A Summary of Conjunctions

We have three kinds of conjunctions:

1. coordinating 2. correlative 3. subordinating

We have seen that coordinating and correlative conjunctions join two or three or four or more clauses, phrases, or words. The structures joined must be grammatically and functionally identical. Otherwise you’ll write a nonparallel construction and won’t look too smart to your professor, boss, or lover.

We destroyed a myth along the way. Of course you may begin sentences with conjunctions. When you do, you’ll join company with Wilson Follett; Henry Fowler; Justices Holmes, Black, and Jackson; The Washington Post; and President Lincoln. Not bad company.

And if your professor or boss objects, you can cite New Fowler and Follett as proof positive that great writers have been starting sentences with conjunctions for hundreds of years.

We also saw in this section that good writers use a wide variety of conjunctions to join a wide variety of structures. We’ll return to this idea in the eBook Developing a Powerful Writing Style.

 

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