Sometimes during writing you recognize that it would be nice to change word order within a coordination. For example, instead of editing and revising you may prefer revising and editing. Placing the point on the conjunction and calling conjunct-mode will help you doing this “nice ’n easy.”

Put this in your .emacs or init.el to bind conjunct-mode to M-C-t in text-mode, TeX-mode, and message-mode:

(require 'conjunct)
(define-key text-mode-map [(meta control t)] 'conjunct-mode)
(add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook
	  (lambda ()
	    (define-key LaTeX-mode-map [(meta control t)] 'conjunct-mode)))
(define-key message-mode-map [(meta control t)] 'conjunct-mode)

When entering conjunct-mode, the word on which the point is placed (the conjunction) will be marked, as well as the two words immediately to the right and the left of the conjunction. The right word is called “right conjunct,” the left word is called “left conjunct.”

If one or both of the conjuncts comprise more than one word, you can expand them. You can also reduce both conjuncts. Of course, each conjunct has to consist of at least one word.

If you like to transpose heads of phrases or words not directly adjacent to the conjunction, you can reduce and expand the conjuncts to mark the desired word(s).

You can expand, reduce and transpose conjuncts as often as you want. You are free to choose the right order of commands.

Leaving conjunct-mode returns you to the previous mode. The marks for the conjunction and the conjuncts disappear. You can exit conjunct-mode at any time, it is not necessary to actually transpose the conjuncts!

conjunct-mode was originally developed in 2008 for the LingURed project. It was originally written for XEmacs; this version of conjunct-mode uses overlays and works with both GNU Emacs and XEmacs.