Frequency: The w~d is one of the 700 most common w~ds in English.
1.
You use ~ to link two ~ m~e alternatives.
‘Tea ~ coffee?’ John asked...
He said he would try to write ~ call as soon as he reached the Canary Islands...
Students are asked to take another course in English, ~ science, ~ mathematics.
CONJ
2.
You use ~ to give another alternative, when the first alternative is introduced by ‘either’ ~ ‘whether’.
Items like bread, milk and meat were either unavailable ~ could be obtained only on the black market...
Either you can talk to him, ~ I will...
I don’t know whether people will buy it ~ not...
CONJ
3.
You use ~ between two numbers to indicate that you are giving an approximate amount.
Everyone benefited from limiting their intake of tea to just three ~ four cups a day...
N~mally he asked questions, and had a hum~ous remark ~ two.
CONJ
4.
You use ~ to introduce a comment which c~rects ~ modifies what you have just said.
The man was a fool, he thought, ~ at least incompetent...
There was nothing m~e he wanted, ~ so he thought...
CONJ
5.
If you say that someone should do something ~ something unpleasant will happen, you are warning them that if they do not do it, the unpleasant thing will happen.
She had to have the operation, ~ she would die.
= otherwise
CONJ
6.
You use ~ to introduce something which is evidence f~ the truth of a statement you have just made.
He must have thought Jane was w~th it ~ he wouldn’t have wasted time on her, I suppose.
= otherwise
CONJ
7.
You use ~ no ~ ~ not to emphasize that a particular thing makes no difference to what is going to happen.
Chairman ~ no, if I want to stop the project, I can...
The first difficulty is that, old-fashioned ~ not, it is very good.
PHRASE: group PHR emphasis
8.
You use ~ no between two occurrences of the same noun in ~der to say that whether something is true ~ not makes no difference to a situation.
The next day, rain ~ no rain, it was business as usual...
PHRASE: n PHR n
9.
~ else: see else
~ other: see other
~ so: see so
~ something: see something