23. BINDEORD (KONJUNKTIONER)

Hovedsætninger og bisætninger kan bindes sammen på mange måder, f.eks. ved brug af "and", der er en sideordnende konjunktion. Andre konjunktioner er underordnende, dvs en hovedsætning har bisætninger, der kan angive betingelse, årsag, m.m F.eks.

a. Årsag: Because, since, As: As he was the smartest kid in the class he received a reward (fordi han var….)

b. Tid: When: "When he came down to dinner all the food had been eaten". Om samtidighed af handlinger: As: "I watched the mechanic as he repaired the car". I denne betydning kan det erstattes af while.

c. Blanding af tid og årsag: When: "When they harvested the field in late august a lot of the corn had been eaten by locusts".

d. Betingende/selv om: If: "If a person doesn't have the capacity that we all want that person to have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all." Om valg mellem alternativer bruges både if og whether: "He did not know if/whether he would have wine or beer". Whether bruges efter præposition: "It depends on whether I have a headache or not". "Hvis ikke…" kan også formuleres med "have not" fulgt af omvendt ordstilling: "I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions". Even if/even though (Selv om): "Even though many Americans were against a new tax policy, Bush persevered".

e. Angivelse af, at noget er en følge af noget andet: So: "The bar was closed so I could not have another drink". Om logisk følge kan også bruges therefore: "The human rights situation in China is deplorable, therefore they should not host the Olympics"

f. Til at udtrykke modsætning (på trods af noget) bruges though og although: "He did his homework, though he did not like doing it". "Although he had become a member of the club out of interest for the cause, he did not find the meetings particularly interesting". Til at udtrykke kontrast, men ikke direkte modsætning, kan whereas bruges: "He plays tennis, whereas she is more interested in football". Yet bruges som konjunktion til at udtrykke noget lignende som "at the same time/nevertheless": "Bush has never been only a conservative or a centrist, yet there is a problem with the idea of a "schizofrenic president".

I stedet for hovedsætninger og bisætninger kan man vælge participiumskonstruktioner (jf afsnit 9 om ing-form) eller mange sideordnede hovedsætninger. Nogle af de samme forhold imellem sætninger, som vi finder imellem hoved- og bisætninger, kan da være underforstået.

I det følgende ex. kunne man have overvejet ",because…." efter første hovedsætning. Denne var altså så blevet efterfulgt af en årsagsbisætning. Valget af hovedsætninger, frem for underornede bisætninger, kan være bevidst. Det sker for at forenkle budskabet for modtageren:

"Listen, Al Gore is a very tough opponent. He is the incumbent. He represents the incumbency. And a challenger is somebody who generally comes from the pack and wins, if you're going to win. And that's where I'm coming from."— (Incumbent: Den, der sidder i embedet. Gore var vicepræsident. Challenger: udfordrer)

På amerikansk bruges ofte "like" som sætningskonjunktion:

"There needs to be debates, like we're going through. There needs to be town-hall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is a huge country." -Larry King Live, Dec. 16, 1999

Som om: As if. He talked to me as if he were my father. Her bruger amerikansk også like:

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program."