what is a linking sentence in an essay

Linking Words – Full List, Examples & Worksheet

| Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond studied Advanced Writing & Editing Essentials at MHC. She’s been an International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author for over a decade. And she’s worked as an Editor for several mid-sized publications. Candace has a keen eye for content editing and a high degree of expertise in Fiction.

Worried that your essay lacks structure and coherence? Perhaps you should use linking words, transition words, or connectors to give it a boost.

Linking words join separate sentences to improve writing flow. You can also find them mid-sentence to connect clauses.

Read on as I show you the definition and types of linking words in English. I also list examples of linking words under every category, and I whipped up a helpful worksheet to test your skills.

What Are Linking Words?

Linking words, transition words, or connecting words in the English language help connect ideas and sentences when speaking or writing.

Linking words and phrases are connectors or transitional phrases. They are also part of formal language, so you’ll find them in academic writing, opinion writing, critical essays, dialectic essays , journalism, and business documents.

Some linking verbs link clauses within a sentence, such as although, in case, and whatever. That means you can find them in the middle of sentences from time to time. Others link two complete sentences, such as besides, as a result, and however.

List of Transition Words

Now that you know the meaning of transition words, let’s look at the usage of transition words in sentences and clauses. Don’t worry, I’ll break it all down for you!

Below, I’ve got a list of linking words and phrases to serve as alternative choices for connecting ideas in writing. Note that there are several types of transition words which we will discuss later.

Agreement/Addition/Similarity

Linking words may help the reader understand additional comments or ideas in a statement. They may also express agreement or similarities. These words are also called additive transition words, commonly found in expository essays and narrative essays.

• In the first place
• As a matter of fact
• In like manner
• In addition
• Not only, but also
• Coupled with
• In the same way
• In the same manner
• First, second, third
• Not to mention
• In the light of
• By the same token
• Additionally
• Correspondingly
• Furthermore
• Comparatively
• At the same time
• Together with
• Identically

Here are some examples of additive linking words in a sentence.

• The group found that a constructivist approach leads to higher test scores. Moreover, essay examinations show higher levels of learning.
• The resort has tennis courts. Furthermore, it has an Olympic pool.

Negative Ideas

Some linking words come in pairs to join negative ideas.

• Not, neither
• Neither, nor

Here are sentence examples of linking words showing negative ideas.

• I haven’t seen Lory, neither have I talked to her friend.
• I neither drink nor smoke.

Opposition/Limitation/Contradiction

Whereas some linking words show an extra idea, these transition phrases and words express contrasting ideas in writing.

• Although this may be true
• In contrast
• (and) still
• Notwithstanding
• Different from
• Of course…, but
• On the other hand
• On the contrary
• Be that as it may
• Nonetheless
• Even so/though
• Nevertheless
• In spite of

Here are some sentences with linking words of opposition.

• The short story can be analyzed using a functionalist lens. However, its historical theme is better understood with a critical perspective.
• As much as I want to go, I must take care of my sister.

Some linking words show relationships between ideas by accepting an idea with reservation instead of showing complete opposition. Here are some examples.

• All the same
• Regardless of this
• Up to a point

Here are some sentence examples.

• Many citizens opposed this unfair policy, which the president nevertheless enacted.
• I like him even if we have different views in life.

Cause/Condition/Purpose

You may also use linking words in your writing piece to show conditions and purpose for a logical flow of ideas. Words like reason get the reader ready to understand why. These words are commonly found in hypothesis essays.

• In the event that
• Granted (that)
• Provided that
• On (the) condition (that)
• For the purpose of
• With this intention
• With this in mind
• In the hope that
• Inasmuch as
• To the end that
• For fear that
• In order to
• Seeing/being that
• The researchers used this method so that the results would be valid, reliable, and aligned with the objectives.
• I will not be attending the seminar due to a high fever.

Examples/Support/Emphasis

You can also use transition words in your piece of writing that show examples or support of an idea.

• In other words
• To put it differently
• For one thing
• In particular
• As an illustration
• In this case
• For example
• For instance
• For this reason
• To put it another way
• To demonstrate
• That is to say
• With attention to
• By all means
• To emphasize
• To enumerate
• Particularly
• Significantly
• Specifically
• Surprisingly
• Important to realize
• Another key point
• On the negative side
• First thing to remember
• Must be remembered
• To point out
• Point often overlooked
• She visited several cities, namely Portland, Jacksonville, Charleston, and Hartford.
• Transition words improve writing flow. For instance, we use further to add extra ideas related to the previous statement.

Effect/Consequence/Result

You might also spot transitional devices for essays that show consequences, results, and effects.

• As a result
• In that case
• Under those circumstances
• Accordingly
• Consequently

Consider the examples below.

• We watered the plant for seven days. In effect, it grew three inches taller.
• Because she didn’t study for the test, Anna failed and had to retake it.

Conclusion/Summary/Restatement

These words and phrases show transitions between sentences to show conclusions. You’ll find these words in essay conclusions of different essay types.

• In simple language
• In explanation
• In lay terms
• In a nutshell
• As can be seen
• In simple terms
• Generally speaking
• All things considered
• As shown above
• In the final analysis
• In the long run
• In either case
• Given these points
• As has been noted
• In any event
• On the whole
• By and large
• For the most part
• In conclusion
• To summarize

Note that in lay terms and in explanation are formal alternative choices to “ in a nutshell.”

Here are some examples.

• Matter is a material that occupies space and has mass. In simple language, it is any physical substance.
• I don’t want to climb the corporate ladder. After all, money isn’t everything.

Time/Chronology/Sequence

Linking words’ other role in writing is to show sequence or chronology. Under the time category, these phrases add a meaning of time. You can find these words in an essay introduction when the writer explains how the paper is structured.

• In due time
• From time to time
• At the present time
• Sooner or later
• Up to the present time
• To begin with
• Straightaway
• In the meantime
• In a moment
• Without delay
• All of a sudden
• At this instant
• First, second
• By the time
• Immediately
• Occasionally
• I watched the movie on television. Eventually, I fell asleep.
• First, fill the pan with water. Then, bring it to a boil.

Space/Location/Place

The following transition words are famous adverbial expressions that limit or modify space. Some of these words and phrases are also transition words of time.

• In the middle of
• To the left/right
• In front of
• On this side
• In the distance
• In the foreground
• In the background
• In the center of
• Adjacent to
• Opposite to

Below are sentence examples using transition words of space.

• My house is located behind the building.
• To the left of the supermarket is a flower shop.

Common Mistakes With Transition Words

Transition words help you create a flow of arguments for readers to understand what you’re saying. But misused transition words and phrases will make your writing unclear. Avoid these mistakes to give your readers a better experience.

Starting a Sentence With So, And, and Also

Both so and and are coordinating conjunctions, which means they can start independent clauses that stand on their own. But it’s not recommended to use these words and also as sentence starters in formal writing. For example:

• Incorrect: Also, there are unauthorized charges on my credit card account.
• Correct: Furthermore, there are unauthorized charges on my credit card account.

Combination of Transition Words And/Or

When writing an essay, avoid English transition words and/or because it makes your paper look messy. Instead, consider whether you need both connectors or only one of them. If you need them both, try this alternative.

• Incorrect: boat and/or plane.
• Correct: boat, plane, or both.

Using As Well As as Alternative to And

As well as has a different meaning from the transition word and. And means you’re listing something of equal importance. Meanwhile, as well as is for additional, less essential information. Here’s an example.

