Did you ever wonder about how correctly are you forming a sentence when you speak to somebody?
Did you ever give a thought to the very basics of English Grammar i.e. joining words or group of words?
Did you ever realize that sentence is not just a collection a words, but a collection of words adhering to certain rules?
Well, Sahithya will make you start doing all these in some time from now.
Now who is this Sahithya?
Of course it’s me.
Let me have the privilege to burden your brain for sometime from now.
In English, Some words can be used to join words or group of words. Such words are called as Conjunctions.
Ex:
"I play cricket and football."
In the above sentence the word “and” joins two words: “cricket” and “football”.
"Though I was busy, I attended the party."
In the above sentence the word “though” joins two groups of word: “I was busy” and “I attended the party”
What’s so complex about this? Doesn’t all this look simple?
Oh! Yes, it would have been very simple had the job of conjunctions been just to join words or group of words and there were no restrictions on what should be joined, but that is not the case.
So, to understand that set of rules we need to first know conjunctions thoroughly.
As already said CONJUNCTIONS are the words that join words or groups of words.
How many types of conjunctions are there?
There are three types of conjunctions.
What are they?
- Coordinating
- Subordinating
- Correlative
Coordinating Conjunctions: Coordinating conjunctions join only similar elements i.e. they join a noun with a noun, an adjective with an adjective etc. Fortunately, there are only seven words which can function as coordinating conjunctions and these words are known by the acronym FANBOYS.
Lets the see the abbreviation of this acronym
F- For
A- And
N- Nor
B-But
O-Or
Y-Yet
S-So
So next time when you see one of these words, make sure these words are joining similar elements.
For example:
"It's Sachin, Sehwag, and Yuvraj against Lee, Tait and Johnson."
So what is the conjunction in the above sentence?
“And”
Is it joining similar elements?
Yes of course it is.
The first “and” is joining “Sachin”, “Sehwag” and “Yuvraj”. All the three elements are names
Similarly, The second and is joining “Lee”, “Tait” and “Johnson” and these are again names.
"The movie was lengthy but interesting."
So what is the conjunction in this sentence?
“But”
What is this conjunction joining?
“Lengthy” and “interesting”
Are these similar elements?
Yes they are. Both are the qualities or description of the movie.
Subordinating Conjunctions: Subordinating conjunctions make one clause dependent on the other.
Now what is this new concept?
Well don’t worry, will explain everything in detail.
Let’s take a clause “I was busy yesterday”
Is the above clause giving full meaning?
Yes it is.
Now I will add just one word to this sentence and rewrite it.
"Although I was busy yesterday"
Now, if I just say this and stop, will I be conveying the complete idea I want to?
Wouldn’t you be waiting for me to conclude the sentence?
Yes definitely.
Now if I say
Although I was busy yesterday, I attended the party.
Will I be conveying the complete idea?
Yes
So the first clause “Although I was busy yesterday” is depending on “I attended the party” to give out complete meaning.
Hence the first clause is called as dependent clause and the second clause is called as independent clause.
Which word is making you to feel so?
“Although”
Hence “Although” is a subordinating conjunction.
Let’s see few more such examples.
Because I worked hard, I should score 700+ in GMAT.
While I was playing cricket, my mom cooked food for me.
I have been told that I will be promoted this year.
Correlative conjunctions: Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs to show the relation between elements
being joined.
Ex:
Either – Or
Neither – Nor
Not only – But Also
Both – And
Let’s see how they are used.
"I will go to either the park or the restaurant."
The above sentence elements being joined are “the park” and “the restaurant”
So what relation is the correlative conjunction showing between these two?
The correlative conjunction is bringing out the meaning that “I will go only to one these two but not both”
Similarly
"I need not only a good score but also admission into top B School."
What does the correlative conjunction do here?
It says “I need both good score and admission into top B school. I will not be happy just with the good score”.
Correlative conjunctions should also always join similar elements.
Let’s cross check with the above sentences.
In the first sentence “the park” and “the restaurant” both are names of some place, hence are similar elements.
In the second sentence “good score” and “admission into top B school”, both are names of two things I need,
hence similar elements.
So the summary is:
- Coordinating and Correlative conjunctions should always join similar elements
- Subordinating conjunction should always make one clause dependent on the other.
- Subordinating conjunctions cannot join words. It has to join only clauses
- Correlative conjunctions should always come in corresponding pairs.
Too much of theory isn’t it.
Then let’s divert our remaining energy to the application of this theory. After all what’s the use of all this theory when we don’t apply it to crack questions in GMAT.
Contrary to popular opinion, the movement toward a service economy is leading neither to lower standards of living, more of an unequal distribution of income, or displacing the physical production of goods.
