What are the correlative conjunctions?
Correlative conjunctions connect two different parts of a sentence. These are sort of like tag-team ones, as they come in pairs and are used in several places. For example: Just as I love dancing, so does my brother love football. We can either take a bus or walk to granny’s house.

Functions of correlative conjunctions: We use Either...or, whether...or to represent two possible options. For example, Jack proposes to order either a pizza or burgers.

Neither...nor is used for negative sentences and make up the pair of negative options. Thus, we can say: Dave likes neither tea nor coffee.

Not only...but also is used to emphasize an additional object and show that two items belong to one pair. For example, Ann is not only kind but also very intelligent.

To describe two items, we apply both...and: I speak both English and French. We can also omit "both", but it would not have the same emphatic effect. Compare: Football and tennis are Steve’s favorite sports. Both football and tennis are Steve’s favorite sports.

If you want to compare two options and express contradiction, use Not...but. It rejects the first option and emphasizes the second: Not just one friend came to help, but all the team.

We apply as...as when comparing two things and showing that one object contains a certain peculiarity to the same extent as the other: The green car is as big as a red one.

We use just as … so to designate that the two elements are similar. Usually, the clause after 'so' is inverted: Just as you love reading books, so do I love playing the piano.

The conjunctions no sooner…than, hardly...when are used to specify that two events take place at the same time. Pay attention that the order of words is inverted. For instance: No sooner had the music begun to play than children started to dance.

Hardly had I entered the kitchen when I smelled the apple pie.

Tips for understanding and using correlative conjunctions:

1. Correlative conjunctions join words and phrases of equal weight. In other words, the words or phrases that follow the correlative conjunctions should be of the same grammatical structures. For example:

This car is both beautiful and can go fast. (incorrect)

This car is both beautiful and fast (correct).

2. When joining two subjects with a correlative conjunction, pay attention to subject-verb agreement. When we join two singular subjects, the verb should be singular. For example, Not only Ann but also Mary is coming with us to the park.

If the subjects are plural, then we use the plural verbs. For example, not only Ann’s but also Mary’s friends are coming with us to the park.

The same rule is applied for pronoun agreement. If we join singular subjects, the pronoun should be singular. For example, Not only Jack but also Mike lost his book.

There is an exception for both...and. This conjunction doesn’t obey this rule. Thus, we say: Both Ann and Mary are coming with us to the park. Both Jane and Dave did their homework before the film started.

3. Be careful with negative sentences. We need to avoid using the double negatives:

The weather is not neither warm nor sunny, but we will go for a walk. (incorrect)

The weather is neither warm nor sunny, but we will go for a walk. (correct)

Correlative Conjunctions Exercises & Games

Help your students to practice using correlative conjunctions by playing the matching game. Prepare cards with pairs of different conjunctions.

Children need to find the pairs of conjunctions and use them to create sentences. For example: Both the dog and the cat are out of food, so I need to go to the pet store.

Here is another fun activity to help kids hone their knowledge. Ask your students to divide into groups and give them an illustration and a piece of paper.

 

Children need to describe the picture and write down three sentences using correlative conjunction pairs.

Then groups switch their papers. Having received sentences written by the other group, students need to add their descriptions using correlative conjunction pairs that have not been used yet. Then children can read the stories they have made up.

We hope this lesson will bring some happiness to the learning process. We have prepared a lot of activities to help your kids explore English with fun. Find them on our website and keep on learning with us!