Sentence Connectors are a great way of improving your English. Why? Because we use them to express relationships between ideas and to combine sentences.
When we begin learning a language, we speak in very basic sentences, a bit like children.
Example: “London is a very exciting city. London is very expensive.”
As we learn more words and more complex sentence structure, we are able to start using sentence connectors to make more sophisticated sentences.
Example: “London is a very exciting city; nevertheless it is also very expensive” or
“Despite the fact that London is very expensive, it is also very exciting”
There are various types of connectors. We can divide them into:
Coordinating Conjunctions
They connect words, phrases and clauses. They are usually found in the middle of a sentence with a comma (,) just before the conjuction, or at the beginning of the sentence.
Coordinating Conjunctions:
for and nor but or yet so (remember FANBOYS) |
.
Correlative Conjunctions
They connect equal sentence elements together (like two nouns) and are always composed by two words.
Correlative Conjunctions:
both…and not only…but also not…but either…or neither…nor whether…or as…as |
.
Subordinating Conjunctions
They connect a dependent clause and an independent clause and establish a relationship between them. They happen at the beginning of a sentence (with a comma in the middle separating the clauses) or in the middle of a sentence with no comma.
Subordinating Conjunctions:
after | if | though | although |
if only | till | as | in order that |
unless | as if | now that | until |
as long as | once | when | as though |
rather than | whenever | because | since |
where | before | so that | whereas |
even if | than | wherever | even though |
that | that | while |
.
Linking Adverbs and Transition Words
They connect two independent clauses or sentences. They provide transition between ideas.
Linking Adverbs and Transition Words:
accordingly | however | nonetheless | also |
indeed | otherwise | besides | instead |
similarly | consequently | likewise | still |
conversely | meanwhile | subsequently | finally |
moreover | then | furthermore | nevertheless |
therefore | hence | next | thus |
Addition
Alternative
Cause-Effect
Comparison
Condition
Contrast
Emphasis
Place
Time
We will explain each of these 4 types of sentence connectors in depth with examples over the next couple of days. They will teach you how to introduce, order, contrast, sequence and connect ideas within a sentence.
Remember to start using them; it will greatly increase your conversation skills and you will feel more confident talking to a native speaker.
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