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Grammar and Punctuation: Conjunctions: And/Or/But

Conjunctions: And/Or/But

A coordinating conjunction is a word which joins together two clauses which are both equally important. This page will explain the most common coordinating conjunctions and how to use them.

  1. What is a clause?

A clause is a unit which contains a subject and a verb. For example, "It was raining" is a clause; the subject is 'it', and the verb is "was raining". Every sentence MUST contain at least one clause, but it may contain more than one. 

For example: 

It was raining, so I took my umbrella.

This sentence contains two clauses, "it was raining" and "I took my umbrella." They are independent clauses because each one could be a complete sentence on its own. 

  1. Joining clauses together with coordinating conjunctions

Examine the example sentence one more time: 

It was raining, so I took my umbrella.

The two clauses in the sentence are joined together with the word "so." This is a coordinating conjunction. it is used to join two independent clauses which are equally important. A coordinating conjunction usually comes in the middle of a sentence, and it usually follows a comma (unless both clauses are very short).

These are the most important coordinating conjunctions: 

 Conjunction 

 Function

 Example

 and

 Joins two similar ideas together

 He lives in Victoria, and he studies at UVic.

 but 

 Joins two contrasting ideas

 John is Canadian, but Sally is English.

 or

 Joins to alternative ideas

 I could cook supper, or we could order pizza. 

 so

 Shows that the second idea is the result of the first 

 She was sick, so she went to the doctor.

These conjunctions are also used: 

  • For (meaning "because")

  • Yet (meaning "but")

  • Neither/nor (joining two negative alternatives - must be used together)

 

  1. Using coordinating conjunctions 

There are three things to remember when using coordinating conjunctions: 

  • Coordinating conjunctions join independent clauses. Each clause must be a "complete thought" which could be a sentence on its own.
  • With coordinating conjunctions, put the conjunction in the middle of the clauses. You may see some sentences starting with "but" or "and," but this is usually wrong, so it's best to avoid it. 
  • With coordinating conjunctions, use a comma unless both clauses are very short. For example, "and" is sometimes used to join two words or ideas rather than two clauses; for example, "She and I went to the store" - no commas are needed in this case. (University of Victoria English Language Centre, 2021).

An easy way to remember the 7 coordinating conjunctions is the acronym FANBOYS; For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. (Simmons, 2021).

Attribution

This guide was created/compiled by Amanda Wills and last updated by Claire Pienaar in 2021. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY NC SA 4.0 International License.

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