What is a Conjunction?

A conjunction is a word which is used to link thoughts and ideas within a

sentence. You might think of them as being ‘the glue’ of the phrase. Without
the use of a conjunction, you would not be able to express your thoughts and
ideas in a manner which flows. Your sentences would be forced into being
simple and concise.

There are three types of conjunctions: Coordinating Conjunctions, Correlative

Conjunctions and Subordinating Conjunctions.

Coordinating Conjunctions (მაერთებელი კავშირი)

The coordinating conjunction is a way of joining phrases, clauses and words

together which have an equal rank, grammatically speaking. There are many
coordinating conjunctions, let’s take a look at some of the most frequently used
ones.

 For - Explains reason or purpose (just like "because")

 And - Adds one thing to another
 Nor (არც)- Used to present an alternative negative idea to an already stated
negative idea
 But - Shows contrast
 Or - Presents an alternative or a choice
 Yet - Introduces a contrasting idea that follows the preceding idea logically
 So - Indicates effect, result or consequence

Examples:
 I go to the park every Sunday, for I love to watch the ducks on the lake.
 I watch the ducks on the lake and the shirtless men playing soccer.
 I don't go for the fresh air nor for the ducks; I just like soccer.
 Soccer is entertaining in winter, but it's better in the heat of summer.
 The men play on two teams: shirts or skins.
 I always take a book to read, yet I never seem to turn a single page.
 I'm dating one of the players, so I watch the soccer game each week.
 Subordinating Conjunctions (მაქვემდებარებელი კავშირი)

A subordinating conjunction can be used to join dependent and independent

clauses. This type of conjunction can be used as a way of showing case and
effect relationships between two clauses or a contrast, as well as various other
relationships which might occur. Let’s now take a look at some of the most
frequently used subordinating conjunctions.

Comparison: as, than, like, as if, as though, so…as, as…as

 ორი საგნის შედარება გამოიხატება კონსტრუქციით As…as

(ისეთივე...როგორც) თუ მათ გააჩნიათ თანაბარი ხარისხი:
E.g. My room is as large as yours;
 ხოლო არათანაბარი ხარისხების შედარება გამოიხატება
კონსტრუქციით not so/as…as
E.g. My room is not so/as large as yours.
 ორი პირის ან საგნის შედარებისას ასევე ვხმარობთ კავშირს than-
ვიდრე:
E.g. he makes fewer mistakes than you
 შედარებისას ასევე ვიყენებთ შემდეგ კონსტრუქციას The +
comparative….the+ comparative (რაც უფრო...მით უფრო)
E.g. The bigger the better (რაც უფრო დიდი იქნება, მით უკეთესია)

Condition: if, unless, provide that, as/so long as, if…than

Unless means “if…not”

Unless you leave at once, I’ll call the police;

If you don’t leave at once, I’ll call the police.

As/so long as means “If” or “only If”

E.g. As long as I am happy, my parents don’t care what job I do.

So long as I am happy, my parents don’t care what job I do.

Provided (that) means “If” or “only If”

E.g. Provided (that) I am happy, my parents don’t care what job I do.

Provided you leave now, you’ll catch the train.

Contrast: although, though, while, whereas, even though

Whereas means compared with the fact that; but. (ხოლო,მაშინ როცა)
We use the conjunction whereas to indicate a contrast between two facts or
ideas:
Examples:
1) He must be about 60, whereas his wife looks about 30.
2) You eat a huge plate of food for lunch, whereas I have just a sandwich.
Even though means although;
Example:
1) Even though he left school at 16, he still managed to become prime minister

While
 during the time that, or at the same time as
Examples:
1) I read it while you were drying your hair.
2) While I was in Italy I went to see Alessandro.
3) I thought I heard him come in while we were having dinner.
 despite the fact that; although:
Examples:
While I accept that he's not perfect in many respects, I do actually like the
man.
While I fully understand your point of view, I also have some sympathy with
Michael's
 Compared with the fact that; but:
Examples:
1) He gets £50,000 a year while I get a meagre £20,000!
2) Tom is very extrovert and confident while Katy's shy and quiet.
3) I do all the housework while he just does the dishes now and again.

Degree of extent: as far as (რამდენადაც), so…that

As far as sb is concerned: In a particular person’s opinion

E.g. As far as I'm concerned, feng shui doesn't work.

As far as sth is concerned: If we are discussing or thinking about
a particular thing

E.g. As far as unemployment's concerned,

a change of policy on job creation would be a good idea.

So...that
I'm so tired (that) I could sleep in this chair!

