How to link sentences

When writing a comment or an essay, you should always try to connect your sentences in such a way that the readers know in what way the two sentences, or two parts of one sentence, are related to each other. This makes it easier for the readers to follow your train of thought because they are either constantly sent back to what they already know or they are, in advance, given the information on how to understand the sentence they are about to read.

The following list of so-called sentence connectives is divided into groups of meaning.

(a) Enumeration - sự liệt kê

First(ly),…; Second(ly),…; Third(ly),…;

In the first place,…; In the second place,…; In the last place,…;

First of all,…; Second of all,…; Last of all,…/Last, but not least,…;

To start with/To begin with,…; Besides,…/Then,…/In addition,…/Moreover,...; Lastly,…;

Initially,…; Then,…; Next,…; Finally,…;

At the beginning,…; After that,…/Later on,…/Afterwards,…; Eventually,…/In the end,…;

Originally,…/Formerly,…/Previously,…; Subsequently,…/At a later stage,…/In the course

of…; Recently,…/Lately,…; Now,…/Currently,…;

For one thing,…; For another thing,…;

(b) Degrees of importance

(1) High/Higher importance

What is very important is the fact that…; A crucial factor lies in…;

More important is (the fact that)…; Still better seems (that)…;

…; and what is even better/more important,…;

…, but a higher degree of relevance lies in…;

(2) Highest importance

The most important/most relevant factor/advantage/reason/consequence etc. is…;

…, and/but what is most important is the fact that…;

…, and above all there is/are…;

(c) Reason

…, because…;                                                             …, the reason for this being that…;

…, for…;                                                                    …, on the grounds that…;

…, as…;                                                                      …, on account of (the fact that)…;

…, since…;                                                                 …, given that…;

ing-Form:       (1) Being well prepared, he passed the test.

(2) She passed the test, her knowledge being far above the required standard.

(d) Contrast - sự trái ngược

…, but…;                                                                    In spite of that,…;

…, yet…;                                                                    Despite that,…;

…, however,…;                                                          Except for…;

…, and yet…;                                                             Unlike…;

…, and still…;                                                             Contrary to…;

…, whereas…;                                                                        …, on the contrary,…;

In (sharp) contrast to…;                                            …, as opposed to…;

In opposition to…;

(e) Restriction - sự hạn chế, giới hạn

Although…;                                                                On the one hand,…; but on the other hand,.

Though…;                                                                   It is true that…, but then again…;

Even if…;                                                                    For all his wealth/efforts etc., he could not...

Even though…;                                                           After all,…

In spite of…;                                                               All the same,…;

Despite…;                                                                   Nevertheless/Nonetheless,…;

Certainly,…, but it must not be forgotten that…;     Anyhow/Anyway,…;

At any rate,…;

(f) Condition

If…;                                                                            Suppose that…;

Unless...;                                                                     In case that…;

Otherwise,…;                                                             Provided that…;

…or else…;                                                                 On the condition that…;

In that case,…;

(g) Consequence - hậu quả, kết quả

In consequence,…;                                                     Thus,…;

As a consequence,…;                                                  It follows that…;

As a result,…                                                              So,…;

Consequently,…;                                                        Therefore,…

Accordingly,…;                                                          For that reason,…;

(h) Purpose/Effect

…so as to…

…in order to…

…so that…

(i) Addition

Moreover,…;                                                              In addition to this,…;

Furthermore,…;                                                         On top of this,…;

Indeed,…;                                                                   Similarly,…;

Likewise,…;                                                                Besides,…;

(j) Reference - sự tham khảo

With regard to…;                                                       Regarding…;

As far as…is concerned,…;                                       Concerning…;

As regards…;                                                             Talking of…;

(k) Paraphrase/Elaboration – phát triển thêm ý

In other words,…;                                                      A better way of putting it would be…;

This means…;                                                             It would be better to say…;

(l) Summary/Conclusion

In short,…/In a nutshell,…;                                       All in all,…;

To sum up,…;                                                             In conclusion,…;

To cut a long story short,…;                                      As a result,…;

In a/one word,…;                                                       Taking everything into account/consideration,…;

Briefly,…/Consequently,…;         

 

(theo Wikiz)