Conjunctions and Determiners

In this lesson we are going to discuss Conjunctions and Determiners, let’s take a look at conjunctions first.

Conjunction is a word which is used to connect different clauses or sentences or are used to coordinate words in the same clause. This parts of speech may or may not come in between the different items in a conjunction.

A conjunction can be placed at the beginning of a sentence.

For example, And, but, if.

A conjunction is of three types –coordinating, subordinating and correlative conjunctions.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION

CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTION

Coordinating conjunctive: This conjunction is the most common form of a conjunction. This conjunction joins words, phrases, and clauses together.

For example, Bread and butter are my favourite snacks.

(and: coordinating)

The treasure was hidden in the cave or in the underground lagoon.

(or: coordinating)

What those girls say and what they actually do are completely different.

(and: coordinating)

Subordinating conjunction: This conjunction is used to link two clauses together. This clause introduces a dependent clause and also describes the relationship between a dependent clause and an independent clause in a sentence.

For example, As Liana blew out the candles atop her birthday cake, she caught her hair on fire.

(as: subordinating)

Sarah begins to sneeze whenever she opens the window to get a breath of fresh air.

(whenever: subordinating)

When the doorbell rang, my dog Blaze barked loudly.

(when: subordinating)

Correlative conjunction: This correlation is used when one needs to join two sentences which are similar in terms of length and grammatical structure.

For example,

Both my mother and my sister are lawyers.

(both, and: correlative)

I can’t decide whether I’ll take Software Engineering or take Medical Technology in college.

(whether, or: correlative)

She is both smart and beautiful.

(both, and: correlative)

Determiners are those word or words which appear at the beginning of a noun phrase. These determiners tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.

For example, a, the, every.

Determiners are either specific or general.

GENERAL DETERMINERS

SPECIFIC DETERMINERS

Specific determiners: These determiners are used when the reader or the listener knows exactly what they are talking about.

For example, Can you pass me the sugar?

(the: specific)

Look at those lovely flowers.

(those: specific)

Whose tomb is this?

(whose: specific)

General determiners: These determiners are used when we are talking about incidents, things, people, etc, in general, and when the reader or the listener does not know what exactly they are talking about.

For example, Girls normally do better in school than boys.

(girls, boys: general)

A man was lifted to safety by a helicopter.

(A man, a helicopter: general)

A woman climbing nearby saw the accident.

(A woman: general)

We hope that you enjoyed this lesson and Don’t forget to enjoy your Path to Mom, Relise every moment!