Professional Communication Skills

Gail Palmer
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

2004

Conjunctions

ƒ Conjunctions connect sentences,

clauses, phrases, or words. There are
several types of conjunctions:
ƒ Coordinating conjunctions
ƒ Subordinating conjunctions
ƒ Conjunctive adverbs

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Coordinating Conjunctions
ƒ This type of conjunction links words, phrases
or clauses. The units being joined by a
coordinating conjunction must be parallel in
grammatical structure and importance.
ƒ Appropriate coordination – independent
clauses are joined together by coordinators
(coordinating conjunctions and correlative
conjunctions) and appropriate punctuation.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Coordinating Conjunctions
ƒ The following coordinating conjunctions are
used after a comma to join one independent
clause to another: and, but, or, for, nor, so, and
yet.

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Coordinating Conjunctions
ƒ Acceptable:
ƒ The loudspeaker enclosure determines the lower
cutoff frequency of the system, and the crossover
network determines how the signal is divided
between the loudspeaker components.
ƒ Unacceptable:
ƒ The loudspeaker enclosure determines the lower
cutoff frequency of the system and the crossover
network determines how the signal is divided
between the loudspeaker components.
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Conjunctions

ƒ Coordinating Conjunctions
ƒ Starting a sentence with a coordinating
conjunction was once considered poor style;
however, this structure is now widely
accepted.
ƒ The gain of the amplifier is set by the feedback
resistors. But, its bandwidth is set by both the
feedback resistors and the gain-bandwidth product
of the op-amp.

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Correlative Conjunctions
ƒ These consist of two parts, both of which must
be included in the sentence. Some common
correlative conjunctions are both…and,
either…or, neither…nor, not only…but (also),
and whether…or.
ƒ His new job in the Electrical Department is both
interesting and lucrative.
ƒ Neither the engineer nor the architect was familiar
with correlative conjunctions.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Correlative Conjunctions
ƒ If a correlative conjunction is used to join two
independent clauses, the latter clause must be
separated with a comma before the second
element of the conjunction.
ƒ Either Dr. Leach will conclude the experiment by
March, or he will ask for additional research funds.

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Subordinating Conjunctions
ƒ When a clause has less emphasis or is less
important in a sentence, it is subordinate to or
dependent upon the other clause. The
relationship between a subordinate or
dependent clause to the main clause is shown
by a marker word that begins the subordinate
clause.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Subordinating Conjunctions
ƒ Following are some common subordinating
conjunctions:
ƒ After, although, as, as though, because, before, if,
once, since, though, unless, until, when, whether,
and while.
ƒ Even though she explained all of her results in
detail, she did not get full credit for her work.

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Subordinating Conjunctions
ƒ If the subordinating conjunction and its clause
precede the independent clause, a comma is
used to separate the dependent clause from
the independent clause.
ƒ Although DSP did not flourish until the 1960’s, it is
an important research area today.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Subordinating Conjunctions
ƒ As a general rule, if the subordinating
conjunction and associated clause follow the
main clause, a comma should not used. An
exception occurs when the subordinate clause
expresses a contrast, as do clauses beginning
with whereas and most clauses beginning with
although.
ƒ The addition of a common-collector stage increases
the gain because it decreases the output resistance.

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Subordinating Conjunctions
ƒ Since clauses introduced by a subordinating
conjunction are always dependent clauses,
they cannot stand alone; they must be linked
to independent clauses.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Subordinating Conjunctions

ƒ Acceptable:
ƒ Because the thermal noise voltage dominates, it is
difficult to see the signal on the oscilloscope.

ƒ Unacceptable:
ƒ Because the thermal noise voltage dominates. It is
difficult to see the signal on the oscilloscope.

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 Conjunctions

ƒ Conjunctive Adverbs
ƒ Adverbs that function as conjunctions when
they link two independent clauses separated
by a semicolon are called conjunctive adverbs.

ƒ Some common conjunctive adverbs are

consequently, otherwise, however, thus,
furthermore, therefore, moreover and
nevertheless.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Conjunctive Adverbs
ƒ Common positions for conjunctive adverbs in
sentences are before the subject, between the
subject and the first verb, and at the end of the
sentence. Conjunctive adverbs at the beginning
of a clause must be followed by a comma ( and
preceded by a semicolon if the clause is linked
to the previous clause).
ƒ The students have repeatedly obtained the same
results from their controlled experiments; therefore,
the results should be reliable.
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 Conjunctions

ƒ Conjunctive Adverbs
ƒ Conjunctive adverbs between the subject
and the verb must be both preceded and
followed by a comma.
ƒ The students have repeatedly obtained the
same results from their controlled
experiments; the results, therefore, should
be reliable.

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Conjunctions

ƒ Conjunctive Adverbs
ƒ Conjunctive adverbs at the end of a clause must be
preceded by a comma and followed by a period.
ƒ The students have repeatedly obtained the same
results from their controlled experiments; the
results should be reliable, therefore.
ƒ The students have repeatedly obtained the same
results from their controlled experiments; the
results should, therefore, be reliable.

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