F.A.N.B.O.Y.S

for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

coordinating connectives

compound sentences

Compound sentences are two, sometimes three (and very occasionally four) simple sentences joined together with connectives, conjunctions or joining words.

Connectives, conjunctions and joining words are just different ways of describing the word you choose to join sentences together. The most common coordinating connectives are: ,for ,and ,nor ,but ,or ,yet ,so. The first letters of these words spell the word fanboys. These connectives will always need a comma in front of them.

FANBOYS ,for = because

You always have a choice whether to use ,for or because. If you choose to use because as a coordinating connective, you won’t need to use a comma.

The easiest way to feel confident using a ,for correctly is to write a sentence with because joining the two main clauses. Then remove the because, and replace it with ,for to connect the two simple sentences together.

I am trying to teach you how to punctuate sentences correctly because I don’t want you to lose marks.

I am trying to teach you how to punctuate sentences correctly, for I don’t want you to lose marks.