Linking devices:

In your essay, you should make sure that you organise your ideas clearly by using a
variety of linking words and phrases, which will help improve your score for
Cohesion and Coherence.

1. Contrasting:
- Clause 1, but clause 2.
OR Although/Though/ Even though clause 1, clause 2.
Eg: The number of students in class A increased dramatically to 70, but that of class
declined by 50 over the period.

- Clause 1. However/In contrast/ Nevertheless/ On the contrary/ On the other

hand/ Conversely, clause 2.
OR Clause 1; however/ in contrast/ nevertheless/ on the contrary/ on the other
hand/ conversely, clause 2.
Eg: The number of students in class A increased dramatically to 70. On the contrary, the
figure for class B declined by 50 over the period.

- In spite of/ Despite + noun phrase, clause.

Eg: In spite of a considerable increase, the number of students in class A remained the
lowest position over the period.

2. Comparison:
- Clause 1, while/whereas clause 2.
Eg: Over 450,000 people came to live in the UK, while/ whereas the number of people
who emigrated stood at just under 300,000.

- While clause 1, clause 2.

Eg: While over 450,000 people came to live in the UK, the number of people who
emigrated stood at just under 300,000.

- Clause 1. Meanwhile/ In the interim/ In the meantime, clause 2.

Eg: Over 450,000 people came to live in the UK. Meanwhile, the number of people who
emigrated stood at just under 300,000.

3. Similarity:
- Clause 1. Similarly/ Likewise, clause 2.
Eg: The number of students in class A increased significantlly to 50 over the last two
decades. Similarly, there was a rise to 63 in the figure for class B.
 4. Sequencing:
- Firstly/ First of all/ Initially, clause.
- After that/ Following that/ Subsequently, clause.
- Clause 1, followed by/ prior to/ before + noun phrase.
Eg: In the first two years, the percentage of renewable energy consumed in France
decreased minimally to 15%, followed by a surge of 30% in 2011.

Practice 1: Fill in the blanks with a suitable linking device.

1. acid rain gases from the domestic sector and other industries fell
gradually, the transport sector saw a small increase in emissions, reaching a peak
of 1 million tonnes in 2005.
2. Carbohydrates make up 60% of the healthy diet for sport. This is 10% higher than
the proportion of carbohydrates in a normal healthy diet, and 20% more than the
proportion in an average diet. , people who eat an average diet
consume a greater relative amount of protein (40%) than those who eat a healthy
diet (30%) and sportspeople (25%).
3. Fat constitutes exactly one fifth of both the average diet and the healthy diet,
the figure drops to only 15% for the healthy sports diet.
4. outer London had the second highest number of cycling commuters
in each year, the percentage change, at only 45%, was the lowest of the twelve
areas shown in the table.
5. Donated food provided most of the revenue for the charity, at 86%. _ ,
with regard to expenditures, one category, program services, accounted for nearly
all of the outgoings, at 95.8%.
6. To begin, the proportion in voluntary-controlled schools fell from just over half to
only 20% or one fifth from 2000 to 2009. , the relative number of
children in grammar schools -- just under one quarter -- dropped by half in the
same period.
7. The next most popular country for Britons to move to was Spain, its
popularity declined over the time frame to finish at below 30,000 in 2007.
this, the figure was still higher than for the remaining three countries.
8. expenditure on food increased slightly the following month, it
then fell to account for the lowest expenditure of all the items at the end of the
period at just over $300.
9. Clothing, which at just over $200 accounted for the lowest expenditure at the
beginning of the period, fluctuated dramatically over the time frame.
reaching around the same levels as food in February (nearly $600), it dropped
markedly in March, then jumped to just under $700 in the final month.
10. The consumption of margarine began lower than that for butter at 90 grams.
, in 1991, it exceeded that of butter for the first time, but after
 1996 there was a steady downward trend in the amount consumed, which
seemed set to continue.
11. By the ages of 26 to 30, males and females spend the same amount of time
online with 4 hours each, which females reportedly spend slightly longer
online than males for the remaining two categories, falling to only 3 hours
for men and 4 hours for women for those aged 51 or older.
12. The UK and Germany share an equal 7 hours a day on relaxing or other pursuits,
_ Japanese schoolchildren have only 4 hours.
13. The figures for children were much lower to begin (10%), a
relative surge to 14% the next year. Percentages then fluctuated around 14%
and finished at a peak of 15% by the end of the period.
14. Vacuum cleaners started higher at 30% and then rose by precisely 20% every
20 years until 1960 when growth tapered and ownership ultimately reached
100% by 1980. , proportions for washing machines began at 40%,
climbed to 70% by 1960, then fell slightly, and recovered to finish the period
at just above 70%.
15. It is readily apparent that the USA imported by far the least _ a small
upwards trend, while Japan (in decline) imported the most.
16. Actual demand also decreased, _ it fluctuated between 2 and
3,000 tonnes through September, plummeting to 0 in November and
recovering to 2,000 in December.
17. Country D, 60% of young people studied higher education in 2000, _
a slight uptick to 65% in 2005 and a final upswing to 80%. ,
country B had far lower levels at 40% in both 2000 and 2010, with a small
dip in between to just under 40%.
18. Looking first of all at quantity of visits, there were 24,715,000 million
travellers to the UK in 2003 and this figure climbed steadily by around 2 to 3
million each year until 2006 when it plateaued at about 32 million before
receding slightly to 31.8 million to finish the time surveyed. _ , average
spending in billions of pounds rose sharply from 11.855 to a 16.002 in 2006,
then leveled off and,
, rebounded marginally to finish the period at 16.323.
19. The amount of cheese eaten by people from the USA climbed steadily from
about 7 pounds in 1970 to reach a peak of over 20 pounds in 2010.
the consumption of yogurt increased from just over 0 to nearly 10 pounds in
the final year.
20. With regards to tennis, the figure for boys who played that sport was 50 as
opposed to just under 40 for girls. , more boys cycled than girls
(approximately 35 and 20 respectively).