Conjunctions and, or, but

Introduction
and, or, but, so, because

Conjunctions are used to connect two sentences into one long sentence:

 I play tennis and I swim.

 You can go to the cinema, or you can visit your aunt.
 Ana loves oranges, but she hates pears.
 It was raining, so I took an umbrella.
 Peter is crying because he has failed his exams.

"and" is used to add items to a list:

 She bought apples and bananas.

"or" is used to talk about options:

 You can have the blue pen or the red pen.

"but" is used to show contrast:

 I speak French but I’ve never been to France.

"so" gives the result of something:

 Peter didn’t study, so he failed his exams.

"because" gives the reason for something:

 I got wet because I didn’t take an umbrella.

More examples

 On Saturdays, we usually visit the zoo and on Sundays, we go to the park.

 I bought a skirt, some shoes and a jacket.
 We can have a holiday, or we can save our money.
 Can we have a picnic, or is the weather too bad?
 I’d like to go, but I don’t have any money.
 Tom ran, but he missed the bus.
 I was unhappy, so I ate some chocolate.
  I forgot the sun cream, so I got burnt.
 I got into university because I studied hard.
 I won’t buy a bicycle because I don't like cycling.

We usually place a comma before "or", "but" and "so".

With a long list we use commas and we put "and" before the last item:

 He studies maths, science, French and drama.

We can put "because" at the beginning of a sentence:

 Because I don’t like cycling, I won't buy a bicycle.

Practice
Complete the sentences with the correct conjunction.

I'm very good at sport, I'm terrible at maths.

 The movie was bad, I left the cinema.

 At university, he studied physics chemistry.

 Mick can't drive, so he can take the train, he can take the bus.

 Shelly didn't buy the car she didn't have enough money.