Conjunction/ discourse markers

Conjunction creates cohesion using linking words or discourse markers.

Various linking words and phrases express a relationship between the preceding and the succeeding sentences and paragraphs. The table below contains some common examples of such linkers.

Types	Examples	Discourse examples
Additive linkers (giving additional information)	Furthermore Moreover In addition Besides Alongside Along with On top of this What’s more	You can save yourself a full five per cent of interest with our new credit plan. Furthermore, we are offering no repayments for a year to customers who sign up before the end of the month.
Adversative linkers (introduc-ing information which contrasts with what has been stated previously)	Yet However Nevertheless On the other hand	Your counsel has made a convincing case in mitigation. Nevertheless, we feel that in a case of this gravity the only appropriate option is a custodial sentence.
Causal linkers: a) introducing information that provides reasons for the subsequent statement;   b) introducing the result of previous information	a) Because of… Due to… Owing to… On account of…     b) Consequently As a result Therefore Hence Thus For this reason	On account of constantly rising cost of fuel, more and more people are using public transport. Your repayments are now three months in arrears. Consequently, we have no option but to withdraw credit facilities immediately.
Comparative linkers:   a) Expressing similarity;   b) Expressing difference	Compare … In comparison   a) By analogy Similarly Equally In exactly the same way Just as Likewise   b) Alternatively While Whereas As opposed to As distinct from In contrast (to) On the contrary	The Court has almost unlimited power. Compare this to the position of the Secretary of State. The interior deserts have greater extremes of temperature than the west coast deserts. Similarly, the amount of rainfall varies considerably. The United States operates rigorous controls on mergers that promote new monopolies. In contrast, the UK takes a more neutral view of monopoly.
Concessive linkers (to concede a point contradicting the main argument of a sentence)	Although Though Despite … In spite of …	Despite often offering poor conditions and basic salaries, charities rarely have problems in recruiting staff.
Concluding linkers: a) At the end of a series of facts or comments;     b) at the end of the text	a) All in all Totally In sum In brief   b) By way of summary In summary To sum up To wind it up In conclusion To conclude	All in all, there was little to demonstrate that those who managed schools were working very closely together. To sum up, the observations reported in the study clearly indicate that the technique is effective, but the morbidity is high.
Illustrative linkers (introducing detail, examples and explanation)	For example For instance Such as Specifically Namely In particular By way of illustration	For example, the island of Singapore has more native species of palm that the entire African continent does.   Study groups are being set up in three other subject areas, namely agriculture, architecture, and teacher training.
Temporal linkers (expressing a relationship of time or sequence)	First of all Firstly, Secondly… Next Finally The last point …	The troops trudged for weeks through the snowy wastes. Finally, as they were nearing the point of exhaustion, they saw the faint lights of the city

Here are some more commonly used words and phrases that express particular relationships in discourse and make a text cohesive.

· Cause: to affect, bring about, be the cause of, contribute to, have an effect on, facilitate, be a factor in, influence, precipitate, produce, provide, be responsible for, give rise to, underlie.

· Result: aftermath, consequence, effect, after-effect, side effect, end result, follow-up impact, outcome, sequel; to arise from, can be ascribed/ attributed to, derive from, develop from, flow from, follow from, grow out of, result in, stem from; accordingly, as a consequence/ result, consequently, hence, in consequence, thereby.

· Similarity: analogous, comparable, corresponding, equivalent, identical, parallel; to draw an analogy/ comparison/ parallel between …, use an analogy to …, compare (un)favourably with…, correspond closely/ roughly, can be identified with…, there is no parallel for …, without parallel (= no one is better).

· Difference orcontrast: contrasting, converse(ly), dissimilar, divergent, diverse, reverse; be contrary to …, quite the contrary, despite all evidence to the contrary …, discrepancy, there’s a wide divergence of…, far from …, the reverse of …, quite the reverse is true.

· Sequence: (indicating thatyou arestarting alist) Three/ the following issues need to beraised, it contains two types of …, the reasons are as follows, … in thefollowing/ two/ several ways, the major points are …, there are a number of reasons/ factors/ aspects …, there are three types/ classes/ species;

- (introducing items in sequence) to begin/ start with, first, in the first/ second/ third place, the latter – former, the one – the other, turning from… to…, the next/ further point, in addition, the final point/ class/ aspect…, the last but not least.

· Time: after a while (a short time), afterwards, at the same time, in the meantime, immediately, presently, shortly, meanwhile, soon, until, while, after, before, at the same time, more recently, on rare occasions, until very recently, quite often.

· Clarification: evidently, in fact, in other words, too, of course, that is to say.

· Illustration: As an example … consider, a classical example of …, examples include …, can be illustrated/ exemplified with …/ as follows, to take an example/ case, a case in point.

· Expressing reality: in fact, actually, as a matter of fact, in practice, the fact of the matter is that.

· Emphasizing ideas: anyway, atall events,certainly, clearly, obviously, doubtless, in any case, indeed, needless to say, in particular, in all probability.

· Summary: in short, on the whole, to summarize, in some respects, taking everything into account, all things considered, reviewing ….

· Expressingpersonal opinion: in my opinion, in my view, to my mind, to my way of thinking, personally I believe, it strikes me that…, I feel very strongly that…, I am inclined to believe that…, as far as I am concerned….

6) Grammar cohesion/ parallelism

Although we try to avoid repeating words while composing a text, we shouldn’t forget that another way of making a text cohesive is the use of similar grammar in different sentences, for example, the same tense or aspect, similar word order or repeating a particular grammatical form.

E.g.: She is probably going to fail the exam. And she is probably going to blame her teacher.

What is to guarantee that my orders are not changed?What is to guarantee thatthe attack is not annulled? What is to guarantee the attack is not postponed?

To steal, yes. To eat well, yes. To murder, yes. To fight. No.

One should avoid sudden changes in grammar as this often looks clumsy and it can make a written text difficult to understand.

E.g.: I can’t wait to lie on the sand. Swimming in the sea is great. To sunbathe is something I would love to do as well.

Correct:

I can’t wait to be lying on the sand, sunbathing and swimmingin the sea.

If we want to create a dramatic effect or make a strong contrast, we can repeat an unusual grammatical pattern. But we normally use this device in narrative and fiction because in less literary contexts it can seem inappropriate.

E.g.: Rarely had I seen such a ramshackle boat. And never had I actually been expected to get on board one.