Connectors and Linking words

speaking Both Academic writing

1.Buying That’s difficult to say,..
some time Well, let me think,..
Well, I honestly don’t know…/ I’ve got no idea/ I have no clue…
Actually, it’s not where I shine
To be frank, I’m not an expert but…
Frankly, I’ve never really thought about it…
I’ve been mulling this over recently…(I’ve been thinking)
It’s not something I’ve often thought about…
2. Beginning Generally speaking/ In general, / By and large… I assume,
the opinion Quite honestly, I’m not particularly fond of… I am strongly convinced,
To be totally up front, I’m a big fan of… I believe,
Frankly speaking/ To be frank, … I concur,
Honestly speaking/ To be honest, …. I admit,
Yes, I think so — > Absolutely/ Yep, I’d say… / For sure, in my I cannot accept that,
eyes…/ I disagree,
Yeah, I reckon…/ I guess so/ I suppose so
No —-> I don’t think so/ Absolutely no/
It seems that / it appears that…
I must confess/ I must admit that…
To my mind, …
As I see it,
Personally, I find it to be…
Preferences I’d rather +v +than+ v
I’d prefer to+v
I prefer V+ing to V+ing
Likes/dislikes I’m quite keen on… I can’t bare…
I’m really into… I can’t stand…
I’m passionate about… It’s not my kind of thing.
I’m a big fan of… I’m not so keen on…
I adore…/enjoy… I don’t particularly enjoy…
It gets on my nerves…
I’m good at… It drives me crazy…
I have a flair for… It doesn’t really do anything for me
I have a knack for…
…is my forte
3.Beginning Well, first of all…/ first and foremost,
Ideas So, I’d like to start by… firstly,
For starters, … on the one hand,…
To kick off,
First off,
From the outset,…
To begin with,
It’s true that
4. Agree/ I absolutely agree, since… I agree completely with this statement
disagree I’m in favour of it, because… I totally disagree with that point of view
I’m inclined to agree, but… I partially/partly agree with that, since…
I’m in two minds about it. / I’m on the fence, as… I am more inclined to agree with…
On the one hand…./On the other hand…
I’m afraid, I don’t share that point of view, since…

5.Adding As far as I know…/ To my knowledge,.. Another thing/ point/ reason is that… secondly, /thirdly, /last but not least
information Besides, On top of that… in addition, /additionally,
What’s more, moreover, /furthermore,
not only... but also…,
as well as, …
6. Distancing It seems that,… It is commonly believed that …
It appears that,… It is thought that …
According to… It is often said that….
As stated by… …. Is believed to …..
Perhaps/probably/ possibly/ most likely
It might/may…
Apparently,…
7. Actually , Most importantly/ Essentially,…
Emphasising Basically, As a matter of fact/ In fact,
Undoubtedly/ Hands down Apparently….
And here’s the thing,

8. Example I’ll give you an example,… For example, as far as I know… namely,
For instance, to my knowledge … one clear example is..,
Take …. as an example in particular, particularly,
Like—-> such as For instance,…
especially,
in other words,
9.Clarifying If we talking about…, I reckon that In other words,…
What I mean is that…
What I’m saying is…
Let me clarify,
Let me put it this way.
That’s to say,…
Let me get it straight,…

10. Changing Regarding …, I’d say in fact, Regarding…,

the topics In terms of …, I suppose it is true that, In terms of …, I suppose
Speaking of …, it seems that… by and large,… As regards…,
As regards…,
11. However, / Yet, yet, + clause On the contrary/ in contrast, +clause
Contrasting That’s said, Although/ though/ even though + On the other hand, + clause
Mind you, clause, + clause Nevertheless, + clause
At the same time, In spite of/ Despite + noun/ gerund/ However,
On the contrary/ on the other hand/ pronoun
Conversely: I’m busy this week, next week, on the contrary,I have e.g.
much less work to do. She was never late, even though she
Looking at it from another point of view,… lived far.
Shame was never late, in spite of living
so far.

In spite of + the fact that + clause

In spite of the fact that she lived so far,
she was never late
12.Comparing … the same as…. I suppose it’s strikingly/ distinctly
He’s the spitting image of his father different
They are so /pretty much alike It’s slightly/rather/ subtly different
They have a lot in common It’s quite/fairly/ pretty/ really similar to
….as….as… … is identical to…
… is different from… because/ in that… Whereas/ while: He’s a sensible boy,
They’re world’s apart/ they’re poles apart/ they’re like chalk and whereas his brother’s let down his
cheese= very different parents.
…is a far cry from…/ …. Is in a different league from… = very Similarly/ likewise: I love Chinese food,
different likewise I’m really into Vietnamese food
They’re far/way better than… as well.
13. It’s a well-known fact that…
Storytelling We all know that…
First, / Initially/ At the beginning
Then/ after that/ afterwards/ Subsequently/ next…
A little while later,…
Just at that moment….
By the time…
The following day/ morning…
By chance/ Coincidentally,….
By sheer luck/ Luckily/ fortunately,…
Amazingly,…
Unfortunately,…
Accidentally,…
To my amazement/ lunch/ delight/ happiness/surprise/ shock/
horror/ relief
As soon as …./ when
While…
During…
Eventually,…
14.Linkers of owing to/due to/because of+ noun or
reason: gerund, + clause;
since/as+clause, + clause;
If=as long as/ providing that
When= as soon as
Unless = if not
15.Linkers of in order to+ verb,
purpose so that+ Subject + could/ would ,
for+ noun or gerund
16.Linkers of So, therefore,/as a result,/ hence, consequently,
result: that’s why for this reason thus,
17. In a nutshell, Taking all arguments mentioned above into
Concluding Anyway, account, Considering aforementioned
Overall, arguments,..
All in all, All arguments considered, …
At the end of the day, In conclusion,
To sum up,
To conclude,
To summarise,…