• Incorrect: In this paper, I discuss my movie analysis as well as provide recommendations for improvement.
• Correct: In this paper, I discuss my movie analysis and provide recommendations for improvement.

Archaic Words

Your writing may not make any sense to readers if you overuse archaic transition words like therewith .

For example, hereby means as a result. We can replace it with more modern and explicit phrasing expressing how the current statement is connected to the previous statement.

Linking Words Summary

A linking word is a term that connects different ideas in your text, whether they are contrasting, supporting, or adding. They can improve your writing and help it flow better, I promise!

Regardless of the style of writing, every piece of writing contains linking words to show perfect transitions. I hope my guide on the definition and list of transitions helps you use these words and phrases correctly. Memorize each category, and don’t overuse them in essays.

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Linking/transition words: Things you need to know...

All assignments are written in formal language.   You need to ensure that you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding alongside your ability to answer the question/solve the problem. 

Below are some ideas to help you to develop your structure and flow.

• Linking / transition words and phrases join ideas, sentences and paragraphs together. They should be used within sentences and to move from one idea to another (between sentences).   

These words and phrases indicate the direction, order and flow of ideas. Significantly, they strengthen the quality and structure of your work.

• Redundant Words - less is more.  P articularly when trying to reduce the word count, it is important to look for phrases which can be replaced with a single word.

Linking/Transition Words

Transitions link one main idea to another separated by a semi-colon or full-stop.  When the transition word is at the beginning of the sentence, it should be followed by a comma:

Among other functions, they can signal cause and effect or sequencing (see examples in the table below).

Linking words: conjunctions

Linking words within a sentence  are referred to as coordinating conjunctions.  Do not worry about the term: think about the function.

Conciseness / redundant words

Microsoft Word now has an additional feature within the Edito r - it is called conciseness or wordiness.  

• If you cannot see the Editor menu a quick tip is to hold down the function (fn key at the bottom left of the keyboard) + F7 (top line of keys).
• From the Refinements section - select Conciseness - if there are any suggestions a number will appear in the box alongside this option
• A dotted line will appear under any groups of groups
• Either select the identified text by clicking with your right mouse button OR click on the down down next to the Conciseness menu.
• MS Word will display any alternative words which you can either select and they will be replaced in your text or reject if you want to keep the original phrases.

Examples:  try to replace phrases with a single words which mean the same.

Need to know more...

• Related pages
• External links
• Academic writing Illustrates the main features of academic writing so that you are aware of what it is and what it involves
• Critical Thinking Academic work involves thinking, not just accepting what you read or are told.
• Terms and Definitions Important words appear in your assignments and examinations. The aim of this factsheet is to help you to fully understand what they mean.

Additional resources to help you to improve your confidence and grades:-

• Writing Effectively  demonstrates the importance of: clarity, structure, relevance, argument and precision.
• Writing Mechanics  gives further examples and resources on areas including: sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Linking/Transition words - Scribbr  https://www.scribbr.co.uk/syntax/transition-words-examples/ [Accessed 10 February 2023]

There are many books concerning academic writing, look around Dewey number  808

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Connecting ideas

How to connect ideas at the sentence and paragraph level in academic writing.

What is cohesion?

Cohesion refers to the way we use vocabulary and grammatical structures to make connections between the ideas within a text. It provides flow and sequence to your work and helps make your paragraphs clear for the reader.

Cohesive devices are words and expressions that show relationships between parts of text and ideas, such as cause and effect, time, addition, or comparison and contrast.

Watch the video to learn how to make your ideas link together and your narrative flow.

How can I create cohesion?

Let’s look at types of cohesive devices.

Linking words

Academic writing usually deals with complex ideas. To enable the reader to follow your thoughts, they need to be clearly and smoothly linked. To join ideas and sentences, we use a number of connecting words and phrases. For example:

Additionally, and, also, apart from this, as well (as), in addition, moreover, further, furthermore.

If, in that case, provided that, unless.

Correspondingly, equally, for the same reason, in a similar manner, in comparison, in the same way, on the one hand, similarly.

Alternatively, although, but, conversely, despite, even so, even though, however, in contrast, in spite of, instead, on the contrary, contrary to, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, on the other hand, rather, still, though, yet, whereas, while.

Again, in fact, interestingly, indeed, it should be noted (that), more important(ly), most importantly, to repeat, (un)fortunately, unquestionably.

A further instance of this is..., an example of this is…, for example, for instance, such as, thus, as follows.

In other words, more simply, namely, simply put, to put it differently / another way, such as, that is.

A / the consequence of, because, due to, for, the effect of …, since, the result of …

Accordingly, as a result/consequence, consequently, for this reason, hence, so, therefore, thus.

Admittedly, although, clearly though, even though, however, indeed, obviously.

As a rule, for the most part, generally, in general, in most cases, normally, on the whole, usually.

First, second, third (etc), next, before, earlier, finally, following, given the above, later, meanwhile, subsequently, then, to conclude, while.

A note about presentation and style

Check a usage guide for exact rules for punctuation. Many introductory phrases have a comma after them. For example, 'therefore,' and 'in addition,'.

Referring backwards

To avoid repeating words and phrases many times, we use cohesive devices to make references to other parts of a text, such as:

• Pronouns: it, he, she, his, her, they, their
• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• Articles: a, the
• Adverbs: previously, subsequently

The Australian prime minister has called an early election. The date was selected to coincide with the start of the Olympic Games. This decision was based on the views of his ministerial advisors, who predicted that voter confidence in the government’s policies would be strong at this time . As previously mentioned , decisions on the timing of elections are based on predictions of voter confidence in the existing government.

In the example above:

• The date - refers back to the election date
• This decision - refers to the prime minister calling an early election
• His - refers to the Australian prime minister
• this time - refers to the start of the Olympic Games
• As previously mentioned - refers to all of the earlier information about the selection of election dates

Looking forward

We often use words and phrases to highlight new information for the reader. This helps make a smooth transition from one point to another. Such phrases include: the following, as follows, below, next, subsequently .

The following dates have been proposed for the forthcoming election: September 8, September 15 and 3 October.

The next issue to be discussed is the influence of the media on voter confidence in the government.

Connecting paragraphs

Apart from using the linking words / phrases above, showing the link between paragraphs could involve writing ‘hand-holding’ sentences. These are sentences that link back to the ideas of the previous paragraph. For instance, when outlining the positive and negative issues about a topic you could use the following:

Example (from beginning of previous paragraph):

• One of the main advantages of X is…

When you are ready to move your discussion to the negative issues, you could write one of the following as a paragraph opener:

• Having considered the positive effects of X, negative issues may now need to be taken into account…
• Despite the positive effects outlined above, negative issues also need to be considered...

It is always important to make paragraphs part of a coherent whole text; they must not remain isolated units.

Checking for paragraph links in your own work

When you are editing your next written assignment, ask yourself the following questions as you read through your work (Gillett, Hammond, & Martala, 2009):

• Does the start of my paragraph give my reader enough information about what the paragraph will be about?
• Does my paragraph add to or elaborate on a point made previously and, if so, have I made this explicit with an appropriate linking word / phrase?
• Does my paragraph introduce a completely new point or a different viewpoint to before and, if so, have I explicitly shown this with a suitable connective?
• Have I used similar connectives repeatedly? If yes, try to vary them using the above list.

Strategies to improve cohesion

• Select a piece of writing, preferably from a textbook or journal article, from your area of study.
• Choose a paragraph and underline or highlight all the different forms of cohesion used, such as using linking words, referring backwards, looking forwards or adding synonyms.
• Which forms are the most common?
• Choose a couple that you think are effective and practice using them in your own writing.
• Try to use a variety of ways to show the relationship between your ideas.

