What are coordinating conjunctions?

Conjunctions are joining words that link together parts of a sentence.

The three main coordinating conjunctions are:

• and
• but
• or

They can be used to join together two clauses in a sentence. However, the clauses need to make sense on their own.

For example:

I had a terrible cold. I still went to work.

You can add the coordinating conjunction ‘but’ in between these causes so the sentence reads:

I had a terrible cold but I still went to school.

Remember though, you can often leave out the subject word in the second coordinating clause.

For example:

I had a terrible cold but still went to school.

In this example you can remove the word 'I' from the second coordinating clause.

Looking for a unique way to help your class learn their conjunctions? Laura Bubble is here to help get your class learning and moving in this video from our Super Movers series.

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