Conjunctions

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that are used within sentences to join clauses or parts of a sentence together.
Conjunctions
Word
Functions Words Example Sentences
Adding
information
and




or The writer has used techniques such as informal language and personal anecdotes in order to persuade the reader.
The writing would be more suitable for this context if it used either an academic writing style or more technical examples.

Contrasting
information
but

yet



although


even though



while



whereas


despite The writer used a formal academic style but also included personal anecdotes in order to persuade the reader.
The writer used informal language yet a more formal style is required in this context.
The writer included personal anecdotes although examples of a more technical nature would have been more appropriate.
The writer uses an informal style even though this technique is unsuitable for the academic context.
The writer included personal anecdotes while examples of a more technical nature would have been more appropriate.
The writer used informal language whereas more formal language is required in this context.
The writer included personal anecdotes despite the traditional conventions of academic writing disallowing this technique.





Comparing

information and


like


as


both...and Sensory memory and working memory have a limit upon the duration they can maintain stimuli.
Sensory memory, like working memory, has a limit upon the duration it can maintain stimuli.
Sensory memory, as is the case with working memory, has a limit upon the duration it can maintain stimuli.
Both sensory memory and working memory have a limit upon the duration they can maintain stimuli.
Ordering
information
by time
after


before


since


when Students were expected to hand in typed assignments after many computers became available on campus.
Few students typed their assignments before computers became available on campus.
The number of typed assignments has increased dramatically since many computers became available on campus.
Students were expected to hand in typed assignments when many computers became available on campus.
Causation/
reasoning because


as


since


now that


for The conclusion is flawed because the survey failed to use a random sampling technique.
The conclusion is flawed as the survey failed to use a random sampling technique.
The conclusion is flawed since the survey failed to use a random sampling technique.
The conclusion must be rejected now that it has been revealed random sampling was not followed.
The conclusion must be rejected for it has been revealed that random sampling was not followed.

Conditional if



unless



in case


provided that The conclusion must be rejected if random sampling techniques were not used in the administration of the survey.
The conclusion will be accepted unless the administration of the survey was flawed.
The team is ready to administer another survey in case the results of the first were flawed.
The conclusion will be accepted provided that the administration of the survey was not flawed.
Exemplifying
information such as




for example The writer has used techniques such as informal language and personal anecdotes in order to persuade the reader.
The team can administer several surveys simultaneously; for example intelligence and aptitude tests are usually done together.
*This list is not exhaustive - but it should give a few ideas about conjunction words you can use.
================= xxx ===================
Transition signals
Transition signals are used to join sentences, idea groups and paragraphs together.

Transition signals
Word
Functions Words Example Sentences
Adding
information

in addition




moreover




furthermore



besides


in fact



also The authors are critical of the illusions many organisations have of teamwork. In addition, they suggest that there are some common misunderstandings about 'how' teams actually work.
The authors are critical of the illusions many organisations have of teamwork. Moreover, these illusions lead to the use of teams in situations that fail to utilise their potential.
The authors are critical of the illusions many organisations have of teamwork. Furthermore, they suggest that these illusions are costing businesses large losses in productivity.
The author makes some insightful translations, besides capturing the poetic tone of the original piece.
Long term memory stores vast quantities of information; in fact it is regarded as the source of our intellectual prowess.
The author's translation is insightful, also capturing the poetic tone of the original piece.

Contrasting
information
on the other hand

in contrast



nevertheless


however




on the contrary


despite




by
comparison The author's translation is insightful; on the other hand it fails to capture the poetic tone of the original piece.
Long term memory stores vast quantities of information; in contrast the storage capacity of working memory is much more limited.
The author's translation is insightful; nevertheless the piece sounds at its most poetic in the original Spanish.
Long term memory has a vast storage capacity; however the storage capacity of working memory is more limited.
Smith is critical of the overuse of teamwork in large organisations. On the contrary, Ferguson suggests productivity would be improved if they were further utilised.
The Reserve Bank's long term view of economic activity is grim despite the current healthy outlook of many economic indicators.
The dramatic staging of the play enhanced the suspense of the piece; by comparison the original version was much less sinister.
Comparing
information
similarly



also The Reserve Bank's long term view of economic activity is grim. Similarly many economic indicators forecast a drop in current activity.
The author has made an insightful translation. Also, she has captured the poetic tone of the original piece.

