9/17/2015

Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write Better Essays

Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write

Better Essays
UpdatedonApril18,2015

HowtoImprovetheVocabularyofYourEssay

HowtoWriteBetterSentencesNow
Canyouquicklyandeasilyimproveyourwriting?Yes.Forover20years,I'vebeenteachingstudentshowtoimprovetheirwriting,lessonsI
sharewithyouhere.Everytimemystudentstaketheseeasytipsandapplytheminpractice,theirwritinggetsdramaticallybetter.Why?Three
reasons:
Thesetipsandtransitionwordshelpyouresisttheoldhabitofsimplesubjectverbsentencestructureanddevelopricherandmore
nuancedideas.
Byaddingthesetransitionwordstoyoursentences,youlinkyourideasmoreeffectively.
Thesetransitionwordsmakeyourwritingsoundmoreprofessionalandlesslikespokenlanguage.

ImprovingYourEssay:ChoosingthePerfectWords

UsingTransitionWordstoStartSentences
Themostimportanttipforimprovingyourwritingquicklyistofollowonerule:
Tip#1:Starteverysentenceinaparagraphwithadifferentword.How?Hereismystepbystepguide:
Usethetransitionlistasyouwrite:Thinkabouthowthesentencesinyourparagrapharerelatedtooneanother.Ifyouarecomparingand
contrastingtwoideas,thenusethe"ShowingContrast"transitionwords(seelistbelow).Areyouwritingaboutstepsinaprocess?Then
usethe"AddingtoanIdea"transitionwordsbelow.Whenwritingaboutsomethingthathappened,usethe"Sequence/Time"transitions
I'veprovided.

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Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write Better Essays

Usingthetransitionlistwhileyouarerevising:Sometimes,itiseasiernottoworryaboutthesewordsuntilyourfinaldraftstage,especially
ifyouareabeginningwriter.Howdoyoudothis?Usethefollowingtips:
1. Gothroughyourfirstdraftandcirclethefirstwordineverysentence.
2. Ifyouusethesamewordtostartasentencetwiceinaparagraph,thenyouneedtochooseanothertransitionwordandreword
thesentence.
3. Howtochoosetransitionwords?Thinkabouthoweachsentencefitswiththeonebeforeit.
Doesthissentenceaddinformation?Thenuse"moreover,""furthermore,"oranotherwordthataddstotheidea.
Ifthissentencecontrastswiththeprevioussentence,youmightuse"however"or"ontheotherhand."
Ifitisatimesequence,use"next,""then,"orconsiderusing"first,""second,"etc.
Dontusethesametransitiontoooften.Also,don'tforgetthecommaafterthetransitionwordanddon'tforgettoputthesubjectof
thesentenceafterthecomma.

ChoosingtheRightWordtoStart,End,andTransitionTopics

TransitionWordList
WordstoShowContrast

WordstoAddtoanIdea

WordsThatShow
Consequence

WordsThatAddEmphasis

although

additionally

accordingly

admittedly

besides

also

asaresult

aboveall

conversely

again

because

asarule

however

aswellas

consequently

asusual

incontrast

besides

dueto

assuredly

incomparison

comparatively

forthisreason

certainly

instead

consequently

forthispurpose

chiefly

likewise

coupledwith

hence

especially

nevertheless

correspondingly

otherwise

granted

ontheonehandontheother
hand

furthermore

since

generallyspeaking

onthecontrary

inaddition

sothen

forthemostpart

otherthan

indeed

subsequently

inthissituation

outsideof

infact

therefore

nodoubt(undoubtably)

rather

identically

thereupon

obviously

similarly

likewise

thisiswhy

ofcourse

yet

moreover

thus

ordinarily

still

similarly

wherefore

particularly

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Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write Better Essays

whereas

whereas

singularly

unquestionably

usually

Tip#2:UseaVarietyofWordsWhenCitingExamples

especially

foronething

inparticular(particularly)

specifically

chiefly

asanillustration

markedly

thiscanbeseenin

for/asanexample

illustratedwith/by

namely

suchas

forinstance

inthiscase

including

Useanyofthesealternativestoaddclarityandvarietytoyourwriting.

EasyWaystoImproveYourEssay

Tip#3:UseDifferentWordstoOrderEventsandSequenceTime

first...second...third...

currently

withthisinmind

inturn

generally...furthermore...finally

during

fornow

lateron

inthefirstplace...also...lastly

earlier

immediately

meanwhile

tobesure...additionally...lastly

eventually

inthemeantime

next

first...justinthesameway...
finally

finally

forthetimebeing

then

basically...similarly...aswellas

firstofall

thenextstep

simultaneously

afterward

tobeginwith

inconclusion

soon

atfirst

inthefirstplace

intime

while

Useawidevarietyofwordstoshowhowideasarechronologicallyrelated.

Tip#4:UseInterestingWordsWhenSummarizing

afterall

inanyevent

inotherwords

onbalance

allinall

inbrief

inshort

thatis(thatistosay)

allthingsconsidered

inconclusion

inbrief

therefore

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Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write Better Essays

briefly

inessence

insummary

toputitdifferently

byandlarge

indeed

inthefinalanalysis

tosumup

hence

onthewhole

inthelongrun

tosummarize

inanycase

overall

namely

finally

Useawidevarietyofwordstosumupthepointyouaremaking.

Howmanytimestoyoureviseanessay?
threeormoretimes
twice
once
Idon'trevise,Ijustwriteitandhanditin!
Ionlydorevisionsifmyinstructorrequiresit.
Iproofreadbutdon'trevise.
Vote

Seeresultswithoutvoting

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