Connectors | Notion

AKA: conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, transition words, phrase connectors

Examples

The rain fell, and the wind howled.

The game ended because it was raining.

The weather was terrible. However, the band played on.

The concert was canceled due to the weather.

🧾Definition

Connectors are cohesive devices that enable writers and speakers to join ideas. There are actually many types of connectors, which can differentiated by both form and function.

Connectors include:

Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so = FANBOYS), which combine two independent clauses into a compound sentence.
Subordinating conjunctions, which join a dependent clause to an independent clause to form a complex sentence (e.g. because, although, if, when, etc.).
Sentence connectors, or conjunctive adverbs, which show the logical relationship between two sentences (e.g., therefore, however, in addition, also, etc.).
Phrase connectors, or prepositional phrases that express logical connects (e.g., due to, because of, in spite of, etc.)

🔬Discovery

The day of the game saw rainy weather, and it was uncertain if the game would be played, but the skies cleared enough to allow it to proceed. Brooklyn scored a run in the fifth inning, and Boston in the sixth; thereafter, the pitchers became increasingly dominant. As the game exceeded eighteen innings, the small crowd at Braves Field cheered both pitchers. The last twenty innings were scoreless, and when darkness started to fall, the umpires called a halt after the twenty-sixth inning, as baseball fields did not yet have artificial lighting. (Wikipedia)

1. Categorize the bolded connectors as coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, or conjunctive adverbs (sentence connectors). 2. What is the function or meaning of each connector?

✅Form

Coordinating conjunctions are punctuated with a comma when they join complete independent clauses.
Most subordinating conjunctions do not require a comma when the dependent clause follows the independent clause (except for although, even though). When the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, a comma usually separates them, as in this sentence.
It is important not to join clauses using a sentence connector like therefore. Conjunctive adverbs usually start a new sentence; however a semi-colon is also correct (as in this sentence).
Phrase connectors are followed by noun groups (noun phrase) not clauses.

Examples of each category of connector are shown here:

Functions	Coordinating Conjunction	Subordinating conjunction	Sentence connector	Phrase connector
Addition	and		in addition; moreover; also	in addition to; as well as; like
Contrast	but; nor		however; on the other hand	unlike
Concession	yet	although; even though		despite; in spite of
Cause	for	because; since; as		because of; due
Result	so	so that	therefore; thus; consequently	in order to
Condition		if, unless
Sequence	and	after; before; when; while; as soon as	first, next, then, last, subsequently	after (the rain), before (2020), since (the war)