Coordination & Subordination – Conjunctions
In writing, coordination and subordination are very important in connecting words in sentences. Coordination refers to joining two ideas that are related and have equal importance in the sentence. On the other hand, Subordination refers to joining two ideas that are related as well but have unequal importance. Thus, coordination and subordination enable an effective way of writing, paving the way for more coherent sentences or paragraphs.
To expound on coordination, let us have an example of it.
Example:
- I have read the book. I can answer the questions about it.
Looking at the first sentence, these two sentences seem to be different ideas. So to join them and manifest equal importance, let us revise it through the form of coordination.
- I have read the book, so I can answer the questions about it.
Now, the two sentences were joined and now seem to be two ideas that are very related to each other. The independent clauses were retained in the sentence and only the word ‘so’ was added. Some examples of coordinating conjunctions are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so.
Moving on with subordination, here is an example.
- Ted forgave Nora. Nora cheated on him.
To transform this into a single sentence, will require us to use a subordinating conjunction.
- Even though Nora cheated on him, Ted forgave Nora.
Now, the sentences were joined. It resulted in an independent clause, that can stand alone, and a dependent clause. To add more to that, some subordinating conjunctions are: if, even though, until, after, before, while, and since.
To wrap this up, both coordination and subordination are essential in joining two sentences that have related ideas. To easily know if the sentence uses coordinate or subordinate conjunction, coordinate conjunctions are used for coordination and subordinate conjunctions are used for subordination. While coordination results in one sentence with equal importance, subordination results in one sentence but with unequal importance.