Looking for one-on-one advice?

Get tailored advice from an Academic Skills Adviser by booking an Individual appointment, or get quick feedback from one of our Academic Writing Mentors via email through our Writing advice service.

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A Writer's Handbook

• Introduction
• Purpose & Audience
• Opening Sentences
• Linking Sentences

Linking Sentences in the Introduction

• Finished Introduction
• Topic Sentences
• Development
• Conclusion Sentences
• Conclusion Paragraphs for Essays
• Essay Writing Organization: The Outline
• Annotating Readings
• General Writing Idea Development
• Rhetorical and Visual Analysis Idea Development
• Character Analysis Idea Development
• Theme Analysis Idea Development
• Theory Analysis
• Using the Library
• Using Sources for Illustration or Support
• Using Research for Essays
• Writing About Research
• MLA Handbook Summary for Citations
• Final Thoughts on Essays
• Literary Element Index
• Appendix of Example Papers

Because your first sentence (or sentences) of the opener should be very general, and the thesis at the end of the paragraph will be very specific, you will need several sentences to link to each other, getting more specific as the sentences get closer to the thesis. These are just some ways of thinking about linking sentences:

Introduction - Type One

• Use a surprising or startling statement to start the paragraph
• Explain how that startling idea relates to the general topic of your paper
• Introduce background or any necessary information about the issue or subject

Introduction - Type Two

• Use a short story (2-3 sentences) to exemplify the notion you are looking at
• Explain this story in the context of the issue or subject
• Introduce background or any necessary information of the issue or subject

Introduction - Type Three

• Use a relevant quote to start the paragraph
• Explain what the quote means
• Explain the quote toward the issue or subject

Introduction - Type Four

• Use a question to start the paragraph
• Answer that question somehow
• Explain that answer into the topic of your issue or subject

Linking Sentences [Example]

Jane’s hair is thinning; her eyes have dark circles beneath them; she rarely eats; she even hardly talks to any of her friends or family members:  Jane is an “addict.” (opening sentence – an anecdote starter)

Her addiction started when she was twenty years old; at first no one noticed, but her problem grew. ( link – continued anecdote)

It grew so much that today, even after many of her friends have confronted her with it, she still cannot get over it. ( link )

She is not having to “ get over ” an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or even gambling; her problem is almost worse. ( link )

It is worse because her addiction is to something she must do to live: her addiction is to her work. ( link )

While work for some people is just a job done away from home, Jane’s work is something that has consumed her life and ruined many of her relationships and even her health. ( link )

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Sentence Connectors and Sentences

The Use of Linking Language in Written English

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Once you have mastered the basics of correct usage in written English, you will want to express yourself in increasingly complex ways. One of the best ways to improve your writing style is to use linking language.

Linking language refers to sentence connectors used to express relationships between ideas and to combine sentences; the use of these connectors will add sophistication to your writing style.

Each section below contains linking language using similar sentences to show how the same idea can be expressed in a variety of manners. Once you have understood the use of these sentence connectors, take an example sentence of your own and write a number of sentences based on the examples to practice your own writing skills .

Some Examples of Sentence Connectors

The best way to understand the functionality of sentence connectors is to see examples of their usage in everyday situations. Take, for instance, that you want to combine the following two sentences: "Food and drink prices in New York are very high" and "Renting an apartment in New York is very expensive." One could use the sentence connectors semicolon and the word "furthermore" to combine the two to form one cohesive sentence: "Food and drink prices in New York are very high; furthermore, renting an apartment is very expensive."

Another example, this time keeping the meaning of both sentences but linking them together to form a cohesive idea related to both:

• Life in New York is very expensive.
• Life in New York can be extremely exciting.

Example: Despite the fact that life in New York is very expensive, it can be extremely exciting 

And in this example, one can form conclusions as part of a sentence connector to emphasize a cause and effect relationship between two sentences:

• Many people would love to live in New York.

Example: Many people would love to live in New York; consequently, life in New York is very expensive.

In any of these cases, sentence connectors serve to shorten writing and make a writer's point more concise and easy to understand. Sentence connectors additionally help the pace and flow of a piece of writing feel more natural and fluid.

When Not to Use Sentence Connectors

It's not always appropriate to use sentence connectors or to link sentences at all, especially if the rest of the writing is already weighty with complex sentence structures . Sometimes, simplicity is key to get a point across.

Another instance of a time not to use sentence connectors is when combining sentences could force an assumption on the reader or render the new sentence inaccurate. Take for instance writing an essay on the cause-effect relationship between human energy consumption and global warming, while you may be able to say "human have burned more fossil fuels in the last century than ever before; ​consequentially, the global temperature has risen," it may not be entirely accurate given the reader's interpretation of that statement without context clues. 

• Showing Cause / Effect in Written English
• Showing Addition in Written English
• How to Use Sentence Connectors to Express Complex Ideas
• How to Use Sentence Connectors to Show Contrast
• Sentence Connectors: Showing Opposition in Written English
• Writing Cause and Effect Essays for English Learners
• Learn to Order Events for Narrative Writing Assignments
• 3 Tips to Improve Writing in English
• How to Teach Essay Writing
• Helping Students Write a Creative Story
• 10 Common Sentence Mistakes in English
• Using Adverb Clauses with Time Expressions
• Text Organization
• How to Use a Relative Clause
• Uses for the Preposition "At"
• Gender-Inclusive Language for English Learners

Writing strong paragraphs: What are linking words?

• What's in this guide
• Paragraph Structure
• Types of paragraphs
• Writing a logical paragraph

What are linking words?

• Transitions and their uses
• Additional resources

Linking words or transitions are the connecting words and phrases in and between sentences. 

These words help the reader to find your next point easily.   Transitions are also needed for your reader to move from one paragraph to the next without confusion.   Transitions are not used to just embellish your paper by making it sound or read better, they are words with particular meanings that tell the reader to think and react in a particular way to your ideas.

Pathways and Academic Learning Support

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All sentences in a paragraph need to relate to the main idea in the topic sentence. The reader should be able to see how each sentence flows from the previous one and how each is connected to the topic sentence. Linking words and phrases weave sentences together to create a cohesive paragraph.

Linking words and phrases

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• Why use linking words?

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Linking words

Linking words show the relationships between ideas. Linking words serve different functions, such as to compare ideas or to give examples, and can go at the start or in the middle of a sentence. Check a dictionary like the Cambridge Dictionary to see examples of how to use a particular linking word.

The following table shows some common linking words and example sentences:

See the Word and PDF documents below for a downloadable version of the common linking words.

• Linking words [Word - 94KB]
• Linking words [PDF - 110KB]

Further resources

• Manchester Academic Phrasebank A bank of useful phrases for academic writing

Pathfinder link

Still have questions? Do you want to talk to an expert? Peer Learning Advisors or Academic Skills and Language Advisors  are available.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Migrant. In Glossary . https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/3415.0Glossary12017?OpenDocument  Used under CC BY 4.0 license

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Migration, Australia .  https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/migration-australia/latest-release Used under CC BY 4.0 license

World Health Organization. (2021).  2021 Global conference on health and climate change .  https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2021/11/06/default-calendar/2021-global-conference-on-health-and-climate-change  Used under  CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO  license

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Useful Linking Words and Phrases to Use in Your Essays

By: Author Sophia

Posted on Last updated: October 26, 2023

Sharing is caring!

