What are “coordinating conjunctions”?

Coordinating conjunctions join two independent clauses with the help of a comma. For example:

I finished dinner, and I walked five miles.

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 mneumonic device: “FANBOYS”: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So.

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