PEARSON ADULT LEARNING CENTRE
Advanced Composition
Coordination and Conjunctions

January 27, 2005

Coordination is what we call joining together two independent clauses. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. To join these clauses we use the coordinating conjunctions. These are easily remembered in this way: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Or, you could say FANBOYS!
 

Examples of Coordination Using Conjunctions

Jim loves Dorothy, and she loves him. (Here “and” shows addition)

He proposed, so they got married. (Here “so” shows a result)

They lived in her hometown, yet they were not happy. (Here “yet” shows a contrast)

They stayed there, for they didn’t have enough money to move. (Here “for” shows reason)

Dorothy didn’t have a good job, nor did Jim. (Here “nor” shows an alternative. Note how the question word order is used after “nor”)

Assignment:

Write a short paragraph about two people who got married. This could be yourself and your own husband or wife, or it could be about your friends or your own parents. Use the five coordinating conjunctions from today’s example in your paragraph.

Give more detail than in our examples to make your paragraph more interesting. For example, “John wasn’t sure he wanted to get married, yet he did it happily once he got to know Mary’s nice family.”

Homework:

¨     Take your rough draft home with you today.

¨     Make at least five corrections to the draft and recopy the paragraph.

¨     Hand in your original and your revised copy to class next week.

 

An Unusual Marriage

     The way my wife and I got married was unusual. I loved my girlfriend, yet hadn’t married her, although we had lived together for five years. To marry, we went to a marriage commissioner in Vancouver, and two close friends came along as our witnesses. The marriage lasted 20 minutes, for it was a short, civil ceremony. Afterwards, we had lunch at the English Bay Café. That night, we caught the Nanaimo ferry. It was December 28, so it was cold. Something funny happened, however. On the ferry, we heard the horn sound many times. I didn’t look outside, nor did my wife. As we landed at Nanaimo, we learned a blizzard had covered the road in ten centimeters of snow! We spent the weekend at our little mountain cabin and could barely stay warm. On Sunday, the snow was 35 centimeters deep, touching the bottom of the door of our big, old Chevrolet. We made it home, fortunately. I will never forget our marriage and especially interesting honeymoon. (169 words; second draft in January 2005)

 

An Unusual Marriage
(first draft; 1999; 190 words!)

     The way my wife and I got married was unusual. I loved the woman who would be my wife, yet I hadn’t married her, although we had already lived together for five years. The time had come, however, and so we went to the marriage commissioner in the West End of Vancouver, along with two of our close friends who would be our witnesses. The marriage itself took only about 20 minutes, for we didn’t need much time for a short, civil ceremony. From there, we went to have lunch with our friends at the English Bay Café. Then, we caught an evening ferry to Nanaimo. It was winter, the 28th of December, so the weather was cold. Something funny happened, however. On the ferry, we heard the horn sound many times. I didn’t look outside, nor did my wife. Imagine our surprise when, as we landed at Nanaimo, we found that a blizzard had begun with the road covered in 7 or 8 centimeters of snow! We spent the weekend at our little mountain cabin and could barely stay warm. On Sunday, the snow had reached over 35 centimeters and had reached to the bottom of the door of our big, old Chevrolet. We made it home, fortunately. I will never forget our marriage and especially interesting honeymoon.

 

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