Linking words and phrases are used to show relationships between ideas. They can be used to join two or more sentences or clauses.

We can use linking words to give a result , add information , summarize , give illustrations , emphasize a point , sequence information , compare or to contrast idea .

Useful Linking Words and Phrases

In this article, you will learn about the most common linking words and phrases:

Giving a Result

Usage : To provide the result of what has been stated or has occurred

Linking W ords :

• As a result
• As a consequence
• Consequently
• For this reason
• His wife left him.  As a result , he became very depressed.
• She has lived in France, and  as a consequence  she speaks French fluently.
• We do not have enough money.  T herefore  we cannot afford to buy the new car.
• We do not own the building.  Thus , it would be impossible for us to make any major changes to it.
• There has been a great deal of rain and  consequently  the reservoirs are full.
• The customer was displeased with her meal,  hence  the chef prepared a replacement.
• For this reason , they are not a good choice for exterior use.
• Due to  a broken wing, this bird can’t fly.

Adding Information

Usage : To add to what has been previously stated

Linking Words:

• Additionally / an additional
• Furthermore
• As well as that
• In addition
• In addition to this
• Apart from this
• Additionally , the bus service will run on Sundays, every two hours.
• He said he had not discussed the matter with her.  Furthermore , he had not even contacted her.
• We are unable to repair this watch.  Also , this is the fourth time this has happened.
• I love wearing earrings. I design and make them  too .
• We went to the park today.  As well as that , we did some shopping.
• Along with  parties and parliaments, elections have lost their charm.
• I can’t afford to go to the concert.  Besides , I don’t really like classical music.
• You haven’t paid the rent yet.   In addition , you owe me money.
• The report is badly presented.  Moreover , it contains inaccuracies.
• John’s grades are terrible because he has been so lazy these days.  In addition to this , his relationship to his parents got worse.
• Apart from this  paragraph, the report contains a number of sensible initiatives.

Summarizing

Usage : To sump up what has been previously stated

Linking words :

• In conclusion
• To summarize
• To conclude
• In conclusion , walking is a cheap, safe, enjoyable and readily available form of exercise.
• To summarize , this is a clever approach to a common problem.
• The food was good and we loved the music.  Altogether  it was a great evening.
• His novels belong to a great but vanished age. They are,  in short , old-fashioned.
• To sum up , there are three main ways of tackling the problem…
• In summary , this was a disappointing performance.
• Briefly , our team is now one of the best in the world.
• To conclude , I want to wish you all a very happy holiday season.

Giving Examples

Usage : To provide examples

Linking words:

• For example/ For instance
• In this case
• Proof of this
• There are many interesting places to visit in the city,  for example / for instance , the botanical garden or the art museum.
• I prefer to wear casual clothes,  such as  jeans and a sweatshirt.
• Including  Christmas Day and Boxing Day, I’ve got a week off work.
• We need to concentrate on our target audience,  namely  women aged between 20 and 30.
• I think I would have made a difference  in this case .
• This building are a living  proof of this  existence, so we must preserve it.
• I also make other jewellery  like  rings and bracelets.

Emphasizing a Point

Usage : To put forward a point or idea more forcefully

• Undoubtedly
• Particularly / in particular
• Importantly
• Without a doubt
• It should be noted
• Unquestionably
• Undoubtedly , the story itself is one of the main attractions.
• I don’t mind at all.  Indeed , I would be delighted to help.
• Obviously , we don’t want to spend too much money.
• I love silver earrings,  in particular  ones from Mexico
• The car is quite small,  especially  if you have children.
• Clearly , this will cost a lot more than we realized.
• More importantly , can he be trusted?
• He’s an  absolutely  brilliant cook.
• I  definitely  remember sending the letter.
• We still believe we can win this series  without a doubt .
• I’m  neve r  surprised at what I do.
• It should be noted  that   if you have something to note, then note it
• Unquestionably , teaching has been a paramount part of his career.
• Above all , this forest is designed for wear and tear.
• This is  positively  the worst thing that I can even imagine.

Sequencing Ideas

Usage : To indicate the order of what is being said

• First/ firstly (Second/ secondly, Third/ thirdly, Finally)
• At this time
• Subsequently
• Lastly and most importantly
• Last but not least
• First and foremost
• Firstly , I prefer the train because I can see the landscape.
• At this time , the young man leapt into the air and flew off towards sunset.
• They arrived on Monday evening and we got there the  following  day.
• I had visited them three days  previously .
• Your name is  before  mine on the list.
• Subsequently , new guidelines were issued to all employees.
• Above all , keep in touch.
• Lastly, and most importantly , you should be optimistic.
• Last but not least , I find I seriously cannot relate to women.
• We will continue to focus on our players  first and foremost .

Comparing Ideas

Usage:  To show how things are similar

• Compare / compare(d) to(with)
• By the same token
• In the same way
• Correspondingly
• Similarly , the basketball and hockey games draw nearly full attendance.
• Equally , not all customers are honest.
• Her second marriage was  likewise  unhappy.
• She’s  just as  smart as her sister.
• Working with housecats is  just like  working with lions or tigers.
• Some people say I have a running style  similar to  him.
• Having a power is not  the same as  using the power.
• He gets the ball off quickly  compared to  two years ago.
• Teenagers should be more respectful;  by the same token , parents should be more understanding.
• Alex enjoys telling jokes;  in the same way/similarly/likewise ,his son adores funny stories.
• Correspondingly , the roles each of them played were soon different.

Contrasting Ideas

Usage : To show how things are different

• Nevertheless
• On the other hand
• Nonetheless
• Despite / in spite of
• In contrast (to)
• Alternatively
• Differing from
• Contrary to
• Unlike  most systems, this one is very easy to install.
• There is little chance that we will succeed in changing the law.  Nevertheless , it is important that we try.
• Laptops are convenient;  O n the other hand , they can be expensive.
• The problems are not serious.  Nonetheless , we shall need to tackle them soon.
• Despite/ In spite of  the rain, I went for a walk.
• In contrast to  the diligent bee, the butterfly flies hither and yon with no apparent purpose.
• The agency will make travel arrangements for you.  Alternatively , you can organize your own transport.
• Northern European countries had a great summer.  On the contrary/conversely , Southern Europe had poor weather.
• Even so , many old friends were shocked at the announcement.
• Differing from  his white colleagues, he preferred instructing his scholars to the ambition of acquiring personal renown.
• The situation in Ireland is quite  contrary to  this principle.

Linking Words for Essays | Images

Below is a handy list of words that are both useful and appropriate to academic language:

Other linking words to give an example or an illustration:

• In  this  case,
• In  another  case
• Take  the  case  of
• To  illustrate
• As  an
• Illustration
• To  take  another  example
• That  is
• As  shown  by
• As  illustrated  by
• As expressed by

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The Ultimate List of Linking Words for Your Essay

Let’s face it: You can’t write an essay (or any other writing piece) without linking words.

Also known as connecting words or transition words, they serve to make your writing flow and help those reading your work follow the flow of your thoughts, ideas , and  arguments .

This post is your guide to linking words and their role in writing. Not only will you learn the types of these words, examples, and reasons to use them, but you’ll also get a massive list of transition words and phrases as well as linking words PDF to download and use whenever necessary.

Table of Contents:

What are Linking Words?

Why use transition words in essays, linking words examples, addition/agreement/similarity, contrast/contradiction/limitation/opposition, comparison/concession/condition, clarification, cause/effect/result, emphasis/example, generalization, illustration, location/place/space, reason/reference, time/sequence, summary/conclusion/restatement.