Ordering
information
by time
after that



before that


then


at first


since then


firstly
secondly


next
lastly



eventually



gradually


finally Trade opened between Japan and Europe; after that artists were exposed to Asian culture for the first time.
Trade opened between Japan and Europe. Before that artists had had little exposure to Asian culture.
Trade opened between Japan and Europe; then the art world began to acknowledge this new partnership.
Trade opened between Japan and Europe. At first, the art world did little to acknowledge this new partnership.
Trade opened between Japan and Europe; since then, the art world has done much to acknowledge this new partnership.
Firstly, trade opened between Japan and Europe; secondly, trade between China and Japan resumed.
Trade opened between Japan and Europe. Next, trade between China and Japan resumed; lastly, Japan sought to dismantle trade embargoes with the United States.
After the trade embargoes were abolished, eventually both parties realised the benefits of a trade partnership.
After the trade embargoes were abolished, gradually trade between Japan and Europe increased.
After the trade embargoes were abolished, finally both parties could capitalise upon their trade partnership.


Result/
causation
as a result


as a consequence


consequently


therefore


thus


hence


accordingly Smith fails to provide evidence for her argument: as a result this text is flawed.
The subjects were not randomly distributed to groups; as a consequence the conclusion they have drawn is flawed.
No control group was included in the experiment: consequently, the conclusion they have drawn is invalid.
Smith fails to provide evidence for her argument; therefore, it is hardly convincing.
No control group was included in the experiment; thus, the conclusion drawn is rather ambiguous.
Smith fails to provide evidence for her argument; hence, her opinion has been widely criticised.
The subjects were not randomly distributed to groups. Accordingly, the implications of the conclusion are limited.
Conditional
otherwise

indeed Smith tends to use emotive language, otherwise, her case is well argued.
Smith tends to use emotive language, indeed, this makes her case highly persuasive.
Concluding in conclusion


in summary


finally In conclusion, teamwork has increasingly become the business strategy of the nineties.
In summary, the dietary needs of patients are important and should be the domain for trained nurses.
Finally, each of the memory systems operates in tandem to allow learning and cognition to occur.









Exemplifying
information

for example


for instance There are a number of users of this type of accounting information; for example, trade unions and their members.
The chef required many ingredients to prepare her banquet; for instance, fresh herbs and many types of mushrooms.

*This list is not exhaustive - but it should give a few ideas about transition words you can use.
Transition Signal is a term also used to describe sentences that act as a transition from one paragraph to another.























Logical flow between paragraphs
Sentences or phrases at the beginning or end of paragraphs act as TRANSITIONS to connect one paragraph to the next. Often the final sentence of a paragraph will create a link or transition into the next paragraph. The creation of links between paragraphs means that the flow of information across the whole text is smoother.
Look at the example below:
Concluding the issue discussed in the paragraph

Transition statement leading into next paragraph


Repetition of key words in this paragraph continues the transition between paragraphs. What is required is an inclusive agenda for public discussion upon technological futures, and open debates about the costs, and benefits of technological change. If the public is to be interested in such issues then the concept of public interest requires more than lip service. The slippery redefinition of the public interest which states that what is good for the market is good for us all could prove, in the long run, to mark the end of Australia as a democratic information society.

A democracy needs to be informed, and to have a right to information. It also requires extensive public debate and widespread participation in decision-making. These are policies that should overarch narrow definitions of politics.......
Look at another example
The company completely upgraded their computer systems...
(This paragraph goes on to detail these changes) ...
As a consequence of this upgrading, the efficiency...
(This paragraph goes on to detail these consequences)...
As you can see from both of these examples, drawing out the common themes of the information being presented or highlighting the logical sequence of the information helps to create a logical flow of information across the whole text.



The President,
Indus Institute of Higher Education,
Karachi

Sub: Resignation

Dear Sir,

I would like to invite your kind attention on the subject noted above and submit that on account of my personal engagements I will not be able to continue to serve IIHE.

I apologize for inconvenience this may have caused and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any service to you.

Sincerely,

Aseem Rizvi




Transitions help readers connect the ideas in a piece of writing; they're the glue that shows how pieces of your text fit together. Often all you'll need is a word or phrase to lead readers through your text.
Cues that
lead forward
lead through a sequence
lead through cause and effect relationships

compare and contrast
clarify or emphasize
lead to concessions, reservations, dismissals, or conditions.

lead to conclusions


Cues that lead readers forward from information they've already read to new information.
• To move readers into additional information or further development of your ideas.
Old
Information Transition New
Information
ADDITION
Actually, Further,
Additionally, Furthermore,
Again, Incidentally,
Also, Indeed,
And In fact,
Besides Lastly,
Equally important, Moreover,
Finally, Not only this, but this as well
First, Second, Third, etc. What's more,

