At 02:29 PM 5/3/99 -0400, you wrote:

>I recently read something that led me to ask all of you the following
question:

>Do you consider "if" and "because" to be coordinating or subordinating
conjunctions?  For example, consider the following two sentences:

>He wanted to know if it rained.
>and
>He was late because he forgot.

Hmmm.  My first response, was why do the lables matter?  But then, I
considered the idea that subordinating and coordinating conjunctions act
differently.

Although they might sound a little odd, both are clearly sentences if you
switch the order.

If it rained, he wanted to know.
Because he forgot, he was late.

Take the word 'and' or 'or', and they aren't sentences if you switch the
order.

And he forgot, he was late.
Or he forgot, he was late.

How could you consider either of those correct?

They would need to be connecting a thought in a previous sentence.  This is
not a grammatically correct use of these conjunctions, but as with many
grammatically incorrect constructions, this can be used as an effective
device if you know what you're doing.  (See above -- I did this on this
posting.  But then, I've always been big on ignoring the rules when it
suits my purposes.  Even when I'm talking to English teachers.)

>Are they compound (two main clauses), or are they complex (a main clause
and a subordinate clause)?

The above should make that clear.

Susan Mari Witt



240 ERML, MC-051
1201 W. Gregory
Urbana, IL  61801

Phone:  (217) 333-1965
Fax:      (217) 333-4777

[log in to unmask]