Coordination
Coordination is a complex syntactic structure that links together two or more elements; these elements are called conjuncts or conjoins. The presence of coordination is often signaled by the appearance of a coordinator (coordinating conjunction), e.g. and, or, but (in English). The totality of coordinator(s) and conjuncts forming an instance of coordination is called a coordinate structure. The unique properties of coordinate structures have motivated theoretical syntax to draw a broad distinction between coordination and subordination.
Coordinators
A coordinator or a coordinating conjunction, often appears between the conjuncts, usually at least between the penultimate and ultimate conjunct of the coordinate structure. The words and and or are by far the most frequently occurring coordinators in English. Other coordinators occur less often and have unique properties, e.g. but, as well as, then, etc. The coordinator usually serves to link the conjuncts and indicate the presence of a coordinate structure. Depending on the number of coordinators used, coordinate structures can be classified as syndetic, asyndetic, or polysyndetic.
Different types of coordinators are also categorised differently. The table below shows the categories for the coordinators in English:
Coordinator | Category |
|---|---|
| and | conjunctive coordination |
| or | disjunctive coordination |
| but | adversative coordination |
Basic Examples
Coordination is a very flexible mechanism of syntax. Any given lexical or phrasal category can be coordinated. In the following examples, the coordinate structure includes all the material that follows the left-most square bracket and precedes the right-most square bracket. The coordinator appears in normal script between the conjuncts.
- [Sarah] and [Xolani] went to town. - N + N
- [The chicken] and [the rice] go well together. - NP + NP
- The president will [understand] and [agree]. - V + V
- The president will [understand the criticism] and [take action]. - VP + VP
- Insects were [in], [on], and [under] the bed. - P + P + P
- [After the announcement] but [before the game], there was a celebration. - PP + PP
- Susan works [slowly] and [carefully]. - Adv + Adv
- Susan works [too slowly] and [overly carefully]. - AdvP + AdvP
- We appreciated [that the president understood the criticism] and [that he took action]. - Clause + Clause