Linking Words

166

Transitions, Transitional words, Cohesive markers, Signal words, Conjunctions, Connectives, Connectors
Comparative tools, D iscourse markers, Correlative conjunctions, Coordinating conjunctions,
Subordinating conjunctions , Organising words, Linking words, Linking devices,
Linking expressions, Signposting phrases
The following may have more than one function

Comparison
Similarly Similar to Simi lar manner (to) mirror
Just as (Just) li ke (t o) be a like Likewise
Almost the same as The same as In the same way (to) have in common
As if I n relation to Correspondingly as ( adj / adv} as
Identical(ly) Equal Equivalent to (to) resemble

Contrast & Concession

However/ But Notwithstanding Still Although
(Even) though Despite/ In spite of Despite the fact that Whereas
Having sa id t hat Paradoxically While On the other hand
On the contrary I n (sharp) contrast To compare to/ with In comparison to
Conversely Otherwise Alternatively Unlike
To differ from Yet Nonetheless/ Nevertheless After all
Apart from On (the) one hand In practice In theory

Comment & Attitude & Manner & State

Fortunately Unfortunately Incidenta lly Normally

Typically Interestingly Surprisingly Astonishingly

Idea lly Obviously Accidentally Frankly

Persona lly Clearl y Honestly Seriously

Predictably Strongly Theoretically Understandably

Confidentially Simply Miraculously Officially

Bitterly Exactly Precisely Reasonably

Fascinatingly Sensibly Rationally Realistically

Accurately Practically Logically Attractively

Amazingly Exceptionally Justifiably Hypothetically

' Addition & Sequence • ~

First and foremost To start with Moreover Besides

First and most importantly Initially And now More importantly

In addition In the first place Beforehand Not only ... but also

For one thing Furthermore Next earlier The former

One more point As well as The f irst feature Subsequently

The first point Additionally Then Afterwards

First ( ly)/ Second (ly) ... Most significantly What is more Last but not least
First of all After that Above all Ultimately
To begin with The latter Also Lastly/Finally

~ -
- - ~
Cause -·
For Because Since As
Because of/ Owing to Due to That's why In light of
For this reason In the v iew of For t he sake of By/ In virtue of
Hence For the reason that In view of the fact On account of
Linking Words
167

Degree & Extent& Intensity a. Emphasis

Moderately Pretty Quite Relatively
Rather Wholly Somewhat Up to a point
Too Almost Practically Completely
To some extent Significantly Partially Thoroughly
To a limited extent Exceedingly Grossly Notably
To some degree Dramatically Considerably Immeasurably
To a great extent Adequately Enough Partly
To a certain extent Excessively Mainly Mostly
Extremely Approximately Roughly Truthfully
Greatly Enormously Highly Noticeably
Really Terrifically Truly Unusua lly
Immensely Tremendously Entirely Markedly
Barely Profoundly Virtually Hugely
Pretty much Fantastically Amazingly Outstandingly
Astoundingly Absolutely Undeniably Unquestionably
Admittedly Indeed In fact Particularly
Primarily Incredibly Naturally More or less
Genuinely Increasingly Entirely Strongly
Evidently Specifica lly In particular Undeniably
Indubitably Definitely Certainly Utterly
Remarkably Undoubtedly Awfully Terribly
Eminently Severely Intensely Acutely
Eternally Perennially Sufficiently Fully
Massively Sharply Tota lly Harshly
Vastly Extraordinarily Exceptionally Dazzlingly
Around Irrefutably Distinctly Incalculably

~
,. .. c- Result
-
So As a result As a consequence of Consequently
Therefore Thus Accordingly For this reason

Altematlve - .,_ '

Or Either ...or Whether ... or... Instead
Instead of Rather than Alternatively Interchangeably

·- Condition
If Even if If so If not
Provided that Providing On condition that Depending on
It (all) depends on Unless Otherwise As long as

_,_ Clarlftcatlon ,.,.l' rJ ,l

I mean ... To put it another way... It implies ... It Indicates ...

I am referring to ... That means... l.e It suggests ... In other words
To clarify this issue ... What I mean is... On doser examination, we find ... What I am trying to say is...

The clearest indication of ... This clearly proves that... To be exact More precisely
As a matter of fact ... To be more precise In fact ... In short ...
Let's put it this way... To elaborate on this issue To be more specific To be more precise
168 Li nking Words

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Example
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For example/ instance The best example that I can think of.. . To exemplify ... The re are certain situations in which...

A standard example ...
All cases concerning ...
An example to illustrate th is point...
lncluding .../Such as ...
This point is aptly Illustrated by...
A telling example of the inherent
danger of...
I n this case .. ./ In case of In another case ... Take the case of...
To clarify this point ... A perfect/ prime/striking example... In particular/Particularly...
An illustration of this ... A case in point ... Chiefly/Notably
A good example of this .. ... is a clear indication that... A classic example...
On e exampfe that springs to m y mind... A typical example ... ... epitomised by ...
As a model/ sample ... A clear example... In the example mentioned above...

Time & Frequency

As soon as Just as Meanwhile While

When Immediately Lately Recently

Now During Since For

Shortly before long before Shortly after Soon after

long after In the ( near) future As long as These days

Nowadays At present At the same time At the moment

Until very recently Until After before

By t he time Ever since Since then Later

Whenever So far Simultaneously Eventually

At last Grad ually little by little Bit by bit

Hardly ever Regularly Norma lly Soon

In no time Later Constantly Over and over

Currently All the t ime Most of the time Now and then

Now and again Just now In the course of time Sooner or later

In due course Prior to Always Occasiona lly

From time to time At times Sometimes Once in a while

Pretty often Pretty frequently Seldom Almost never

Scarcely Almost always Every now and then Periodically

At (regular) Intervals Commonly All t he time On and off

(Every) now and then Continuou sly Intermittently Henceforth

Predominately On a regu lar basis On a daily basis On occasion(s)

Once in a while As usua l Every day/week Every other day/week

In the meantime For the meantime I n the meanwhile For the meanwhile

7' ~

+'c Certainty & Probablllty

'
Definitely Certainly Undoubtedly (Most) probably

Maybe Perhaps (Immediate) prospect Supposedly

Hardly likely Unlikely Possibly Seemingly

Apparently Highly unlikely Presumably Qu ite probable

Evidently There is a 90% probability ... Conceivably Ostensibly

A strong probability ... In all probability ... Highly probable Pretty sure

Almost certainly Categorica lly Improbably Outwardly

Unimaginably In all likelihood Unexpect edly Without/beyond doubt