Mastering Coordinating Conjunctions with FANBOYS

Khan Academy

This engaging grammar lesson introduces students to coordinating conjunctions, the words that glue sentences together. The narrator, David from Khan Academy, defines conjunctions as parts of speech that unite words, phrases, and clauses, providing simple initial examples like "peanut butter and jelly" and "sad but true." The core of the video is the introduction of the mnemonic device "FANBOYS," which helps students remember the seven coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So. The video systematically breaks down each of the seven conjunctions, explaining their specific functions and providing humorous, memorable example sentences. From a kangaroo robbing a bank to an angry tree spirit refusing to speak to humans, the quirky examples help illustrate how each conjunction creates different relationships between ideas, such as causality, addition, choice, contrast, or consequence. This resource is highly valuable for ELA classrooms as it transforms a dry grammar topic into an accessible concept through humor and clear visual aids. It is particularly useful for teaching sentence variety, correcting run-on sentences, and helping students understand the logical relationships between clauses. The "FANBOYS" acronym provides a lasting mental hook that students can rely on for years to come.