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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 Fax: (805)-756-6374 ~ E-mail: [log in to unmask] ~ Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~