+50.+ We have found that the preposition is a very important connective
word. It connects two words and shows what one of them has to do with
the other, but the preposition is not the only connective word which we
use in English. We have another part of speech which performs an
important function as a connective word. Notice the following sentence:
Men and women struggle for their rights.
Can you find a word in this sentence which is a connective word besides
the preposition _for_? Did you notice that little word _and_? The noun
_men_ and the noun _women_ are both subjects of the verb _struggle_, and
they are joined by this little connective word _and_. If we did not have
this word we would have to use two sentences to express our thought,
thus:
Men struggle for their rights.
Women struggle for their rights.
But with the use of this connective word _and_ we can combine these
two sentences and express it all in one sentence:
Men _and_ women struggle for their rights.
This word is used in a different manner from the preposition. The
preposition connects two words and makes one modify the other. When we
say, _Get the book on the table_, the phrase _on the table_ designates
the book just as much as if we had said, _Get the green book_. So the
use of the preposition enables us to show the relation between two words
and to make one word describe or modify the other.
+51.+ This little word _and_ in the sentence, _Men and women struggle
for their rights_, is a connective word also, but it connects two words
that are used in the same way, so it is a different sort of connective
word from the preposition. Words used in this way are called
_conjunctions_. Conjunction is a word which is taken from the Latin,
being made up of the Latin word _con_, which means _together_, and the
Latin verb _juncto_, which means _to join_. So conjunction means
literally _to join together_.
+52.+ +A conjunction is a word that connects sentences or parts of
sentences.+
Notice the following sentence:
The class struggle is waged on the political field and on the
industrial field.
Here we have the conjunction _and_ connecting the two phrases _on the_
_political field_ and _on the industrial field_. Without the use of this
connective word, we would have to use two sentences to express these two
thoughts:
The class struggle is waged on the political field.
The class struggle is waged on the industrial field.
+53.+ So a conjunction may be used to connect phrases as well as words.
Now notice the following sentences:
He will speak. I will listen.
He will speak, _and_ I will listen.
He will speak, _but_ I will listen.
He will speak, _if_ I will listen.
He will speak, _therefore_ I will listen.
He will speak, _because_ I will listen.
He will speak, _until_ I will listen.
+54.+ These _sentences_ are joined by different conjunctions, and the
conjunction used alters the meaning of the sentence.
The conjunction is a very useful part of speech. Without it we would
have many disconnected sentences requiring tiresome repetition of the
same words. Like prepositions, there are not many conjunctions in
English and they are readily recognized.
+55.+ We will study about these conjunctions at length in later lessons.
If you consult the following list of those most commonly used, you can
easily pick out the conjunctions in your reading:
and
as
as if
after
although
as soon as
because
besides
before
but
either
for
hence
in order that
lest
neither
nor
or
since
still
so
then
though
that
than
therefore
till
until
unless
while
whether
yet
The seven classes of words which we have studied make up all of our
sentences. The hundreds of words which we use in forming our sentences
and expressing our thoughts belong to these seven classes. They are
either nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions or
conjunctions.