CONNECTORS AND MODIFIERS

1-Appearance and Reality

At first sight A primera vista

Apparently
Really En realidad
Actually
In fact
As a matter of fact
The fact of the matter is that… En realidad
In practice En la práctica
In theory
In principle En teoría
Indeed En efecto, realmente, efectivamente, verdaderamente, de hecho

2- Developing and argument Sequence

In the first place

to begin with
to start with
First of all
For one thing Para empezar, en primer lugar

Secondly
In the second place En segundo lugar

As well Además
Apart from that
Also
Besides
Furthermore
In addition to that
moreover
What’s more Además, también, y lo que es más

Both… and Tanto… como

Not only… but also No sólo… sino también

Finally
Lastly Por último
In the last resort
Above all Pero sobretodo
1
In conclusion Resumiendo
To sum up
All in all
In brief
In short
In a word Resumiendo, en resumen

Giving examples
For example
For instance
Like
Such as

Contrast
Although Aunque
Though + indicativo even though I have aunque tengo…
Even though Aunque, si bien, aun cuando
Yet y sin embargo, con todo
Even if Aunque + (subjuntivo)+ even if I had aunque yo tuviera/even if I had seen aunque yo hubiera
visto, even if I have aunque tenga

In spite of
Despite + gerund/noun A pesar de
In spite of /despite the fact that + subject + verb + complement

But
still sin embargo
Whereas
while mientras que
Notwithstanding no obstante, dejando a un lado
On the other hand Por otra parte

Notice: On the contrary means que va, mentira

However Sin embargo

Nevertheless
All the same
After all Sin embargo

2
Cause and effect

Because of Por, debido a, por culpa de

Owing to
Due to + noun Por, debido a, por culpa de

Therefore Asi que, por lo tanto

Thus
So Así que, por lo tanto
For this reason
For these reasons
For one reason or another
As a result
Consequently
In consequence
Due to the fact that En consecuencia, debido a que, por esta razón

Expressing personal opinion

In my opinion
In my view
From my point of view
As I see it En mi opinión,
To my mind
Personally en mi opinión, personalmente
As far as I’m concerned
For my part Por lo que a mí respecta, personalmente

Modifying what is said or written

In general En general, en términos generales, a grosso modo
As a rule
As a general rule
On the whole
In the main
For the most part
Generally speaking a grosso modo, en términos generales

To some extend Hasta cierto punto

To a certain extend
Up to a point
In a way
In a sense Hasta cierto punto

As far as I know
For all I know Que yo sepa

According to
By all accounts Según
3
Referring to someone or something

As regards Por lo que respecta a, por lo que se refiere a

With regard to
In this connection
As far as Peter is concerned
As for
As for Jones Por lo que respecta a, por lo que se refiere a

Pausing for thought

You know
You see
Let me see Veamos, como sabes

I mean to say
That is to say Quiero decir, mejor dicho
Or rather mejor dicho
In other words
To put it in another way en otras palabras, mejor dicho

Miscellaneous

For the time being De momento

Any moment now en cualquier momento
By now Ya
From now on De ahora en adelante
By the time Para cuando
Up to now Hasta ahora
By then Para entonces
Meanwhile mientras tanto
So far hasta ahora
At this rate A este paso
By far con mucho, sin lugar a dudas
In this way De este modo
On purpose a propósito, adrede
That’s the reason why Esa es la razón, el motivo por el/la cual
To some extent Hasta cierta punto
The point is that El asunto, la cosa es que
The truth is that La verdad es que
There’s no point in + ing No tiene sentido + infinitive

4
Language help
Telling a story
It all began when…
First
Meanwhile
In the meantime
All of a sudden
Suddenly
Shortly after
A few minutes later
It was a … experience
I’ve never been so …

Writing a review
It begins with…
It takes place in…
Overall, it’s…
It’s definitely (not) worth…
I really enjoyed it because of the…

Writing a for and against essay

On the one hand,
On the other hand,
On the whole, I’m in favour/against of…
It is true that…

Writing a narrative
It all began when…
It was a cold day…
Before I knew it…
Suddenly
When, while, before, after, as soon as,
By the time, until, during, all night, a week later
First, at first
In the beginning, to begin with
Next, later
Finally
5
At last (por fin)
At the beginning of… at the end of… (book, street…)

Writing an opinion essay

I think that…
I believe that…
In my opinion …
I love, can`t stand, don’t mind …
As for him, (en cuanto a él…)
As far as I’m concerned… (por lo que a mí se refiere…)
Personally, …
In conclusion,
To sum up,
In short,

Writing a description of a person

He’s very/quite…
She can be…
He’s the kind of person who…
The best thing about him/her is …
Quiet, outgoing , extrovert , introvert , shy , kind , wicked (malvado) , has (no) sense of
humour , funny (extraño) , pleasant, boring , intriguing/intriguing/(enigmático, interesante),
fascinating, (im)patient

Plan:
Opening: Name of the person and your relationship to them

Body: Include details about the person physical appearance, talents, interest, activities…

Conclusion: general opinion