Place: where, wherever

Wherever
 To or in any or every place
E.g. We can go wherever you like
Wherever you choose to live there are always going to be disadvantages.
 In every case
E.g. Wherever possible I use honey instead of sugar.

Preference (უპირატესობა): rather than, sooner than

Rather than: instead of, used especially when you prefer one thing to another
E.g. I think I'd like to stay at home this evening rather than go out.

Reason and cause: because, as, since

As, because or since?
As, because and since are conjunctions. As, because and since all introduce
subordinate clauses. They connect the result of something with its reason.
result reason

He decided to go to the conference in

as he was in Spain anyway.
Barcelona,

Are you angry with me because I opened the letter?

Bilardo coaches his team by telephone,

since half of them play in Italy,
(Bilardo was the coach of the France or Spain.
Argentinian football team)

Because

Because is more common than as and since, both in writing and speaking.
When we use because, we are focusing on the reason:
She spoke quietly because she didn’t want Catherine to hear.
We’ll come over on Sunday because David’s got to work on Saturday.
We often put the because-clause at the beginning of a sentence, especially
when we want to give extra focus to the reason. We use a comma after
the because-clause:
Because breathing is something we do automatically, we rarely think about it.

As and since

We often use as and since when we want to focus more on the result than the
reason. As and since are more formal than because. We usually put a comma
before since after the main clause:
[result]I hope they’ve decided to come as [reason]I wanted to hear about their
India trip.
[result]They’re rather expensive, since [reason]they’re quite hard to find.
We often use as and since clauses at the beginning of the sentence. We use a
comma after the as- or since- clause:
Since everything can be done from home with computers and telephones,
there’s no need to dress up for work any more.
As everyone already knows each other, there’s no need for introductions. We’ll
get straight into the business of the meeting.
We use because, not as or since, in questions where the speaker proposes a
reason:
Are you feeling unwell because you ate too much?
Not: Are you feeling unwell since you ate too much? or … as you ate too much?

Result: so that, such… that

So that (ამიტომ, შედეგად)

We use so that to talk about purpose.

I’ll go by car so that I can take more luggage.
We left a message with his neighbour so that he would know we’d called.
Such… that (ისეთი... რომ)
We can use a that-clause after a noun phrase with such:
He is such a bad-tempered person that no one can work with him for long.
It was such a long and difficult exam that I was completely exhausted at the
end.
Time (same time): when, while, as
When as a conjunction

We use when as a conjunction meaning ‘at the time that’. The clause
with when is a subordinate clause (sc) and needs a main clause (mc) to complete
its meaning. If the when-clause comes before the main clause, we use a comma.

Talking about the past

[SC]When I was young, [MC]there were no houses here.

[MC]Nobody spoke [SC]when she came into the room.

Talking about the present

When you start the engine, there’s a strange noise.

Talking about the future

In references to the future with when, we use the present simple or the present
perfect in the when-clause, not the future with shall and will:
When the new park opens, I’ll go there every day.
Not: When the new park will open, I’ll go there every day.
When I’ve finished my homework, I’m going to phone Marita.
Not: When I’ll finish my homework, I’m going to phone Marita.
We can use when as a conjunction to mean ‘considering that’:
What’s the point in going out when we have to be home by eleven o’clock?

As

We can use as to introduce two events happening at the same time. After as, we
can use a simple or continuous form of the verb. The continous form
 emphasises an action that interrupts or occurs during the progress of another
action:
As she walked to the door, she thanked them for a lovely dinner.
As they were signing the contract, they noticed that a page was missing.
Earlier time: before, until, till
Later time: after, since

Correlative Conjunctions (მაკავშირებელი სიტყვები)

The correlative conjunction is one which is used in a pair. They are used as a
way of relating one sentence to another and one of the golden rules of a
correlative conjunction is that they must be equal in a grammatical sense. For
example, when using the correlative conjunction of both/and, if a noun comes
after the word both, one must also come after the word and.
Examples of correlative conjunctions are as follows;

 either/or (ან...ან)
Either… or… connects two choices:
I’ve saved some money to buy either [choice 1]a DVD player or [choice 2]an
MP3 player.
We use either… or… to connect items which are the same grammatical
type, e.g. words, phrases, clauses:
We can either pre- or post-date the document. I don’t mind. (connecting
prefixes)
It’s either black or grey. I can’t remember. (connecting words)
You can stay either with me or with Janet. (connecting phrases)
Either I drive to the airport or I get a taxi. (connecting clauses)

 neither/nor (არც...არც)
The opposite of either… or… is neither… nor…. We use it to make negative
statements connecting items:
 We got so wet. We had neither umbrellas nor raincoats with us!
Neither our families nor our friends know that we are getting married!

