1. Conjunctions are known as connective or linking words. They join thoughts, actions and ideas, as well as clauses and phrases.
2. Look: Did you notice that just now the coordinating conjunctions but and and were used to link different parts of that first sentence? This is the main job of conjunctions. They join words, phrases, and clauses together.
3. Types of conjunctions
3.1. Coordinating conjunctions
3.1.1. Coordinating conjunctions like "and," "nor," or "so" link equal parts of a sentence, be it words, phrases, or independent clauses.
3.1.2. Example1: He was late for school, so he took a shortcut.
3.1.3. Example2: Her favorite colors were purple and red.
3.1.4. Example3: She doesn't like coffee, nor does she like tea.
3.2. Subordinating conjunctions
3.2.1. Subordinating conjunctions such as "because", "since" and "after" link a dependent clause to an independent clause, helping to show the relationship between the two clauses and emphasize the main idea of the freestanding/independent clause.
3.2.2. Example1: Because it was raining, we had to cancel the class picnic.
3.2.3. Example2: The house was a mess after the crazy party we had last night.
3.2.4. Example3: He doesn't go skiing any more, since he had the accident.
3.3. Correlative conjunctions
3.3.1. Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join together words or phrases that have equal importance within a sentence, like "either/or", "such/that" and "not only/but also".
3.3.2. Example1: You can have either chocolate or vanilla ice cream.
3.3.3. Example2: He not only plays the guitar but also the drums.
3.3.4. Example3: Such was his strength that he was easily able to move the fallen tree.