Mastering FANBOYS: Learn the 7 Coordinating Conjunctions

‘FANBOYS’ is an acronym used to help remember the most common coordinating conjunctions in the English language. Coordinating conjunctions are words that join two equal parts of a sentence together.

This colourful FANBOYS classroom poster will help your students remember seven of the most commonly used coordinating conjunctions and will remind them to use them in their writing!

The FANBOYS Conjunctions

F – Stands for “For”
A – Stands for “And”
N – Stands for “Nor”
B – Stands for “But”
O – Stands for “Or”
Y – Stands for “Yet”
S – Stands for “So”

Teach your primary students that coordinating conjunctions are special words that connect words, phrases, or sentences, making their writing clearer and more engaging. These conjunctions act like building blocks, helping ideas flow smoothly.

For example:

• I wanted ice cream, but they only had chocolate.
  • The word ‘but’ joins two contrasting ideas.
• She wanted pizza, and I wanted a burger.
  • The word ‘and’ connects two similar thoughts.

To make learning easier, introduce your students to FANBOYS—an easy-to-remember acronym for the seven coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. By using this simple trick, students can quickly recall these essential words, improving their sentence structure and writing skills!

More Conjunctions Teaching Resources for Your Classroom:

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Imagine Conjunctions Worksheet

Spark students' creativity with this conjunctions worksheet containing four images to prompt students to write compound sentences.

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Writing Compound Sentences with Conjunctions Worksheet

Assign this worksheet to allow students to practise using coordinating conjunctions to create compound sentences.

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Colour by Parts of Speech Worksheet – Chameleon

Practise your parts of speech lesson by colouring nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions and pronouns on the chameleon.