Conjunctions join together two different, but related, parts of a sentence. They can be words like 'and', 'but', 'if', 'when', and 'because'. For example: I like swimming and she likes dancing.

Here is a query from a reader. Sanjay Saralaya writes: “Can one start a sentence with words and phrase such as ‘as’, ‘because’ and ‘due to’? Is it correct to say ‘As I was unwell, I could not attend ...

I’ve never been to a “con.” What I mean by this, of course, is a major “convention” (unless you count the Southern Baptist Convention back in 2004, but that’s a story for a different column). I’m ...