LINKING WORDS/EXPRESSIONS IN WRITING

1) To introduce arguments: 2) To list arguments of the same quality:

To start with, First of all,/Firstly,
To begin with, Secondly,
On the one hand, Thirdly,
Moreover,
Furthermore,
In addition,
Then,

Also,

3) To introduce examples/explanations:
For example, ... because...
For instance, ... since.../... as...
... as can be seen by/from...
Take (something/someone) for example – ...
... such as...

4) To wrap up your argumentation: 5) To introduce the opposing opinion:

Lastly, On the other hand,
Finally, However,
Eventually, Nevertheless,
On the contrary,/In contrast,
Still,/Yet,
Unfortunately, (introducing drawbacks!)
Despite all of the above,/In spite of all the...,
(... despite the fact that.../... in spite of the fact that...)

6) To introduce the conclusion: 7) To introduce your (personal) opinion:

To sum it up, If you ask me,
To sum things up, In my (humble) opinion,
In conclusion, As for me,
All things considered, As far as I'm concerned,
All in all, I think/believe/feel...
 PUNCTUATION IN WRITING
. full stop, period
, comma
? question mark
! exclamation mark
- hyphen (connects words!) (e. g. Who likes eighty-year-olds?)
– dash (separates sentences!)
' apostrophe (e. g. That's John's sharpie, isn't it?)
'...' quotation marks
: colon
; semicolon
/ slash
... ellipsis (e. g. She left for good that day...)

THE COMMA, DASH, COLON AND SEMICOLON:

The comma (,)

= used for listing (e. g. I saw a house, a tree , a black rabbit and a man.)
= used in front of participle clauses (e. g. She was standing there, looking at me.)
(e. g. Having seen me, she called me over.)
= used when the sentence starts with a dependent clause
(e. g. After she came, she told me to go.
As she was blind, she couldn't see what he was up to.
If you don't do it, I won't do it either.)

The dash (–)

= used in informal and semi-formal English, for short messages/notes
(e. g. I need milk – get it!)
= used instead of a full stop, to connect two sentences
(e. g. There's nothing in the fridge – who cleared it?)
= replaced by the colon in formal English
(e. g. There's nothing in the fridge: who's cleared it?)

The colon (–)

= used in semi-formal and formal English
= used for listing, quoting somebody's words or giving an explanation
(e. g. I need at least one of the following: a saw, a hammer, a shovel or a hoe.
... And then she said: 'You are a nobody.'
They stole the dog for a very simple reason: it was theirs, after all.)

The semicolon (;)

= used in semi-formal and formal English instead of the full stop.
(e. g. She showed up just like that. I couldn't believe my eyes.)
She showed up just like that; I couldn't believe my eyes.
We did show up on time. However, there was nobody there to greet us.
We did show up on time; however, there was nobody theer to greet us.)