• The Ultimate List of Linking Words: Download

Linking words are lexical items (words and phrases) we use to connect ideas in writing and get a reader to the next sentence or paragraph.

They aren’t about essay writing only:

Whether you write a fiction book,  marketing content , academic works,  autobiography , or poems, you’ll need to connect ideas. That’s what transition words do:

They link your thoughts and arguments into a chain to show how they relate to each other. Also known as transition words, these phrases often start a sentence or a paragraph. However, you’ll also use them in the middle of sentences to bring ideas together.

The most common places for linking words in essays are:

• the start of a paragraph
• the start of a sentence introducing a new idea or extending an argument 
• the beginning of a concluding statement

Essay linking words is an integral part of academic writing. Put it simply, you can’t write a paper without using them; otherwise, your writing won’t make any sense for readers.

Transition words for essay serve to:

• connect ideas in writing
• create a flow of thoughts and arguments for readers to understand what you want to say
• guide readers from one idea to another, demonstrating how they relate to each other
• hook readers  and encourage them to read the next sentence or paragraph
• add more information
• support or contrast a point
• show the result, conclude, demonstrate an effect of this or that point

Using essay maker and connecting words, each sentence and paragraph must pass readers on to the next one. These connecting words serve as an instrument to guide readers from one thought or point to the next.

Linking words examples are many, and it’s clear why: every piece of writing contains tons of connecting and transition words. Let’s take an essay sample from  Bid4Papers writers  to see the example of linking words in academic writing:

This one was an  essay introduction . 

Now, why not take a step further and look for essay linking words in  essay conclusions ?

Types and List of Linking Words to Use in Essays

Below you’ll find the ultimate list of transition words for essays by categories. Choose the role you need a word to play (reason, contrast, emphasis, restatement, etc.) and consider the corresponding table of transitions.

If you need the whole transition words list in one place, jump to the next category of this post to find the downloadable linking words pdf.

And now, for connecting words categories:

These words serve to add info to what you’ve previously stated, demonstrate the commonality between arguments, and support your thoughts.

Linking words for contrast is your instrument to show how things are different and provide counterarguments. They work best in  persuasive  and  critical  essays.

These lexical items will help you if you need to provide conditions to your statements, show how things are different/similar, or accept a point with reservation.

These words will help you with  personal  or  narrative essays: They are linking words in opinion writing that indicates you’re going to explore ideas in more detail.

Expository essays will win with these words too.

Cause and effect connecting words do what their name says exactly: demonstrating a cause of some point and providing the result of what has been done or started.

These words are for putting forward your point more forcefully, providing examples.

Perfect transition words for hypothesis essays , generalization lexical items serve to make a general statement you’ll then specify and prove in detail.

These words and phrases are for you to provide examples in essays.

Use these words to provide order and reference or clarify spatial relationships between your points or ideas.

These transitional words will help you demonstrate relationships between ideas and provide reasons for what and why has started or occurred.

Use these words in your essay when you need to indicate the time and order of what you say.

Restatement words will help you express an alternative to what you previously stated. They work for all essay types, including  rhetorical precis  and  dialectic essays .

Use summary and conclusion transitional phrases to sum up your points and come up with the final paragraph of your writing.

The Ultimate List of Connecting Words: Download

And now, for the most interesting and practical part:

Below you can find the linking words worksheet that gathers all the most commonly used transitional words in essays. Feel free to download this linking words PDF and refer to it every time you write an essay and experience writer’s block:

Do you need more guides and worksheets like this to assist you with academic writing? Please share your ideas in the comments, and our writers will be happy to help!

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Our Writing Guides

Topic sentences and signposts make an essay's claims clear to a reader. Good essays contain both.  Topic sentences   reveal the main point of a paragraph. They show the relationship of each paragraph to the essay's thesis, telegraph the point of a paragraph, and tell your reader what to expect in the paragraph that follows. Topic sentences also establish their relevance right away, making clear why the points they're making are important to the essay's main ideas. They argue rather than report.  Signposts , as their name suggests, prepare the reader for a change in the argument's direction. They show how far the essay's argument has progressed vis-ˆ-vis the claims of the thesis. 

Topic sentences and signposts occupy a middle ground in the writing process. They are neither the first thing a writer needs to address (thesis and the broad strokes of an essay's structure are); nor are they the last (that's when you attend to sentence-level editing and polishing). Topic sentences and signposts deliver an essay's structure and meaning to a reader, so they are useful diagnostic tools to the writer—they let you know if your thesis is arguable—and essential guides to the reader

Forms of Topic Sentences

 Sometimes topic sentences are actually two or even three sentences long. If the first makes a claim, the second might reflect on that claim, explaining it further. Think of these sentences as asking and answering two critical questions: How does the phenomenon you're discussing operate? Why does it operate as it does?

There's no set formula for writing a topic sentence. Rather, you should work to vary the form your topic sentences take. Repeated too often, any method grows wearisome. Here are a few approaches.

Complex sentences.   Topic sentences at the beginning of a paragraph frequently combine with a transition from the previous paragraph. This might be done by writing a sentence that contains both subordinate and independent clauses, as in the example below.

 Although  Young Woman with a Water Pitcher  depicts an unknown, middle-class woman at an ordinary task, the image is more than "realistic"; the painter [Vermeer] has imposed his own order upon it to strengthen it. 

This sentence employs a useful principle of transitions: always move from old to new information.  The subordinate clause (from "although" to "task") recaps information from previous paragraphs; the independent clauses (starting with "the image" and "the painter") introduce the new information—a claim about how the image works ("more than Ôrealistic'") and why it works as it does (Vermeer "strengthens" the image by "imposing order"). 

Questions.   Questions, sometimes in pairs, also make good topic sentences (and signposts).  Consider the following: "Does the promise of stability justify this unchanging hierarchy?" We may fairly assume that the paragraph or section that follows will answer the question. Questions are by definition a form of inquiry, and thus demand an answer. Good essays strive for this forward momentum.

Bridge sentences.   Like questions, "bridge sentences" (the term is John Trimble's) make an excellent substitute for more formal topic sentences. Bridge sentences indicate both what came before and what comes next (they "bridge" paragraphs) without the formal trappings of multiple clauses: "But there is a clue to this puzzle." 

Pivots.   Topic sentences don't always appear at the beginning of a paragraph. When they come in the middle, they indicate that the paragraph will change direction, or "pivot." This strategy is particularly useful for dealing with counter-evidence: a paragraph starts out conceding a point or stating a fact ("Psychologist Sharon Hymer uses the term Ônarcissistic friendship' to describe the early stage of a friendship like the one between Celie and Shug"); after following up on this initial statement with evidence, it then reverses direction and establishes a claim ("Yet ... this narcissistic stage of Celie and Shug's relationship is merely a transitory one. Hymer herself concedes . . . "). The pivot always needs a signal, a word like "but," "yet," or "however," or a longer phrase or sentence that indicates an about-face. It often needs more than one sentence to make its point.

Signposts operate as topic sentences for whole sections in an essay. (In longer essays, sections often contain more than a single paragraph.) They inform a reader that the essay is taking a turn in its argument: delving into a related topic such as a counter-argument, stepping up its claims with a complication, or pausing to give essential historical or scholarly background. Because they reveal the architecture of the essay itself, signposts remind readers of what the essay's stakes are: what it's about, and why it's being written. 

