Conjunctions for Kids

What Are Conjunctions? (for Kids)

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Conjunctions are joiners. The most common conjunction is the word "and." For example:

The King and the Queen visited the village.

Here are the first three conjunctions we will cover in this lesson:

Examples with "And"

I like fish and chips.
Jack likes to draw and paint.

Examples with "Or"

You can have lemon or orange.
A pheasant will run away or fly away if you approach it.

Examples with "But"

Alan is a clever but clumsy boy.
I will pay today, but you must pay tomorrow.

phrases

clauses

A Quick Test

Select the best conjunction to fill the gap.

More about "And," "Or," and "But"

The conjunctions "and," "or," and "but" belong to a group of conjunctions called "co-ordinating conjunctions."

"And," "or," and "but" are by far the most common co-ordinating conjunctions, but there are seven co-ordinating conjunctions in total:

for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

mnemonic

More about Conjunctions

The word "co-ordinating" means equal. If you look closely at the examples we've seen so far with co-ordinating conjunctions, you will notice that they join two "equals" together. For example:

I like fish and chips.

We say that co-ordinating conjunctions join "like with like."

A Different Type of Conjunction

Not all conjunctions are co-ordinating conjunctions. Here are three different, but also common, conjunctions:

because
if
when

These conjunctions are still joiners, but they do not join equals. They join a subordinate clause to a main clause. Let's look at some examples. (In all of these examples, the main clause is in bold.)

Examples with "Because"

I left the party early because I was tired.
The concert is cancelled because Kylie has a sore throat.

Examples with "If"

Anna said she will paint the fence if you buy her a pony.
If the rain stops, the game will start at 5 o'clock.

Examples with "When"

Take the cake out of the oven when you hear the buzzer.
When you hear the buzzer, take the cake out of the oven.

More about "Because," "If," and "When"

The conjunctions "because," "if," and "when" belong to a group of conjunctions called "subordinating conjunctions." There are lots of other subordinating conjunctions. Here are 10 more:

although, before, even if, only if, in the event that, since, until, where, while, why

In each example above, the bold text shows the main clause of the sentence. (This is also called an independent clause because it could be a sentence by itself.)

The non-bold text in each example shows a subordinate clause. (This is also called an dependent clause because it could not be a sentence by itself.)

Remember that a subordinating conjunction joins a subordinating clause (or dependent clause) to a main clause (or independent clause). Read more about subordinating conjunctions.