Correlative Conjunction

Correlative Conjunction

1. ¿What is a Correlative Conjunction?

   • The part of a speech that connects or coordinates words, phrases and clauses.
     • They are only used with equal, correlative ideas.

2. Correlative Conjunction List

   • Some examples of the words pairs that correlate together:
     • Both/And Either/Or
     • Hardly/When If/Then
     • Just as/So Neither/Nor
     • Not only/But also
     • Rather/Or
     • Whether/Or

3. Examples

   • He must do it, whether he likes it or not.
   • He's not singing as loudly as he can.
   • Micheal can both write with his left hand and his right hand.
   • He will either sell his car or pawn his watch.
   • The company deals with both hardware and software.
   • Natalie likes neither milk nor cream cake.

4. Things to be Careful Of

   • Don't use them all the time. They should only be used in order to balance a sentence.
   • Do not create a double negative with neither nor.

5. Verb Agreement

   • The verb must be connected somehow with the second subject regardless of the first subject.
     • Example: Either Kate or her sisters always leave the door open.

6. Pronoun Agreement

   • Are you using a correlative conjunction with two antecedents before?
     • Well then the correlative conjunction must agree with the second antecedent.
       • Example:
         • Not only the homemade presents but also the huge cake will please her heart with its thoughtfulness

7. Parallel Structure

   • It must be used in order to create balanced sentences.
     • Example
       • My best friend took me to a dance and a show