Союзы против предлогов против наречий

Союзы

Ключевые характеристики:

• Соединяют слова, фразы или клаузы равной важности
• Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) connect independent clauses
• Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses
• Correlative conjunctions work in pairs (both...and, either...or)

Примеры:

• I like tea and coffee. (coordinating)
• We'll go if it stops raining. (subordinating)
• Both my parents and my siblings came. (correlative)

Prepositions

Ключевые характеристики:

• Show relationship between a noun/pronoun and other words
• Always followed by a noun or pronoun (the object of the preposition)
• Form prepositional phrases that function as adjectives or adverbs
• Cannot connect clauses or sentences

Common Prepositions:

about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without

Примеры:

• The book is on the table.
• We walked through the park.
• She arrived after dinner.

Наречия

Ключевые характеристики:

• Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
• Answer questions like how, when, where, why, or to what extent
• Often end in -ly (but not always)
• Can appear in various positions in a sentence

Примеры:

• She ran quickly. (modifies verb)
• That was extremely difficult. (modifies adjective)
• He spoke very softly. (modifies adverb)

Words That Can Be Both

1. After

• We left after the movie. (preposition)
• We left after the movie ended. (conjunction)

2. Before

• Call me before dinner. (preposition)
• Call me before you leave. (conjunction)

3. Since

• I've been here since Tuesday. (preposition)
• I've been here since you left. (conjunction)
• I haven't seen him since. (adverb)

Сравнительная таблица

Feature	Союзы	Prepositions	Наречия
Функция	Connect clauses/phrases	Show noun relationships	Modify verbs/adjectives
What follows	Clause or phrase	Noun/pronoun	Nothing required
Позиция	Between elements	Before noun phrase	Flexible
Примеры	and, but, because	in, on, at, with	quickly, very, well