Grammar glossary: conjunction

A conjunction is a type of word that connects individual words or parts of sentences.  Some common conjunctions are “so,” “and,” “or,” “but,” “because,” “when,” and “that.”  The word “and” is an obvious connector because the meaning indicates that one thing is added (or connected) to another thing:  “cars and trucks,” “I went to the store and bought some milk.”  Although most conjunctions have a meaning that we can easily describe—“because” introduces a reason, “so” introduces a result, “but” introduces a contrasting idea— the type of connection that conjunctions make is fundamentally grammatical, tying together things like nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, clauses with clauses.