What are “coordinating conjunctions”?

Coordinating conjunctions, or coordinators, are a subset of conjunctions used to join two or more words, phrases, or clauses. They always appear in the middle of a sentence.[1]

List of Words

for:

and -

nor

but

or

yet

so

Coordinating Clause

Both clauses above are,

essentially, separate sentences that have been joined with the help of a coordinating conjunction, “and,” and a comma. Coordinating conjunctions also help to join two equal parts in a sentence, e.g.:

I ate lunch and dinner.

Both nouns, “lunch” and “dinner,” are weighted equally in the sentence, so a coordinating conjunction is called for.

Remember all coordinating conjunctions by the following mnemonic device: “FANBOYS”: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So.

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