La polysyndète (répétition des conjonctions)
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Some coordinating conjunctions are used in pairs or multiples to emphasize the connection between two or more grammatically equivalent words or phrases.
These emphatic coordinating conjunctions, aka correlative conjunctions, might connect adjectives, nouns, adverbs, verbs, or even independent clauses; the important thing is that the connected items are equal and each one serves the same function in the sentence.
Par exemple…
| – Avez-vous un chat ou un chien ? – J’ai et un chat et un chien. |
– Do you have a cat or a dog? – I have both a cat and a dog. |
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| Tu peux prendre soit un chocolat soit une boule de glace. | You can have either hot chocolate or a scoop of ice cream. | |
| Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. | The more things change, the more they stay the same. |
Emphatic coordinating conjunctions
| et … et | both … and | |
| ni … ni* | neither … nor | |
| ou … ou | either … or | |
| ou bien … ou bien | either … or | |
| moins … moins | the less … the less | |
| plus … plus | the more … the more | |
| soit … soit | either … or |
* Ni … ni is a negative coordinating conjunction.
Related lessons
- Introduction to conjunctions
- Coordinating conjunctions
- Negative conjunctions
- Subordinating conjunctions
- Articles
- Comparisons
- Parts of speech
En español
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