Connectors

Do you know what a connector is? What happens when we have 2 or more sentences that are related to each other? For example:

Yesterday I went to school. I arrived late.

How do we “connect” both sentences to have a more complete and coherent idea? Look at the following idea and compare it with the previous example:

Yesterday I went to school, but I arrived late.

The word “connectors” is a synonym of the words “linking words” or “linkers”.

When we use connectors to express our ideas, they become more complex, more complete. We have different connectors and all of them are used in specific situations. Read the following text about a guy called Banner and pay attention to the words in bold.

You can practice with more examples here: Our best and most amazing experiences

Liz

Last semester I had a classmate who looked like Scarlett Johansson. Her name was Liz and she was good at maths but she didn’t understand anything about biology because she didn’t like that subject. I remember that I helped her with her biology homework and she taught me everything about maths. Well, actually I am good at mathematics but I pretended I didn’t understand because I wanted her to spend more time with me. Eventually, we spent all our time together and in the afternoons we watched movies or went out somewhere fun.

One day, she invited me to Six Flags, but we didn’t go because her parents were very strict and also kind of picky. At the end of the semester we both got excellent grades and became good friends. Her parents also started to be more open-minded, so we plan to visit Six flags on her next birthday.

scarlett

Now, let’s check all the connectors to know more about each of them.

Connector How to use it Examples
and We use "and" when we want to add information that is related.

Her name was Liz and she was good at maths.

We both got excellent grades and became good friends. (Notice that if the subject of the second sentence doesn’t change, it can be omitted).
but We use “but” to contrast ideas.

She was good at maths, but she didn’t understand anything about biology

She invited me to Six Flags, but we didn’t go.
also We use “also” when we want to mention additional information.

At the end of the semester we both got excellent grades and became good friends. (This is the main information in that passage)

Her parents also started to be more open-minded (This is extra, additional information).
or We use “or” when we mention two or more options. We watched movies or went out somewhere fun. (Notice that if the subject of the second sentence doesn’t change, it can be omitted).
because We use “because” when we want to explain why something happened. We didn’t go because her parents were very strict.
Writing exercise

Read the following information about Banner and Liz. Then, match the columns to complete each idea in a suitable way.

Liz and Banner studied at the library because d a. had lunch at Banner’s place.
After studying, they spent their afternoons together and they also a b. their friendship became even stronger.
They were best friends, but e c. when they played and laughed for hours.
Of course they made up soon after and b d. they wanted to avoid noise.
Their happiest memories were when they watched movies or c e.one day they had an argument.

Now that you have connected all the sentences, rewrite all the ideas in the previous chart so that you can have a well structured paragraph with all the connectors you practiced.

Liz and Banner studied at the library because they wanted to avoid noise. After studying, they spent their afternoons together and they also had lunch at Banner’s place. They were best friends, but one day they had an argument. Of course they made up soon after and their friendship became even stronger. Their happiest memories were when they watched movies or when they played and laughed for hours.