CONJUNCTIONS
50. We have found that the preposition is a very important connective word. It connects two words and shows what one of them has to do with the other, but the preposition is not the only connective word which we use in English. We have another part of speech which performs an important function as a connective word. Notice the following sentence:
Men and women struggle for their rights.
Can you find a word in this sentence which is a connective word besides the preposition for? Did you notice that little word and? The noun men and the noun women are both subjects of the verb struggle, and they are joined by this little connective word and. If we did not have this word we would have to use two sentences to express our thought, thus:
Men struggle for their rights.
Women struggle for their rights.
But with the use of this connective word and we can combine these two sentences and express it all in one sentence:
Men and women struggle for their rights.
This word is used in a different manner from the preposition. The preposition connects two words and makes one modify the other. When we say, Get the book on the table, the phrase on the table designates the book just as much as if we had said, Get the green book. So the use of the preposition enables us to show the relation between two words and to make one word describe or modify the other.
51. This little word and in the sentence, Men and women struggle for their rights, is a connective word also, but it connects two words that are used in the same way, so it is a different sort of connective word from the preposition. Words used in this way are called conjunctions. Conjunction is a word which is taken from the Latin, being made up of the Latin word con, which means together, and the Latin verb juncto, which means to join. So conjunction means literally to join together.
52. A conjunction is a word that connects sentences or parts of sentences.
Notice the following sentence:
The class struggle is waged on the political field and on the industrial field.
Here we have the conjunction and connecting the two phrases on the political field and on the industrial field. Without the use of this connective word, we would have to use two sentences to express these two thoughts:
The class struggle is waged on the political field.
The class struggle is waged on the industrial field.
53. So a conjunction may be used to connect phrases as well as words.
Now notice the following sentences:
He will speak. I will listen.
He will speak, and I will listen.
He will speak, but I will listen.
He will speak, if I will listen.
He will speak, therefore I will listen.
He will speak, because I will listen.
He will speak, until I will listen.
54. These sentences are joined by different conjunctions, and the conjunction used alters the meaning of the sentence.
The conjunction is a very useful part of speech. Without it we would have many disconnected sentences requiring tiresome repetition of the same words. Like prepositions, there are not many conjunctions in English and they are readily recognized.
55. We will study about these conjunctions at length in later lessons. If you consult the following list of those most commonly used, you can easily pick out the conjunctions in your reading:
and
as
as if
after
although
as soon as
because
besides
before
but
either
for
hence
in order that
lest
neither
nor
or
since
still
so
then
though
that
than
therefore
till
until
unless
while
whether
yet
The seven classes of words which we have studied make up all of our sentences. The hundreds of words which we use in forming our sentences and expressing our thoughts belong to these seven classes. They are either nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions or conjunctions.
Данный текст является ознакомительным фрагментом.