Meaning & use

FANBOYS

abbreviation·Academic

A mnemonic for the seven coordinating conjunctions in English: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

See it in a sentence

Teachers use FANBOYS to help students remember which words can join two independent clauses.

In the sentence "It rained, so we stayed inside," the word "so" is one of the FANBOYS.

A note on using this word

A comma usually comes before a FANBOYS conjunction when it joins two complete sentences.

Words with a similar meaning

This term is best learned through its definition and examples.

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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