Coordinating conjunctions are used to join together two clauses in a sentence.

These two clauses still need to make sense on their own though – they have equal importance.

For example: I had a terrible cold. I stayed in bed.

You can add the coordinating conjunction ‘and’ between these clauses so it makes one sentence.

For example: I had a terrible cold and I stayed in bed.

The three main coordinating conjunctions are:

• and
• but
• or

However, there are seven coordinating conjunctions in total. You can use the word FANBOYS to help you remember them all:

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So