A. leading neither to lower standards of living, more of an unequal distribution of income, or
B. leading neither to lower standards of living nor a more unequal distribution of income, or
C. not leading to either lower standards of living nor to more of an unequal distribution of income, and neither is it
D. neither leading to lower standards of living, more of an unequal distribution of income, and it is not
E. not leading to lower standards of living or to a more unequal distribution of income, nor is it
Now read the original sentence given. Do you notice that there is a word called “neither”.
So what does that mean?
The question is testing you on the correlative conjunction “neither - nor”
What should you do now?
1. Since “ neither” is there, check for “nor”
2. Eliminate the options which do not follow the structure.
3. In the options which follow the structure “neither- nor” correctly, check whether similar elements are being joined.
4. If you are still left with more than one option which follow the structure and join similar elements, check for the option which is logical in meaning
5. If still you are left with more than one option which you feel is logical in meaning check for the option which is less verbose i.e. the option which is grammatically correct, which is giving out the correct meaning and which is using less number of words to convey that meaning.
Does the original sentence have “nor”?
Neither to lower standards of living, more of an unequal distribution of income, or
No it does not. Instead it has “or”.
So, eliminate the options that have the mismatch of “neither –or”
Hence options A and B can be eliminated.
Now let’s analyze option C.
Option C has “either” so check for “or” as “either- or” is a correlative conjunction.
Does option C have “or”?
Either lower standards of living nor to more
No it does not instead it has “nor”
So C can not be the answer.
Next let’s analyze option D.
Option D has “neither” so check for “nor”.
Does option D have “nor”?
Neither leading to lower standards of living, more of an unequal distribution of income, and
No it does not. Instead it has “and”.
So D can not be the answer.
Let’s analyze E.
There is only one conjunction “nor” and it is a coordinating conjunction. So it need not come in pairs.
Next thing to check for is whether the coordinating conjunction is joining similar elements.
Let’s rewrite the whole sentence by replacing the underlined portion with option E.
“Contrary to popular opinion, the movement toward a service economy is not leading to lower standards of living or to a more unequal distribution of income, nor is it displacing the physical production of goods.”
“Nor” is joining “the movement toward a service economy is not leading to lower standards of living or to a more unequal distribution of income” and “is it displacing the physical production of goods” and both the elements being joined are independent clauses. Hence they are similar elements.
Thus E is correct option.
Not happy with just one question?
Ok will explain one more question.
Doctors generally agree that such factors as cigarette smoking, eating rich foods high in fats, and alcohol consumption not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate genetic predispositions toward certain diseases.
A. not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate
B. do damage by themselves but also are aggravating to
C. are damaging by themselves but also are aggravating
D. not only do damage by themselves, they are also aggravating to
E. are doing damage by themselves, and they are also aggravating
Now read the sentence.
What do you notice in the underlined part?
“Not only”
So what does that mean?
The question is testing you on the correlative conjunction “not only – but also”
What should you do now?
Just follow the steps explained for the first question, but this time check for the correlative conjunction “not only – but also”
Does the original sentence follow the structure?
Not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate
Yes it does.
So what is the correlative conjunction joining?
“Do damage by themselves” and “aggravate genetic predispositions toward certain diseases”
Are these two similar elements?
Yes they are.
Both are clauses as they have the verbs “do” and “aggravate” respectively.
So option A is not grammatically wrong.
Let’s see whether any other option is grammatically correct.
Now let’s analyze option B.
Do damage by themselves but also are aggravating to
Option B has “but also”. What about “not only”? Is that present?
No it is not.
This choice cannot be grammatically correct.
Eliminate it.
Now let’s analyze option C.
Option C also has the same problem as option B.
Eliminate option C.
Now let’s analyze option D.
Option D has “not only”, but does that have “but also”?
No it does not.
Eliminate option D.
Now let’s analyze option E.
Option E does have neither “not only” nor “but also”.
So we need not check for this particular correlative conjunction in this option nor do we have to eliminate this option just because this option does not have this correlative conjunction.
Option E is using the conjunction “and”. Let’s check whether this conjunction is joining similar elements.
Let’s first replace the underlined part with option E and dissect the structure of the sentence.
“Doctors generally agree that such factors as cigarette smoking, eating rich foods high in fats, and alcohol consumption are doing damage by themselves, and they are also aggravating genetic predispositions toward certain diseases.”
“Doctors generally agree that” is a dependent clause
“Such factors as cigarette smoking, eating rich foods high in fats, and alcohol consumption are doing damage by themselves” is an independent clause.
“They are also aggravating genetic predispositions toward certain diseases” is another independent clause.
The conjunction “and” is joining the first independent clause with the second independent clause, so even option is grammatically correct.
Is it distorting the meaning?
No it is not. It is still giving the logical meaning.
So, now we have two options which are grammatically correct and do convey the logical meaning.
What should we do next?
Check which option is using less number of words to convey this meaning.
Definitely option A.
Hence that’s the answer.
So now you know how apply all the theory we have read.
Nodding your head?
Good.
Then be prepared to face the test that I will be posting tomorrow.
