Syntactic Theory

Conjunctions

Subclasses:

• Coordinate conjunctions:
  • examples:
    • simple coordinate conjunctions: and, or, but
    • complex coordinate conjunctions: either ... or, neither ... nor
  • coordinate conjunctions link two phrases of the same type.
• Subordinate conjunctions:
  • examples: since, because, while, although, when, before, after, until, unless, as, if

Difference between coordinate and subordinate conjunctions:

1. Pat went to the theater and Chris stayed home.
   * And Chris stayed home Pat went to the theater.
2. Pat went to the theater while Chris stayed home.
   While Chris stayed home, Pat went to the theater.

Complementizers are syntactically similar to subordinate conjunctions.

There is a classical cartoon on coordinate conjunctions, the Conjunction Junction from the School House Rock:

Categories: Glossary