Linking Words

 Sentence Adverbials
Sentence adverbials are used to link ideas from one sentence to the next and to give paragraphs coherence. They frequently
appear at the beginning of a sentence, and are followed by a comma. Many of them, however, can be used in other
positions. These are suggestions for guidance only, not a set of rules.
1. Beginning of a sentence followed by a comma.
After a while, John went home.
2. Mid position (before verb), no comma.
John eventually went home.
3. Mid position, between two commas.
John, in the end, went home.
4. End position.
John went home eventually.
*Not followed by a comma when used in position 1.

TIME Of course (1, 3) GIVING EXAMPLES; FOCUSING

After a while On the contrary For example (1, 3, 4)
After that On the one hand For instance (1, 3, 4)
Afterwards (1, 2, 4) On the other hand (1, 3) In fact
At first / last (1, 2, 4) Similarly (1, 2) In particular (1, 2, 3)
At the moment Still Particularly (1, 2)
At the same time Though (3) Principally (1, 2)
Before that Unlike Specifically (1, 2)
By then / that time (1, 3, 4) While/Whereas Such as
Earlier (1, 4)
ORDERING POINTS; REFORMULATING;
Eventually* (1, 2, 4)
Finally* (1, 2) ADDING INFO CLARIFYING
Also Actually (1, 4)
First*
And* (INF) I mean (INF)
Immediately (1, 2, 4)
As we shall see later In other words (1, 4)
In the end (1, 3, 4)
Besides That is (to say)
In the meantime (1, 3, 4)
First(ly) / Second(ly) etc. To put in another way
Lastly
First of all
Meanwhile CHANGING SUBJECT
Finally
Next* As far as… is concerned
Furthermore (F)
Now* As for…
In addition
Previously (1, 2, 4) As regards
In the first place (F)
Since then (1, 3, 4) Now for…
Last(ly)
Soon (1, 2, 4) Speaking of…
More / most importantly
Suddenly (1, 2) Talking about… (INF)
Moreover (F)
Then*
Next
CAUSE & EFFECT;
Until then (1, 3, 4)
REASON & RESULT
CONCLUDING, SUMMARIZING;
COMPARING & CONTRASTING As a result
At the same time GENERALIZING
Because of this
All in all
At the same time Consequently (F)
Altogether
Both Due to
Basically (1, 2)
But* Hence
Generally (1, 2)
Despite For this / that reason
In brief (1, 3)
Even though In that case
In conclusion (1, 3)
However (1, 3) Otherwise
In general (1, 3)
In contrast Since
In other words (1, 3)
In spite of So* (INF)
In short (1, 3)
In the same way That’s why*
So* (INF)
Instead (1, 4) Then* (1, 3)
Then (3)
Likewise Therefore* (F)
To sum up
Nevertheless (F) Thus