Isn't 'whereas' a subordinating conjunction? It seems to me that clauses
begun by 'whereas' are set off by commas from neighboring clauses; a
'whereas' clause standing alone is a fragment; and other sub. conjs. also
cannot move around (except perhaps for 'though'). It seems very much like
'while' as a comparative sub. conjunction.
Let's also not forget that grammatical categories are not watertight; some
items fall on a continuum between one category and another, displaying
some properties of both but not all properties of either.
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Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~
English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~
Tel. (805)-756-2184 Fax: (805)-756-6374 ~
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Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~
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