CAT 2025 Lesson : Parts of Speech - Conjunctions

9. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words which join words, phrases or clauses in a sentence. We will discuss phrases and clauses in the upcoming section in this lesson.

Example: and, but, for, yet, so, or, neither...nor, etc.
Conjunctions can be categorised into three different types:

9.1 Co-ordinating conjunctions, which join words, phrases and clauses together.
Example: and, for, or, but, nor, yet, so, etc.

I like tennis. I like swimming.
These two sentences can be combined to form I like tennis and swimming by using the conjunction and.

I like tennis. I like swimming more.
These can be combined to form I like tennis but I like swimming more by using the conjunction but.

I like tennis. I play the sport a lot.
These two sentences can be combined to form I like tennis so I play it a lot by using the conjunction so.

9.2 Subordinating conjunctions, which link two clauses together – an independent clause and a dependent clause. These conjunctions also describe the relationship between the two clauses.

In brief, but clauses are basically parts of a sentence which contain both a noun/pronoun and a verb (e.g., he ran, while she looked on). An independent clause can be a standalone sentence (e.g., he ran), whereas a dependent clause cannot be a standalone sentence (e.g. while she looked on). We will learn about clauses in detail later in this lesson.

Example: because, as soon as, while, if, although, whether, whenever, until, once, unless, in case, since.
Joey was angry because I ate his sandwich.
I will leave as soon as the cab arrives.
I will have to go back home unless I get a job this month.

9.3 Correlating conjunctions, which are pairs of conjunctions that join parts of a sentence.
Example: not only…but also, either…or, neither…nor, so…as, as…as, no sooner…than, such…that etc.

I can afford either the laptop or the phone.
He is as tall as I am.
I would rather go without than ask him for help.

(The conjunctions are underlined in the above examples).

In order to differentiate between prepositions and conjunctions, look at the two parts of the sentence being connected by the respective words – a preposition only provides additional information, which will typically not be a sentence or clause by itself (e.g. on Monday, in the bus, through the water).

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