Students first need to learn the conjunctions. Give them example sentences and ask them to circle the correlative conjunctions in each. The usage in each sentence should be correct, so they don't need to worry about being tricked. Some sample sentences could be:
The price includes both the food and the drink. (both / and)
You can either have broccoli or Brussels sprouts with your dinner. (either / or)
After learning the conjunctions, students must learn the proper pairings and be able to identify faulty ones. Give students example sentences, with one incorrect conjunction in each sentence. Ask students to circle the incorrect conjunction and write the correct one on the line beside the sentence. See the examples below:
Nick has neither socks or shoes on his feet. _____ (Replace "or" with "nor.")
Alice likes not only apples yet oranges. _____ (Replace "yet" with "but also.")
Sentences with missing conjunctions are one way to improve students' understanding of correlative conjunctions. The places for the conjunctions are left blank, allowing the student to see a proper sentence construction for such a joining, and then the student has only to insert the proper word pairs. For example:
You may _____ wear a red shirt _____ a blue shirt to the party.
_____ pots _____ pans belong in the kitchen.
Identifying errors in parallel relations also helps students understand the function of correlative conjunctions. Show students complete sentences, all containing correlative conjunction pairs. Some of the sentences are correct and some are not. The incorrect sentences contain nonparallel elements, such as nouns being related to verbs. Have the students identify the incorrect conjunctions and have them explain why. See the examples of incorrect sentences below:
She can either walk to the store or television. (She could walk to the television, but because of the correlative conjunctions it is an incorrect relation.)
Both Johnnie and run were tiring. ("Johnnie" is a noun while "run" is a verb, and therefore they are not relatable.)