Is GAR a coordinating or subordinating conjunction?

Kimmo Huovila kimmo.huovila at helsinki.fi
Mon Dec 6 14:54:26 EST 1999


Michael Luper wrote:
> Thinking that a better grasp of English grammar on this matter might shed
> some light, I went back to a basic English Grammar book and found that "for"
> was understood to be a coordinating conjunction and was used in the
> following sentence:
>         "Jack went to bed early, 'for' he was very tired."
> 
> Then, I looked up subordinating conjunctions and found the following
> sentence:
>         "Gerald read the book 'because' I recommended it."
> 
> In both of these sentences it would appear that "for" and "because" are
> serving the same function, to introduce a cause or reason, and yet they are
> classified differently.
> 

There is a difference with the English clauses. Try changing the order
of clauses:
(1) *For Jack was very tired, he went to bed early.
(2) Because I recommended the book, Gerald read it.

In the latter case the reason clause may be taken as a constituent of
the main clause.

Kimmo




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