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15.7: Coordinators

  • Page ID
    225966

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    What are they?

    Coordinators are words you can use to join simple sentences (aka independent clauses) and show the logical connections between ideas.

    Use coordinators when you want to equally stress both ideas you are connecting; if instead you want to de-emphasize one of the ideas, use a subordinator.

    You can easily remember the seven coordinators if you keep in mind the word FANBOYS:

    Connections

    See also the “Subordinators” and “Commas.”

    Coordinators Logical Relationship Sample Sentences
    F FOR Cause/Effect I expect to see lots of green on Friday, for it is St.Patrick’s Day.
    A AND Addition The Irish bars will be packed, and the beer will be flowing.
    N NOR Addition of negatives I won’t drink green beer, nor will I drink a Shamrock Shake.
    B BUT Contrast I like the color green, but I don’t think it’s an appetizing color for a beverage.
    O OR Alternative Guinness is always a good choice, or if you’re driving, water is a better choice.
    Y YET Condition I have to wake up early the next morning, yet I don’t want to be anti-social.
    S SO Cause/Effect One of my friends is having a party, so I will probably drop by for a while.

    Punctuation

    Unless the clauses are quite short, put a comma before the conjunction when it joins two independent clauses.

    • She brought home a big bag of Halloween candy that should have lasted weeks, but by the next day her little brother had eaten it all.
    • He’s tall but she’s short.

    Practice

    Join the following sentences with the coordinator that most clearly expresses the logical relationship between the two ideas being connected. Hint: you should use each coordinator only once.

    For Example: Calvin had his heart set on being a physics major. He , but he was horrible at math.

    1. He could not understand geometry. He could not understand physics.
    2. He took extra classes. The tutor couldn’t seem to help.
    3. He worked incredibly hard. Everyone in the math department was willing to help him.
    4. He realized he would have to improve. He was going to have to give up his ambition to become a great physicist.
    5. The other students could build catapults out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands. Calvin’s catapult couldn’t even launch a pebble.
    6. Calvin’s experiments were always unique. They proved that some basic law of nature no longer existed.
    7. Calvin finally realized that he did not have it in him to be the next Stephen Hawking. He changed his major to English.
    Answer
    1. He could not understand geometry, nor could he understand physics.
    2. He took extra classes, but/yet the tutor couldn’t seem to help.
    3. He worked incredibly hard, and everyone in the math department was willing to help him.
    4. He realized he would have to improve, or he was going to have to give up his ambition to become a great physicist.
    5. The other students could build catapults out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands, but/yet Calvin’s catapult couldn’t even launch a pebble.
    6. Calvin’s experiments were always unique, for they proved that some basic law of nature no longer existed.
    7. Calvin finally realized that he did not have it in him to be the next Stephen Hawking, so he changed his major to English.

    This page titled 15.7: Coordinators is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Skyline English Department.

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