Simple Linking Words

• for example

• for instance

• in addition / in addition to: can be used to start a sentence

• as well as: can be used at the beginning or the middle of a sentence (e.g. as well as the costs, we are concerned by the competition / we are interested in costs as well as the competition

• also: used to add extra idea or emphasis (e.g.we also spoke about marketing / we are concerned not only by the costs, but also by the competition )

• too: at the end of a sentence or afther the subject (e.g. they were concerned too / I, too, was concerned)

• furthermore: adds extra information to the point you are making (e.g. moreover, they tell us about the competition)

• moreover: adds extra information to the point you are making (see example above)

• apart from: means the same as ‘as well as’ (e.g. apart from Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacture)

• besides: means the same as ‘as well as’ (e.g. besides Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer)

  
  

normally used at the beginning of the sentence

• in short:

• in brief:

• in summary:

• to summarise:

• in a nutshell

• to conclude

• in conclusion:

• the former, … the latter: refer to one of two points

• firstly … , secondly … , finally … : list of ideas

• the first point is

• lastly

• the following: good way of starting a list (e.g. the following people have been chosen to go on the training course: Peter, Jones and Owen

• due to / due to the fact that: must be followed by a noun (e.g. due to the rise in oil prices, … )

• owing to / owing to the fact that: must be followed by a noun (e.g. owing to the demand, …)

• because: can be used at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence (e.g. because it was raining, …)

• because of: followed by a noun (e.g. because of bad weather, …)

• since: means ‘because’ (e.g. since the company is expanding, …)

• as: means ‘because’ (e.g. as the company is expanding, …

• therefore

• consequently

• this means that

• as a result

—> are used in a similar way

• so: more informal way of giving a result

• however: normally used at the beginning ofa sentence (e.g. he works hard. Howeber, he doesn’t earn much)

• although / even tough: introduces an idea of contrast, to halves of a sentence (e.g. altough it was cold, she went out in shorts)

• despite / despite the fact that: introduces an idea of contrast, to halves of a sentence, despite must be followed by a noun

• in spite of / in spite of the fact that: introduces an idea of contrast, to halves of a sentence, in spite must be followed by a noun

• nevertheless: means in spite of that / anyway (e.g. the sea was cold, but he went swimming nevertheless)

• nonetheless: means in spite of that / anyway (e.g. the company is doing well. Nonetheless, they aren’t going to expand this year

• while: shows, how two things are different from each other (e.g.whie my sister has blue eyes, mine are brown)

• whereas: shows, how two things are different from each other (e.g. taxes have gone up, whereas social security contributions have gone down)

• unlike: shows, how two things are different from each other (e.g. unlike in the UK, the USA has cheap petrol)

• in theory / in practice: shows an unexpected result

• in a list you put a comma between each item but not before and

• no ‘swiss’ comma rules

• put a comma if there is a sentence in another sentence