• To move readers into specific examples
Generalization Transition Examples
EXAMPLES
As an illustration, Namely,
Especially, Notably,
For example, Particularly,
For instance, Specifically,
Including To demonstrate,
In particular, To illustrate,

Cues that lead readers through a sequence
• To move readers from one time-frame to another
One
time Transition Another
time
TIME
After a few hours, Immediately following,
Afterwards, Initially,
At last In the end,
At the same time, In the future,
Before In the meantime,
Before this, In the meanwhile,
Currently, Last, Last but not least, Lastly,
During Later,
Eventually, Meanwhile,
Finally, Next, Soon after,
First, Second, Third, etc. Previously,
First of all, Simultaneously,
Formerly Subsequently,
Immediately before, Then,
• To draw readers' attention to a particular location or place
One place Transition Another place
PLACE
Adjacent, In the background,
Alongside, In the distance,
At the side, In the front,
Here/There In the foreground
In the back, Nearby,
• To let readers know that a digression is about to begin or end
Digression Transition

back to Main point

Main point Transition

begin Digression

DIGRESSION/RESUMPTION
Anyhow, Incidentally,
Anyway, To change the subject,
As I was saying, To get back to the point,
At any rate, To return to the subject,
By the way, To resume,

Cues that draw readers' attention to cause and effect relationships
• To emphasize a cause or reason
An effect Transition

move in to Cause/Reason

CAUSE/REASON
As Because
Because of Due to
For For the simple reason that
Since
• To stress a result or an effect
Cause/Reason Transition

move in to An effect

EFFECT/RESULT
As a result So
Because of this, So that
For this reason, Therefore,
Consequently, Thus,
• To clarify the purpose of something
Something Transition

move in to Its purpose

PURPOSE
For fear that So
In the hope that So that
In order to With this in mind,

Cues that make readers stop and compare what they've just read to what they're about to read
Just read Transition

equal or not equal About to read

COMPARISON/CONTRAST
Although/Although this is true Meanwhile,
And yet Nevertheless,
At the same time, Nonetheless,
But Nothwithstanding,
Conversely, On the contrary,
For all that, On the other hand,
In comparison, Similarly,
In contrast, Still,
In the same manner/way, While this is true
However, When in fact
Likewise, Whereas

Cues that lead readers into statements that clarify or emphasize
• To clarify a point that readers have just read
Point just read Transition

meaning Clarification

CLARIFICATION
In other words, That is to say
In this case, Under certain circumstances
I mean Up to a point
Put another way
• To emphasize a point that readers are about to read
Point just read Transition

!!!! Emphatic point

EMPHASIS
As a matter of fact, In fact,
In any case, Obviously,
In any event, That is
Indeed, Undoubtedly,

Cues that lead readers into concessions, reservations, dismissals, or conditions
• To concede a point that readers are likely to think of
Point just read Transition

but maybe Concession

CONCLUSION
Accordingly, In short,
As a result, In summary,
Consequently, On the whole,
Finally, So
Hence, Therefore,
In brief, Thus,
In conclusion, To conclude,
• To clarify for readers the writer's reservations
Point just read Transition

even so Reservation

RESERVATION
Admittedly, Indeed,
As a matter of fact, Nevertheless,
Even so, Notwithstanding,
Even though Regardless
Despite this
• To dismiss a point that readers are likely to think of
Point may be true Transition

BUT Dismissal

DISMISSAL
All the same, In either case,
At any rate, In either event,
Either way, Whatever happens,
In any case/event, Whichever happens,
• To establish a condition or conditions affecting the subject
The subject is true Transition

IF This condition is met

CONDITION
Although Although this is true,
But Even though,
However, In spite of
Nevertheless, Since

Cues that lead readers into a summary or conclusion
• To repeat a point you've already made
A point Transition

= Point stated
differently

REPETITION
As I have noted, In brief,
As indicated above/earlier, In short,
As I stated, In summary,
As mentioned, On the whole,
As noted earlier,
• To summarize what you've already said
Points made Transition

nutshell Summary

SUMMARY
All in all, In summary,
All together, On the whole,
As I mentioned, Overall,
As I stated, Since
Briefly, So
By and large, Summing up,
Finally, Then,
Given these facts, Therefore,
In brief, To conclude,
In conclusion, To put it briefly,
In short, To summarize,
• To introduce readers to a conclusion or conclusions
Points made Transition

the end is coming Conclusion

CONCLUSION
Accordingly, In short,
As a result, In summary,
Consequently, On the whole,
Finally, So
Hence, Therefore,
In brief, Thus,
In conclusion, To conclude,

For additional information on strategies which enable readers to connect the ideas in a piece of writing, see Cohesion.




