Coordinating Conjunctions: FANBOYS Video Lecture | Learn and Master: Business Writing - Communication

okay in this segment we're going to talk
about coordinating conjunctions and I
like to say that these coordinated
conjunctions are the superhero words at
the English language why do they have
all of the power because they're the
only words that can connect words
phrases and clauses and you need to
commit them to memory but it's easy to
do these are the fanboy words
so fanboy
these are the fanboy words they're the
supercool power words of the English
language and it's for and nor but or yet
these are coordinating conjunctions so
why are they so important and what do
they do well let's put them in some
sentences
okay you need to memorize all these
fanboy words because the fanboy words
lead to my students most missed comma
errors the number one common error comes
from not understanding fanboy words and
how they work so let's analyze let's
look at this fanboy words connect words
phrases and clauses so when you see a
fanboy word in a sentence you want to
ask yourself is it connecting words
phrases or clauses and if it's
connecting words or phrases no comment
if it's connecting clauses yes comma in
fact we have a rule that says if you
have a fanboy word or a coordinating
conjunction connecting two clauses you
must have a comma with one minor
exception so let's look at our sentences
and start to pinpoint what types of
connections or fanboy power words are
making so I come to the sentence and I
go oh I have this is my this is a little
superhero okay that's my superhero cape
for this superhero word I've got a
fanboy and it's a coordinating
conjunction well what's it connecting
it's connecting two words so do I put in
a comma
I will by Apple's comment no because
fanboy words when they connect words
don't use a comment now let's change
this and I'm going to make my fanboy
word connect two phrases Oh
okay now here's where we start to get
confused sometimes around comma use so
in this case again I see a fanboy word
and because they're powerful I have to
pay attention to them I'm going to
circle my fanboy word and figure out
what it's connecting well in this case
my fanboy word is connecting two phrases
two verb phrases I will buy bananas or
buy apples and buy bananas no coma I
don't put a comma in when the fanboy
word is connecting two phrases no comma
not now not ever
now I'm going to give you just a little
aside and that is when I'm talking about
items in a series then I'm going to put
in a comment so if I have a fanboy or an
and coordinating three or more items
three or more phrases then I will use
commas with it but when I'm talking
about just combining two things no comma
meaning two phrases or two words no
comma so now I'm going to change this
and let this powerful fanboy word
connect to clauses which we know clauses
or sentences so let's show you
okay so now I have a sentence and I've
circled my fanboy word my superpower
word and I look at what it's connecting
well the fanboy word is actually
connecting two independent clauses I
will buy apples and I will buy bananas
fanboy words again they are the only
words in any of the English language
that could connect two sentences
together subordinating conjunctions
don't other words don't only fanboys can
connect together two clauses of equal
strength or in other words two sentences
now let me review the Conner rule for
when we have two sentences remember I
told you that we must use a comma when
we're connecting two sentences with a
fanboy so you might say okay we need to
go in and put in our comma right here
and in fact when I put that comma in I
will buy apples comet and I will buy
bananas the sentence now is
grammatically correct I have correctly
used this comma however remember I said
there's one little exception around
common use for a fanboy and this
sentence gives us that exception when my
first sentence has five or fewer words I
may choose to omit the comma so in other
words the sentence as is written right
now with the comma preceding the
coordinating conjunction is correct
however because the first sentence has
only four words in it I can omit the
comma and in this case the sentence is
still punctuated correctly now if I
change this first sentence or first
clause in my whole sentence so that it
has more than five words then it's a
requirement that it have a comma before
that fanboy
I will buy some red apples and I will
buy bananas so I still I've got my
subject and I've got my verb but I now
have six words and therefore I must put
in a comment before that fanboy
so again the rule is fanboy words
coordinating conjunctions are the most
powerful words in the English language
because they can connect both words
phrases and independent clauses or
sentences and when I use a fanboy word
to connect words to words no comma when
I use a fanboy word to connect to
phrases no comma when I use a fanboy
word to connect two sentences if the
first sentence has more than five words
I must put in a comma there or it's
punctuated incorrectly five or fewer
words in the first sentence and that
comma is optional