Which type of conjunction is a pair of words that links independent clauses?

The correct answer is that the pair of words linking independent clauses is known as a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions, such as "and," "but," or "or," are used to connect words, phrases, or independent clauses that are of equal syntactic importance. When linking independent clauses, a coordinating conjunction often follows a comma to properly join the two clauses into a compound sentence.

For example, in the sentence "I wanted to go for a walk, but it started to rain," the coordinating conjunction "but" connects two independent clauses. This use of coordinating conjunctions is fundamental for creating compound sentences, allowing for more complex and varied sentence structures in writing.

The other types of conjunctions refer to different functions: subordinating conjunctions connect dependent clauses to independent ones, correlative conjunctions come in pairs (like "either...or" and "neither...nor") to link similar elements and have to be used in conjunction to complete the link, while conjunctive adverbs (like "however" or "therefore") serve to connect independent clauses but function differently from coordinating conjunctions, often requiring a semicolon or period before them.