ACADEMIC SKILLS CENTRE, DAWSON COLLEGE B3.4a

CONNECTORS

Connectors show relationships between ideas within or between sentences. The following parts of speech can serve as connectors:

1a. COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: Use parallel construction (same grammatical form in both parts).

Main Clause + [ , conj. ] Main Clause = Compound Sentence

e.g. “I never met him, but I intend to soon.”

and / but / or / nor / for / so / yet

1b. CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS: Follow the same rules as above, but use in pairs.

e.g. “She excels not only in tennis, but also in swimming.”

both...and / either...or / not only...but also / as...as / neither...nor / whether...or whether

2. SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: These introduce Dependent (Subordinate) Clauses. BEWARE! These become sentence fragments unless joined to a Main Clause. Comma Rule: If the Subordinate Clause is at the start of the sentence, do use a comma; a comma may not be necessary when the Main Clause comes first.

Subordinate (Dependent) Clause , + Main Clause = Complex Sentence 

reversed

e.g.” Although rain was predicted, I forgot to take an umbrella.” or “I ran because it was raining.”

although / because / before / after / while / wherever / unless / if / during
whenever / though / since / until / as if / so far as / whereas / as / so that

3. CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS: These introduce Main Clauses. BEWARE! When you use them as connectors, put a semicolon (;) in front, or else you’ll end up with comma splices or fused-sentence errors.

Main Clause + [ ; Conjunctive Adverb,] Main Clause = 2 Main Clauses (sentences)

e.g. “We missed the bus; therefore, we had to walk to school.”

thus / hence / therefore / however / otherwise / nevertheless / furthermore / consequently
then / indeed / moreover / besides / likewise / nonetheless / meanwhile / accordingly

4. PREPOSITIONS: These tie Nouns, Pronouns, Articles or Verbals to sentences to form Phrases and combine with verbs to form Verbal Idioms (e.g. “bring up”)

Preposition + Part(s) of Speech = Prepositional Phrase e.g. “on the roof”

up / on / by / from / with / down / while / below / after / before / against / across
to / at / for / upon / near / into / above / among / out of / beside / between / during
of / in / off / over / next / onto / under / about / due to / inside / through / beyond

5. RELATIVE PRONOUNS: These tie Modifiers to Nouns. Place right after the word, phrase or clause being modified; otherwise, Misplaced Modifiers will result. Use who, whom, whose (people); that, which

e.g. “This is the shirt that I prefer.” (“that I prefer” is called a Relative Clause.)

6. ADVERBS: These verb modifiers qualify and sequence ideas. e.g. “He rarely laughs.”

also / next / never / firstly / always / possibly / probably / subsequently
now / only / still / rarely / usually / perhaps / actually / sometimes

CONNECTORS: USING TRANSITIONALS IN READING & WRITING PATTERNS

COMPARISON: / as if / likewise / compared to / in the same way
as / like / as...as / similarly / both have / in like manner
CONTRAST: / but / though / otherwise / either...or / nevertheless / whether…or whether
although / yet / instead / besides / in contrast / regardless / despite the fact that
however / still / whereas / conversely / in spite of / on the contrary / on the other hand
CAUSE: / if / since / because / owing to / due to
EFFECT: / thus / for / so / therefore / consequently / accordingly / as a result / hence
PROOF: / showing that / proving that / suggesting that / one may deduce that
QUALIFICATION: / possibly / probably / perhaps / maybe / actually
CONCESSION: / after all / at the same time / of course / even though / granted / naturally
CONCLUSION: (SUMMARY) / in brief / to summarize / in short / on the whole
to conclude* / in conclusion* / to sum up / in summary
TIME ORDER: / first, second.. / next / while / never / sooner / again / always / during
in the past / since / then / last / after / later / before / shortly / seldom / lately / when
subsequently / frequently / usually / until / whenever / previously / meanwhile / sometimes
PLACE ORDER: / over / above / where / under / behind / by / wherever / beneath
in / into / near / below / beside / within / next to / on / alongside / across
ORDER OF IMPORTANCE / lastly / lesser / most important / least important / utmost
major / minor / least / greatest
ADDITION: / and / again / next / also / moreover / besides / finally
and then... / furthermore / in addition to / more / not only...but also
EXAMPLE: / to explain / for example (e.g.) / in other words / furthermore / for instance
specifically / namely / that is (i.e.) / in particular / consider the following
DETAIL: / also / moreover / besides / furthermore / specifically / in other words / to elaborate
DEFINITION: / such as / in that / to define / is / is defined as
GENERALIZATION: / usually / always / rarely / never
in general / most / all / least / none
EMPHASIS: / certainly / indeed / in fact / of course

* These are valuable reading “cues,” but avoid them in writing, as they are clichés.