Cohesion is the glue that holds a piece of writing together. In other words, if a paper is cohesive, it sticks together from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. Cohesive devices certainly include transitional words and phrases, such as therefore, furthermore, or for instance, that clarify for readers the relationships among ideas in a piece of writing. However, transitions aren't enough to make writing cohesive. Repetition of key words and use of reference words are also needed for cohesion.

Cohesion: Using Repetition and Reference Words
to Emphasize Key Ideas in Your Writing

Repetition of Key Words
We can tie sentences or paragraphs together by repeating certain key words from one sentence to the next or from one paragraph to the next. This repetition of key words also helps to emphasize the main idea of a piece of writing.
For example, in the following paragraph, notice how many times the words owned and ownership are repeated:
Nobody owned any part of the land. Sotopo's father owned many cattle, and if the cows continued to produce calves, he might as well become the next chief. Old Grandmother owned the beautifully tanned animal skins she used as coverlets in winter. And Sotopo owned his polished hard-wood assegais. But the land belonged to the spirits who governed life; it existed forever, for everyone, and was apportioned temporarily according to the dictates of the tribal chief and senior headman. Sotopo's father occupied the hillside for the time being, and when he died the older son could inherit the loan -- land, but no person or family every acquired ownership.
From The Covenant by James Michener.
By repeating the words owned and ownership throughout the paragraph, the writer has tied each sentence to each other and has clearly indicated what the main idea of the paragraph is. In this case, the main idea is ownership of something. And what exactly is being (or not being) owned? By repeating the word land, the author shows us that the entire main idea is ownership of land.

Use of Reference Words
Another way of tying sentences and paragraphs together involves using reference words that point back to an idea mentioned previously. Among the many reference words that can be used to tie one sentence to another or one paragraph to another are words like this, these, those, such, and that.
These reference words should not be used by themselves but should be combined with the important words and phrases from previous sentences or paragraphs. In the following paragraphs, we can see how reference words are used not only to tie sentences and paragraphs together, but also to emphasize the main idea.
Writing a paper is often difficult and many times rewarding. First, I don't always know what to write about, so I often need to research, talk to people, and think about what I know before I come up with a strong topic. In addition, writing a paper takes time and energy. Time is needed to select and narrow a topic, to generate information and structure ideas, to knock out draft after draft, and to edit for my usual typos and mechanical errors. Besides the time involved, energy (and lots of food to produce it) is needed so I can produce my best work. Although writing a paper is sometimes difficult, it can be very rewarding. I enjoy seeing words which say exactly what I want them to. l also feel proud when everything "clicks." Finally, knowing that I've done my best work and earned a good grade too are strong personal rewards.
Many words are repeated from one sentence to the next and from one paragraph to the next as well. Can you identify the main ideas of each paragraph based on the words that are often repeated?





Style
Style is your manner of writing
Style is determined by your audience
The genre of the document also shapes
the style and level of formality

Plain Style
Short, commonly used words
Concise, simple sentences
Second-person “you” style
A friendly tone, rather than an
impersonal one
Dominant style in technical prose
Complex Style
Technical vocabulary
Complex or compound-complex
sentence structure
Long sentences describing complex
concept
A distant, more impersonal tone

Eliminate Unnecessary Words
Instead of:
with regard to
by means of
in the event that
until such time
during such time
in respect of
in view of the fact
Use:
about
by
if
until
while
for
because
Eliminate Unnecessary Words
Instead of:
on the part of
subsequent to
under the provisions of
with a view to
it would appear that
it is probable that
Use:
by
after
under
to
apparently
probably

Eliminate Unnecessary Words
Instead of:
notwithstanding the
fact that
adequate number
excessive number of
Use:
although
enough
too many
Choose Words Consistently
Be consistent in what youcall
something. Avoid using two or more
names for the same thing.
Do not be afraid to repeat the same
word or the same idea if it is important.

Some Guidelines for Clear and
Simple Sentences
Don't overload sentences.
Use active sentences.
Keep sentences short and simple (15 to
25 words).
Avoid ambiguity in your sentences.
Emphasize the positive.
Avoid double negatives.
Keep it Short
Readers can only take in so much new
information at one time. Some people
recommend that sentences should average
15 words in length and that no sentence
should be longer than 25 words. This rule is
not hard and fast, however. Readers can
understand longer sentences if they are well
constructed and use familiar terms. A variety
of sentence lengths make your writing most
interesting.