Read the sentence. The mother bird returned to her nest with a worm, and her offspring eagerly devoured its meal. The conjunction "and" in the sentence separates two dependent clauses. Connects two independent clauses. Modifies the noun used before it. Introduces an independent clause.

Connects two independent clauses.

Explanation:

Independent clauses are those clauses that can stand as a complete sentence on their own, thus having a full and complete meaning even without the help of other clauses and need not be attached with other clauses for the sentence to be fully understandable. In the given sentence, there are two clauses that are independent in their own sense.

So, the two independent clauses are-

"The mother bird returned to her nest with a worm"

and

"her offspring eagerly devoured its meal".

Now, with these two independent clauses/ sentences, the use of the conjunction "and' is a means to bring the two sentences/ clauses together.

Thus, the conjunction "and" is used in the sentence to connect the two independent clauses.

every four years the american people choose a new president, and 1988 is one of those years."