Conjunctions and Prepositions

Conjunctions and Prepositions

Now that we know more about using nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs, we need to learn how they can be put together to make sentences. Conjunctions and prepositions help us do that. Let's see what additional information we can review to learn more about how conjunctions and prepositions are used to make sentences.

Conjunctions and prepositions are different from the other parts of speech we reviewed so far. Nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives have meaning and can stand alone in a sentence. However, conjunctions and prepositions cannot do that. They simply have a grammatical function to connect or show relationships between the other parts of speech.

Sources:

General information about conjunctions from The Nature of Writing,  https://natureofwriting.com/courses/parts-of-speech/lessons/conjunctions/topic/three-types-of-conjunctions/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

General information about prepositions from The Nature of Writing, https://natureofwriting.com/courses/parts-of-speech/lessons/prepositions/topic/introduction-to-prepositions/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Open Textbooks for Hong Kong, https://www.opentextbooks.org.hk/ditatopic/4537
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Videos: TEFL and TESOL Courses, ITTT
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Conjunctions

When we look at conjunctions in more detail, we can easily see how they are very different from the other parts of speech. We already learned that conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, or sentences. They act like a bridge. Let's see what other information we can add to all this to learn more about conjunctions. 

There are three types of conjunctions in Standard English: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative. We are going to take a closer look at the first two types.

Coordinating conjunctions connect, or bridge, two parts of a sentence that have a similar form or equal importance in the sentence. For example, we can connect two or more nouns or noun phrases or two or more verbs or verb phrases, and so on. Coordinating conjunctions help to connect these parts of a sentence in an organized way that makes sentences easier to understand what we read. There are seven coordinating conjunctions that can be easily remembered by the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

• Robert and Craig are friends. (2 nouns are connected)

• My favorite teacher and his beautiful wife walk to work every day. (2 noun phrases are connected)

• Robert lives and teaches in California. (2 verbs are connected)

• Robert lives in California, but his friend lives in Texas. (2 sentences are connected)
  

Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence by showing the relationship between them. This relationship shows that the two parts do not have equal importance. The word "subordinate" means something is considered less important, so a sentence can have parts that are of lower importance. Subordinating conjunctions can help us connect ideas to create different types of sentences. There are many subordinating conjunctions, but some of the most common are because, since, although, and when.

• They are happy because their life is perfect. (2 unequal parts of a sentence are connected)

• The first part of the sentence "They are happy" is more important because it is a complete idea. 

• The second part of the sentence "because their life is perfect" is not of equal form or importance in the sentence because it is not a complete idea.

• When Robert teaches his classes, his wife feeds the cats. (2 unequal parts of a sentence are connected)

• The first part of the sentence "When Robert teaches his classes" is not of equal form or importance in the sentence because it is not a complete idea.

• The second part of the sentence "his wife feeds the cats" is more important because it is a complete idea.

Prepositions

When we look at prepositions in more detail, we can easily see how they have a special relationship with nouns and pronouns. We already learned that prepositions show a relationship of place, time, or location between nouns and pronouns and the rest of a sentence. Let's see what other information we can add to all this to learn more about prepositions. 

Common prepositions are in, on, at, to. They are added in front of a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun to add extra information.

• in the summer       |    on the weekend              |    at noon                 → show time

• in the house           |    on the roof                      |    at the library        → show location

• with love                |    between you and me    |    among the students

Prepositions form phrases when they are followed by a noun or pronoun they relate to the rest of the sentence. These prepositional phrases can be added at the start of a sentence or inside it to add extra information. They act as adjectives or adverbs by describing a noun or a verb.

• Robert works at the local community college. (describes a verb → Where does he work?)

• The cat on the sofa belongs to him. (describes a noun → Which cat?)

• In the morning, I like to eat eggs.