+328.+ You remember that in Lesson 3, where we studied the parts of
speech, we found that we had another connective word besides the
preposition,--the conjunction.
A preposition connects two words and shows what one of them has to do
with the other. The conjunction plays a different part as a connective,
for it connects not only words but also phrases and clauses. Note the
following sentences:
Shall we be men _or_ machines?
We must struggle for ourselves _and_ for our children.
We pray for peace _but_ furnish ammunition for war.
The use of the conjunction saves a great deal of tiresome repetition,
for, by its use, where two subjects have the same predicate or two
predicates have the same subject, we can combine it all into one
sentence.
You will readily realize how important this part of speech is to us. If
we did not have conjunctions our speech would be cumbersome and we would
have to use a great many short sentences and a great deal of repetition.
If we wanted to make the same statement concerning a number of things,
without conjunctions, we would have each time to repeat the entire
statement. Try to write a description of a scene and avoid the use of
conjunctions and you will see what an important part these connective
words play in our power of expression.
Without the use of the conjunction, you would necessarily use a great
many short expressions and repeat the same words again and again, and
your description would be a jerky, tiresome, unsatisfactory piece of
writing.