When teaching the difference between coordinating conjunctions— like and or but — and subordinators (also called subordinating conjunctions) — like because or before—teachers commonly say that coordinating conjunctions connect two “equal” independent clauses with only a “loose connection” between them. Conversely, a subordinator is said to connect an “unequal” dependent clause to an independent clause and “shows a relationship” between the two clauses that would be lost without that particular connector.
Huh? These terms—loose, equal, unequal, relationship—are not very exact, more a matter of opinion than a guide students can use. Look at so and since in these examples:
I go to the gym, so I can eat pizza more often.
Since I go to the gym, I can eat pizza more often.
For most of us, one sentence is not obviously “looser” than the other. We need a better way of differentiating coordinating conjunctions from subordinators. This matters because it’s not just about labeling the sentence parts; it affects the punctuation.
So let’s simplify this.
Coordinating Conjunctions
1. can be remembered by the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so);
2. introduce the second independent clause of a sentence and almost always have a comma before them;
(A teaching trick: They’re all short words, so you can say that the comma helps make them strong enough to connect clauses.)
3. should not start a sentence in academic writing.
Subordinators (also called subordinating conjunctions)
1. signal the relationship between the dependent clause and the independent clause; think of the subordinator as signaling which question the independent clause will answer about the independent clause, such as Who? When? Why? How? or Under what condition?;
2. usually comes at the beginning of the dependent clause;
3. can appear either before the independent clause (almost always with a comma) or after it (sometimes with a comma, sometimes without one)
Since I go to the gym, I can eat pizza more often.
I can eat pizza more often since I go to the gym.
I cannot eat much pizza, even though I go to the gym often.
But wait, there’s more! Sometimes, you find a different kind of connector (like however or therefore). Such a transition word (also called a conjunctive adverb) is not one of the FANBOYS. Nor does it have a subordinator’s ability to signal a relationship (who, when, why, etc.) between clauses within a sentence. Instead, it connects ideas between two separate sentences. It would be tempting to ignore the distinction between conjunctions and transition words, just to save a headache, but the distinction entails a whole set of considerations regarding punctuation and sentence structure.
Transition Words
(Also called conjunctive adverbs)
1. Do not grammatically join two clauses;
2. In their own sentences, can be placed
- at the start (usually followed by a comma);
I go to the gym. However, this does not mean I live a healthy lifestyle.
- in the middle (framed by commas);
I go to the gym. This does not mean, however, that I live a healthy lifestyle. - at the end (preceded by a comma);
I go to the gym. This does not mean that I live a healthy lifestyle, however.
3. Can appear after a semicolon within a single sentence.
I go to the gym; however, this does not mean that I live a healthy lifestyle.
Take a look at the worksheet for a classroom activity to work with these various forms of sentence construction using connectors.
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