Signposting can be accomplished in a sentence or two at the beginning of a paragraph or in whole paragraphs that serve as transitions between one part of the argument and the next. The following example comes from an essay examining how a painting by Monet,  The Gare Saint-Lazare: Arrival of a Train,  challenges Zola's declarations about Impressionist art. The student writer wonders whether Monet's Impressionism is really as devoted to avoiding "ideas" in favor of direct sense impressions as Zola's claims would seem to suggest. This is the start of the essay's third section:

It is evident in this painting that Monet found his Gare Saint-Lazare motif fascinating at the most fundamental level of the play of light as well as the loftiest level of social relevance.  Arrival of a Train  explores both extremes of expression. At the fundamental extreme, Monet satisfies the Impressionist objective of capturing the full-spectrum effects of light on a scene.

 The writer signposts this section in the first sentence, reminding readers of the stakes of the essay itself with the simultaneous references to sense impression ("play of light") and intellectual content ("social relevance"). The second sentence follows up on this idea, while the third serves as a topic sentence for the paragraph. The paragraph after that starts off with a topic sentence about the "cultural message" of the painting, something that the signposting sentence predicts by not only reminding readers of the essay's stakes but also, and quite clearly, indicating what the section itself will contain. 

Copyright 2000, Elizabeth Abrams, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

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Can You Lose Your Native Tongue?

After moving abroad, I found my English slowly eroding. It turns out our first languages aren’t as embedded as we think.

Credit... Artwork by PABLO DELCÁN

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By Madeleine Schwartz

Madeleine Schwartz is a writer and editor who grew up speaking English and French. She has been living in Paris since 2020.

• May 14, 2024

It happened the first time over dinner. I was saying something to my husband, who grew up in Paris where we live, and suddenly couldn’t get the word out. The culprit was the “r.” For the previous few months, I had been trying to perfect the French “r.” My failure to do so was the last marker of my Americanness, and I could only do it if I concentrated, moving the sound backward in my mouth and exhaling at the same time. Now I was saying something in English — “reheat” or “rehash” — and the “r” was refusing to come forward. The word felt like a piece of dough stuck in my throat.

Listen to this article, read by Soneela Nankani

Other changes began to push into my speech. I realized that when my husband spoke to me in English, I would answer him in French. My mother called, and I heard myself speaking with a French accent. Drafts of my articles were returned with an unusual number of comments from editors. Then I told a friend about a spill at the grocery store, which — the words “conveyor belt” vanishing midsentence — took place on a “supermarket treadmill.” Even back home in New York, I found my mouth puckered into the fish lips that allow for the particularly French sounds of “u,” rather than broadened into the long “ay” sounds that punctuate English.

My mother is American, and my father is French; they split up when I was about 3 months old. I grew up speaking one language exclusively with one half of my family in New York and the other language with the other in France. It’s a standard of academic literature on bilingual people that different languages bring out different aspects of the self. But these were not two different personalities but two separate lives. In one version, I was living with my mom on the Upper West Side and walking up Columbus Avenue to get to school. In the other, I was foraging for mushrooms in Alsatian forests or writing plays with my cousins and later three half-siblings, who at the time didn’t understand a word of English. The experience of either language was entirely distinct, as if I had been given two scripts with mirroring supportive casts. In each a parent, grandparents, aunts and uncles; in each, a language, a home, a Madeleine.

I moved to Paris in October 2020, on the heels of my 30th birthday. This was both a rational decision and something of a Covid-spurred dare. I had been working as a journalist and editor for several years, specializing in European politics, and had reported across Germany and Spain in those languages. I had never professionally used French, in which I was technically fluent. It seemed like a good idea to try.

When I arrived in France, however, I realized my fluency had its limitations: I hadn’t spoken French with adults who didn’t share my DNA. The cultural historian Thomas Laqueur, who grew up speaking German at home in West Virginia, had a similar experience, as the linguist Julie Sedivy notes in “Memory Speaks,” her book about language loss and relearning her childhood Czech. Sedivy cites an essay of Laqueur’s in which he describes the first time he learned that German was not, in fact, a secret family language. He and his brother had been arguing over a Popsicle in front of the grocery store near his house:

A lady came up to us and said, in German, that she would give us a nickel so that we could each have a treat of our own. I don’t remember buying a second Popsicle, but I do remember being very excited at finding someone else of our linguistic species. I rushed home with the big news.

My own introduction to speaking French as an adult was less joyous. After reaching out to sources for a different article for this magazine with little success, I showed the unanswered emails to a friend. She gently informed me that I had been yelling at everyone I hoped to interview.

Compared with English, French is slower, more formal, less direct. The language requires a kind of politeness that, translated literally, sounds subservient, even passive-aggressive. I started collecting the stock phrases that I needed to indicate polite interaction. “I would entreat you, dear Madam ...” “Please accept, dear sir, the assurances of my highest esteem.” It had always seemed that French made my face more drawn and serious, as if all my energy were concentrated into the precision of certain vowels. English forced my lips to widen into a smile.

But going back to English wasn’t so easy, either. I worried about the French I learned somehow infecting my English. I edit a magazine, The Dial, which I founded in part to bring more local journalists and writers to an English-speaking audience. But as I worked on texts by Ukrainians or Argentines or Turks, smoothing over syntax and unusual idioms into more fluid English prose, I began to doubt that I even knew what the right English was.

Back in New York on a trip, I thanked the cashier at Duane Reade by calling him “dear sir.” My thoughts themselves seemed twisted in a series of interlocking clauses, as though I was afraid that being direct might make me seem rude. It wasn’t just that my French was getting better: My English was getting worse.

For a long time, a central question in linguistics was how people learn language. But in the past few decades, a new field of study called “language attrition” has emerged. It concerns not learning but forgetting: What causes language to be lost?

People who move to new countries often find themselves forgetting words in their first language, using odd turns of phrase or speaking with a newly foreign accent. This impermanence has led linguists to reconsider much of what was once assumed about language learning. Rather than seeing the process of becoming multilingual as cumulative, with each language complementing the next, some linguists see languages as siblings vying for attention. Add a new one to the mix, and competition emerges. “There is no age at which a language, even a native tongue, is so firmly cemented into the brain that it can’t be dislodged or altered by a new one,” Sedivy writes. “Like a household that welcomes a new child, a single mind can’t admit a new language without some impact on other languages already residing there.”

As my time in France hit the year mark and then the two-year mark, I began to worry about how much French was changing my English — that I might even be losing some basic ability to use the language I considered closest to my core. It wasn’t an idle concern. A few years earlier, when living in Berlin, I found the English of decades-long expats mannered and strange; they spoke more slowly and peppered in bits of German that sounded forced and odd. As an editor, I could see it in translators too: The more time people spent in their new language, the more their English prose took on a kind of Germanic overtone. Would the same thing happen to me?

Even languages that seem firmly rooted in the mind can be subject to attrition. “When you have two languages that live in your brain,” says Monika S. Schmid, a leader in the field of language attrition at the University of York, “every time you say something, every time you take a word, every time you put together a sentence, you have to make a choice. Sometimes one language wins out. And sometimes the other wins.” People who are bilingual, she says, “tend to get very, very good at managing these kinds of things and using the language that they want and not having too much interference between the two.” But even so, there’s often a toll: the accent, the grammar or a word that doesn’t sound quite right.

What determines whether a language sticks or not? Age, Schmid says, is an important factor. “If you look at a child that is 8, 9 or 10 years old, and see what that child could do with the language and how much they know — they’re basically fully fledged native speakers.” But just as they are good language learners, children are good language forgetters. Linguists generally agree that a language acquired in early childhood tends to have greater emotional resonance for its speaker. But a child who stops speaking a language before age 12 can completely lose it. For those who stop speaking a language in childhood, that language can erode — so much so that when they try to relearn it, they seem to have few, if any, advantages, Schmid says, compared with people learning that language from scratch. Even a language with very primal, deep connections can fade into the recesses of memory.