 not only/but also (არა მხოლოდ, არამედ)

E.g. The war caused not only destruction and death but also generations of
hatred between the two communities.

 both/and
We use both … and to emphasise the link between two things. This makes a
stronger connection than and alone:
Both Britain and France agree on the treaty. (stronger link than Britain and
France agree on the treaty.)
She played both hockey and basketball when she was a student. (stronger link
than She played hockey and basketball when she was a student.)

 whether/or not
To express an alternative, we can use or not with if and whether.
With whether we can use or not immediately after whether or in end position.
With if we use or not in end position only:
I called Bill to find out whether or not he really did go to Afghanistan.
I called Bill to find out whether he really did go to Afghanistan or not.
I called Bill to find out if he really did go to Afghanistan or not

 as much/as, as many/as
When we want to make comparisons referring to quantity, we use as much
as with uncountable nouns and as many as with plural nouns:
Greg makes as much money as Mick but not as much as Neil.
They try to give them as much freedom as they can.
There weren’t as many people there as I expected.
 We can use as much as and as many as before a number to refer to a large
number of something:
Scientists have discovered a planet which weighs as much as 2,500 times the
weight of Earth.
There were as many as 50 people crowded into the tiny room.

 rather/than
 no sooner/than
No sooner is used to show that one thing happens immediately after another
thing. It is often used with the past perfect, and usually followed by than:
[event 1]They had no sooner arrived than [event 2]they were arguing.
[event 1]We had no sooner started cooking than [event 2]there was a power
cut and we had no electricity.
When no sooner is used in front position, we invert the order of the auxiliary
verb and subject. This is common in more formal and literary styles:
[event 1]No sooner had they started their walk than [event 2]it started to rain.

Examples:
 I do not like either the blue ones or the red ones.
 Neither my brother nor my sister live with my parents anymore.
 I went not only to China but also to Mongolia.
 I’m not sure whether he will become a teacher or a doctor when he is older.
 I want either the pink sofa or the purple one.
 I'll study both English literature and art history.
 I didn't know whether you'd want milk or cream, so I grabbed both.
 Why do you want to visit neither Ireland nor Scotland?
 I took not only the pink sofa but also the Tiffany lamp.
 Not the cheeseburger for me, but definitely the fries.
 Exercises:
Task 1: Which of the given conjunctions fits best?

1. I like sugar in my tea, I don't like milk in it.

2. Listen to the story answer the questions in complete
sentences.
3. Is it Thursday Friday today?
4. He was late the bus didn't come.
5. We were very tired happy after our flight to Sydney.
although
6. They climbed the mountain it was very windy.
While
7. Lenny was watching the planes his wife was reading in the
car.
after
8. I'll text you I have arrived in Toronto.
9. Neither my brother my sister own a car.
yet
10.The sun was warm, the wind was a bit too cool.

Task 2:

_________ the basement flooded, we spent all day cleaning up.

1. After
2. Although
3. Before
4. Even if

2) I don’t want to go to the movies _____________ I hate the smell of popcorn.

1. Although
2. Because
3. Whenever
4. So that

3) I paid Larry, ___________ garden design work is top-notch.

1. Whenever
2. Whose
3. After
4. If

4) ___________ spring arrives, we have to be prepared for more snow.

1. Because
2. Until
3. Although
4. Now that

5) _____________ the alarm goes off, I hit the snooze button.

1. As soon as
2. Because
3. Before
4. Now that
 Task 3: correlative conjunctions:

1) She is neither polite _______ funny.

1. Or
2. Nor
3. Not
4. Yet

2) _______ had I put my umbrella away, _______ it started raining.

1. No sooner / than
2. If / then
3. What with / and
4. Neither / nor

3) This salad is _______ delicious _______ healthy.

1. Whether / or
2. Both / and
3. Scarcely / when
4. Rather / than

1. I like __________ to sing opera, _______________ to spend my spare

time practicing ballroom dances.
A. not only / but also
B. whether / or
C. neither / nor
D. not / but
2. The test was ____________ very short __________ quite easy.
A. not / but
B. both / and
C. whether / or
D. scarcely / when
3. ______________ Joe _______ his sisters could understand what their
parents were saying when they spoke French.
A. Whether / or
B. No sooner / than
C. Rather / than
D. Neither / nor