion connecting two words which are of the 

 same rank the pronoun he and the noun sis- 

 ter, which together form the subject of the 

 sentence. 



A coordinate conjunction may connect two 

 phrases: "In red coats and in blue coats, the 

 soldiers came marching." It may also connect 

 two clauses which have the same grammatical 

 value, as "He said that a storm had delayed 

 him or he would have been there earlier." 

 Both clauses, "that a storm had delayed him," 

 and "he would have been there earlier," are a 

 part of the complete predicate, the object com- 

 plements of the verb said. 



The principal coordinate conjunctions are: 



Expressing addition: and, also, both, as well as, 

 moreover, further, likewise. 



Expressing separation or choice: either, or, 

 neither, nor, else, whether, otherwise. 



Expressing opposition: but, yet, still, however, 

 while, only, nevertheless, whereas. 



Expressing effect or result: therefore, hence, 

 consequently, so, so that, thus, then. . 



Conjunctions in Pairs. Many of the coor- 

 dinate conjunctions frequently occur in pairs, 

 as in the following constructions: 



Both... and: r.ntli my sister and my brother 

 attend school. 



Not only. . .but also: He not only reads but 

 also writes uncommonly well. 



Either. . .or : Either I must go now or I cannot 

 go at all. 



Neither. . .nor: Neither the child nor the man 

 realizes the danger. 



Whether. . .or : Whether it rains or shines, I 

 intend to leave to-morrow. 



Though . . . yet : Though he was nearly exhaust- 

 ed, yet he refused to rest. 



Subordinate Conjunctions. A subordinate 

 conjunction is one which joins a subordinate 

 clause to the principal clause of a sentence 

 elements which are not grammatically equal. 

 In such a sentence as, "He can read better than 

 I can," than is a subordinate conjunction con- 

 necting the subordinate clause than I can (read 

 is understood) with the principal clause he can 

 read better. 



The commonest of the subordinate conjunc- 

 tions are: 



Expressing time or place: when, as, since, while, 

 before, ere, after, until, where. 



Expressing cause or reason: because, since, as, 

 now, whereas, inasmuch as, for. 



Expressing condition or supposition: if, unless, 

 though, provided, in case, even if. 



Expressing purpose or result: that, so that, lest, 

 in order that, so ... as. 



Expressing comparison: than (after compara- 

 tive), as. . .as, so. . .as. 



The distinction between coordinate and sub- 

 ordinate conjunctions is very important, 

 because it furnishes a means of classifying sen- 

 tences in analysis. If the conjunction con- 

 necting two clauses is coordinate, the two 

 clauses form a compound sentence; but if the 

 conjunction is subordinate, the two clauses are 

 unequal and form a complex sentence. 



Parsing the Conjunction. To parse a con- 

 junction it is necessary only to state what 

 elements of a given sentence it connects and 

 thus to determine its kind, whether coordinate 

 or subordinate. Following is a type sentence: 



He that hears much and speaks not at all, 

 Shall be welcome both in bower and hall. 



The first conjunction, the coSrdinate and, con- 

 ^ nects the two equal verbs hears and speaks. 