In her book, Sedivy cites a study conducted in France that tested a group of adults who were adopted from Korea between the ages of 3 and 8 . Taken into French homes, they quickly learned French and forgot their first language. The researchers compared these adults with a group of monolingual French speakers. The participants born in Korea could not identify Korean sentences significantly better than the French control group. Intimate moments of childhood can be lost, along with the language in which they took place.

Researchers have stressed that a first language used through later years can be remarkably resilient and often comes back when speakers return home. But even adults who move to a new country can find themselves losing fluency in their first language. Merel Keijzer, a linguist at the University of Groningen who studies bilingualism, surveyed a group of Dutch speakers who emigrated as adults to Australia. A classic theory of linguistic development, she told me, argues that new language skills are superimposed on older ones like layers of an onion. She thus expected that she would find a simple language reversion: The layers that were acquired later would be most likely to go first.

The reality was more complicated. In a paper Keijzer wrote with Schmid, she found that the Dutch speakers in Australia did not regress in the way that she predicted. “You saw more Dutch coming into their English, but you also saw more English coming into their Dutch,” she says. The pattern wasn’t simple reversion so much as commingling. They “tended to just be less able to separate their languages.” As they aged, the immigrants didn’t go back to their original language; they just had difficulty keeping the two vocabularies apart.

In “Alfabet/Alphabet: A Memoir of a First Language,” the poet Sadiqa de Meijer, who was born in Amsterdam, discusses her own experiences speaking Dutch in Canada. She worries that her language has become “amusingly formal” now that she doesn’t speak it regularly. A friend tells her that she now sounds “like a book.” Unless she is in the Netherlands, she writes: “Dutch is primarily a reading language to me now. The skill of casual exchanges is in gradual atrophy.” Her young daughter does not want to speak Dutch. “Stop Dutching me!” she says. For De Meijer, “people who speak a language they learned after early childhood live in chronic abstraction.”

This state of abstraction was one that I feared. On some level, the worry felt trivial: In a world where languages are constantly being lost to English, who would complain about a lack of contact with the language responsible for devouring so many others? The Europeans that I interviewed for work deplored the imperial nature of English; the only way to have their ideas heard was to express them in a language imposed by globalization. But what I missed was not the universal English of academics nor the language of peppy LinkedIn posts but the particular sounds that I grew up with: the near-rudeness of the English spoken in New York and its rushed cadence, the way that the bottoms of words sometimes were swallowed and cut off, as if everyone already knew what was being suggested and didn’t need to actually finish the thought. I missed the variegated vocabulary of New York, where English felt like an international, rather than a globalized language, enriched with the particular words of decades of immigrants. I began to listen to “The Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC, a public-radio station in New York, with strange fervor, finding myself excited whenever someone called in from Staten Island.

The idea that my facility with English might be weakening brought up complicated feelings, some more flattering than others. When a journalism student wrote to ask if I would be a subject in his dissertation about “the experiences of nonnative English-speaking journalists” in media, I took the email as a personal slight. Were others noticing how much I struggled to find the right word?

A change in language use, whether deliberate or unconscious, often affects our sense of self. Language is inextricably tied up with our emotions; it’s how we express ourselves — our pain, our love, our fear. And that means, as Schmid, the language-attrition expert at the University of York, has pointed out, that the loss of a language can be tied up with emotion too. In her dissertation, Schmid looked at German-speaking Jews who emigrated to England and the United States shortly before World War II and their relationship with their first language. She sent questionnaires asking them how difficult it was for them to speak German now and how they used the language — “in writing in a diary, for example, or while dreaming.”

One woman wrote: “I was physically unable to speak German. ... When I visited Germany for 3 or 4 days in 1949 — I found myself unable to utter one word of German although the frontier guard was a dear old man. I had to speak French in order to answer his questions.”

Her husband concurred: “My wife in her reply to you will have told you that she could and did not want to speak German because they killed her parents. So we never spoke German to each other, not even intimately.”

Another wrote: “I feel that my family did a lot for Germany and for Düsseldorf, and therefore I feel that Germany betrayed me. America is my country, and English is my language.”

Schmid divided the émigrés into three groups, tying each of them to a point in Germany’s history. The first group left before September 1935, that is, before the Nuremberg race laws. The second group left between the enactment of those laws and Kristallnacht, in November 1938. The last group comprised those who left between Kristallnacht and August 1939, just before Germany invaded Poland.

What Schmid found was that of all the possible factors that might affect language attrition, the one that had a clear impact was how much of the Nazi regime they experienced. Emigration date, she wrote, outweighed every other factor; those who left last were the ones who were the least likely to be perceived as “native” speakers by other Germans, and they often had a weaker relationship to that language:

It appears that what is at the heart of language attrition is not so much the opportunity to use the language, nor the age at the time of emigration. What matters is the speaker’s identity and self-perception. ... Someone who wants to belong to a speech community and wants to be recognized as a member is capable of behaving accordingly over an extremely long stretch of time. On the other hand, someone who rejects that language community — or has been rejected and persecuted by it — may adapt his or her linguistic behavior so as not to appear to be a member any longer.

In other words, the closeness we have with a language is not just a product of our ability to use it but of other emotional valences as well. If language is a form of identity, it is one that may be changed by circumstance or even by force of will.

Stories of language loss often mask other, larger losses. Lily Wong Fillmore, a linguist who formerly taught at the University of California, Berkeley, once wrote about a family who emigrated to California several years after leaving China’s Canton province in 1989. One child, Kai-fong, was 5 when he arrived in the United States. At this point in his life, he could speak and understand only Cantonese. While his younger sister learned English almost immediately and made friends easily, Kai-fong, who was shy, did not have the same experience in school. His classmates called him “Chi, chi, chia pet” because his hair stuck out. Boys mocked the polyester pants his grandmother sewed for him. Pretty soon, he and his classmates were throwing rocks at one another.

Once Kai-fong started learning English, he stopped speaking Cantonese, even to members of his own family. As Wong Fillmore writes: “When Grandmother spoke to him, he either ignored her or would mutter a response in English that she did not understand. ... The more the adults scolded, the more sullen and angry Kai-fong became.” By 10, he was known as Ken and no longer understood Cantonese well. The family began to split along linguistic lines. Two children born in the United States never learned Cantonese at all. It is a story, Wong Fillmore writes, “that many immigrant families have experienced firsthand.”

The recognition in linguistics of the ease with which mastery of a language can erode comes as certain fundamentals of the field are being re-examined — in particular, the idea that a single, so-called native language shapes your innermost self. That notion is inextricable from 19th-century nationalism, as Jean-Marc Dewaele, a professor at the University of London, has argued. In a paper written with the linguists Thomas H. Bak and Lourdes Ortega, Dewaele notes that many cultures link the first words you speak to motherhood: In French, your native language is a langue maternelle, in Spanish, lengua materna, in German, Muttersprache. Turkish, which calls your first language ana dili, follows the same practice, as do most of the languages of India. Polish is unusual in linking language to a paternal line. The term for native language is język ojczysty, which is related to ojciec, the Polish word for father.

