and
part of speech
conjunction
meaning for a pupil
1) And joins two words or two parts of a sentence: bread and butter. tree →
2) And can mean then, after that: she smiled and waved. tree →
3) In numbers said aloud, and links parts: one hundred and five. tree →
4) And can mean «plus» in sums: two and three make five. tree →
5) (casual) «And?» or «So?» on its own means «so what, why does it matter?», often rude. tree →
6) (casual) Chatty speakers start sentence after sentence with «and» or «and then», and «and that» or «and stuff» (UK, Australia) means «and so on». tree →
7) (formal) The exam voice joins with «as well as», «in addition to», «together with», «furthermore». tree →
sense in the lessons
joining things on the table or two parts of a story; in maths «and» often joins two amounts that may be added («4 red and 7 green»), and «3 and 4 make 7»; in everyday life «and so on», «and then», «try and do it», «nice and warm» (pleasantly warm); in casual talk «and?» (so what?), «and that», «and stuff», long chains «and then … and then»; in the exam voice «in addition to», «together with», «furthermore», «as well as»
examples
- Student: one book and one plum tree →
- Ben bought 6 cards on Monday and 5 cards on Tuesday. tree →
- Mia has 4 red balls and 7 green balls. How many balls does she have? tree →
- Leo had 9 kites and lost 5. tree →
- Two and three make five. tree →
- I like cats and dogs. tree →
- We went to the beach and built a sandcastle. tree →
- My grandpa is ninety and still swims every day. tree →
- and then the bus was late, and then nan rang, anyway she gave me 4 tree →
- «I ate the last 3 biscuits.» «And? There's loads more.» tree →
- Me and Jo got crisps and drinks and stuff. tree →
- Mia possesses 4 red spheres in addition to 7 green spheres; ascertain the total quantity. tree →
- "Some wine and meat," she replied. tree →
note
Joining two amounts of the same thing often means adding them; «in addition to» and «together with» in an exam work the same way. Trap: «and» alone is not enough: «had 9 and lost 5» is subtraction, so read the verb after it. In a long chatty «and then … and then» story, the asides do not change the numbers: keep only the counts that matter. «And?» said alone is a rude «so what?», not a sum. In writing, do not start every sentence with «and»; join ideas inside one sentence.
In the corpora
- Stories about annoying colleagues told at home are private and should not be repeated outside.
- Shops, hospitals, buses and factories need people at all hours, so their workers follow a rota that can change every week.
- Night shifts mean working through the night and sleeping in the day; nurses, drivers, bakers and warehouse workers often do them.
- Being turned down is normal for everyone, and being picked is the reward for trying again and again.
- Job hunting means searching adverts and sending applications, often dozens before getting anywhere; many get no reply at all.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «and» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.