Regarding a first language as having special value is itself the product of a worldview that places national belonging at the heart of individual life. The phrase “native speaker” was first used by the politician and philologist George Perkins Marsh, who spoke of the importance of “home-born English.” It came with more than a light prejudicial overtone. Among Marsh’s recommendations was the need for “special precautions” to protect English from “becoming debased and vulgarized ... by association with depraved beings and unworthy themes.”

The idea of a single, native language took hold in linguistics in the mid-20th century, a uniquely monolingual time in human history. American culture, with its emphasis on assimilation, was especially hostile to the notion that a single person might inhabit multiple languages. Parents were discouraged from teaching their children languages other than English, even if they expressed themselves best in that other language. The simultaneous acquisition of multiple tongues was thought to cause delays in language development and learning. As Aneta Pavlenko, a linguist at Drexel University and the University of York, has noted, families who spoke more than one language were looked down on by politicians and ignored by linguists through the 1970s. “Early bilinguals,” those who learned two languages in childhood, “were excluded from research as ‘unusual’ or ‘messy’ subjects,” she writes. By contrast, late bilinguals, those who learned a second language in school or adulthood, were treated as “representative speakers of their first language.” The fact that they spoke a second language was disregarded. This focus on the importance of a single language may have obscured the historical record, giving the impression that humans are more monolingual and more rigid in their speech than they are.

Pavlenko has sought to show that far from being the historical standard, speaking just one language may be the exception. Her most recent book, a collection of essays by different scholars, takes on the historical “amnesia” that researchers have about the prevalence of multilingualism across the globe. The book looks at examples where multiple languages were the norm: medieval Sicily, where the administrative state processed paperwork in Latin, Greek and Arabic, or the early Pennsylvania court system, where in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was not unusual to hold hearings in German. Even today, Pavlenko sees a split: American academics working in English, often their only language, regard it as the standard for research. Europeans, obliged to work in English as a second language, are more likely to consider that fluency in only one language may be far rarer than conflict among multiple tongues.

According to Dewaele and his colleagues, “the notion of a single native language, determined entirely by the earliest experiences, is also not supported by neurology and neuroscience.” While there are many stories about patients who find themselves speaking their first language after a stroke or dementia, it’s also common for the recovered patients to use the language they spoke right before the accident occurred.

All of this has led some linguists to push against the idea of the “native” speaker, which, as Dewaele says, “has a dark side.” It can be restrictive, stigmatizing accents seen as impure, or making people feel unwelcome in a new home. Speakers who have studied a language, Dewaele says, often know its grammar better than those who picked it up with their family. He himself prefers the term “first-language user” — a slightly clunky solution that definitively decouples the language you speak from the person you are.

Around the time I realized that I had most likely become the No. 1 WNYC listener outside the tristate area, I started to seek out writers who purposefully looked away from their “native” language. Despite the once commonly held belief that a writer could produce original works only in a “mother tongue,” wonderful books have been written in acquired, rather than maternal, languages. Vladimir Nabokov began to write in English shortly before he moved to the United States. French was a vehicle for Samuel Beckett to push his most innovative ideas. “It’s only in Italian that I feel I’m at the center of myself,” Jhumpa Lahiri, who started writing in Italian in her 40s, said in a recent Paris Review interview. “It’s only when I’m writing in Italian that I manage to turn off all those other, judgmental voices, except perhaps my own.”

Could I begin to think about different languages not as two personas I had to choose between but as different moods that might shift depending on circumstance? Aspects of French that I used to find cold began to reveal advantages. The stiff way of addressing strangers offered its own benefits, new ways in which I could conserve personal privacy in a world that constantly demanded oversharing. My conversations in French changed, too: I was finally talking to others not as a child but as an adult.

The author Yoko Tawada, who moved to Germany from Japan in her early 20s, works on books in both Japanese and German; she writes fluidly in both languages. Tawada’s most recent novel to be translated into English, “Scattered All Over the Earth,” explores a future in which Japan is sunken underwater, lost to climate change. A Japanese speaker, possibly the last on earth, looks for a man who she hopes shares her language, only to find that he has been pretending to be Japanese while working at a sushi restaurant.

Using new languages, or even staying within the state of multilingualism, can provide distinct creative advantages. Tawada plays with homonyms and the awkwardness that comes from literal translation. What emerges in her work is not a single language but a betweenness, a tool for the author to invent as she is using it, the scholar Yasemin Yildiz has noted. Yildiz quotes an essay by Tawada called “From the Mother Language to the Language Mother,” in which a narrator describes the ways that learning German taught her to see language differently: Writing in the second language was not a constraint, but a new form of invention. Tawada calls her typewriter a Sprachmutter, or “language mother” — an inversion of the German word for mother tongue. In a first language, we can rarely experience “playful joy,” she writes. “Thoughts cling so closely to words that neither the former nor the latter can fly freely.” But a new language is like a staple remover, which gets rid of everything that sticks and clings.

If the scholarly linguistic consensus once pushed people toward monolingualism, current research suggesting that language acquisition may shift with our circumstances may allow speakers of multiple languages to reclaim self-understanding. In Mirene Arsanios’s chapbook “Notes on Mother Tongues: Colonialism, Class and Giving What You Don’t Have,” Arsanios describes being unsure which language to speak with her son. Her mother, from Venezuela, spoke Spanish, her father, from Lebanon, spoke French; neither feels appropriate to pass on. “Like other languages originating in histories of colonization, my language always had a language problem, something akin to the evacuation of a ‘first’ or ‘native’ tongue — a syntax endemic to the brain and to the heart.”

Is the answer a multitude of languages or a renunciation of one? “Having many languages is my language’s dominant language,” she writes. She must become comfortable with the idea that what she is transmitting to her son is not a single language but questions and identities that are never quite resolved. At the end of the text, she describes speaking with her son “in a tongue reciprocal, abundant and motherless.”

The scholars I talked to stressed that each bilingual speaker is unique: Behind the general categories is a human life, with all its complications. Language acquisition and use may be messier than was envisioned by rigid distinctions of native and nonnative and, at the same time, more individual.

My own grandmother, my mother’s mother, grew up speaking German in Vienna in what was itself a multilingual household. Her mother was Austrian and her father, born in what is now Serbia, spoke German with a thick Hungarian accent. She and her family moved throughout Europe during World War II; to Budapest, Trieste, Lille and eventually escaped through Portugal on a boat carrying cork to New York.

When they arrived in the United States, her mother did not want her to speak German in public. “She felt the animosity to it,” my grandmother recently told me. But my grandmother still wished to. German was also the language of Schiller, she would say. She didn’t go out of her way to speak German, but she didn’t forget it either. She loved German poetry, much of which she still recites, often unprompted, at 95.

When I mentioned Schmid’s research to her, she was slightly dismissive of the idea that her own language use might be shaped by trauma. She said that she found the notion of not speaking German after World War II somewhat absurd, mostly because, to her ear, Hitler spoke very bad German. She berated me instead for not asking about her emotional relationship to French, which she spoke as a schoolgirl in Lille, or Italian, which she spoke in Trieste. Each was the source of memories that might wax and wane as she recalled the foreign words.

Recently, she reconnected with an old classmate from her childhood in Vienna, who also fled Europe during the war, after she recognized her friend’s picture in The New York Post. They speak together in English. Her friend Ruth, she notes, speaks English with a German accent, but does not speak German anymore.

Madeleine Schwartz lives in Paris, where she is founder and editor in chief of The Dial, a magazine of international reporting and writing. She was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2023 and teaches journalism at Sciences Po Paris.

Read by Soneela Nankani

Narration produced by Tanya Pérez

Engineered by Brian St. Pierre

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