Lesson Topic: Using Connectors and Words that Add

to Ideas.

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. It has hundreds
of the most respected magazines and journals in
the world.

Look at these two sentences. Is there anything wrong with

them? There is nothing wrong with them, but a word that connects
these two sentences is often added. Adding a connector would
clearly show a relationship between the two sentences and ideas.

In this lesson, we would like to introduce connectors and words

that are commonly used in professional, business, and university
writing. Although the words have different grammatical names,
they share one thing in common: they all continue or add to ideas
that were written in the preceding sentence.

Additionally, Besides that, Not only...but also

Also Furthermore, Too
And In addition,
As well Moreover,

These words are not interchangeable. In other words, you cannot

remove one of these words and add any other. The best way to
explain how to use these words is to simply give you
examples. One thing they all have in common is that they are
usually attached to clauses. That means they are attached to a
group of words that contains a subject and a verb. For more
information on clauses, see our lessons on sentence
fragmentsand run-on sentences.

We will use the same sentences in order to illustrate how the

words are used and to show their different positions in the
sentences. The positions of the words that we show you are the
most common but not necessarily the only positions.

Moreover,
 The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one
of the best places to do research. Moreover, it has
hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.

In addition,

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. In addition, it
has hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.

Furthermore,

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. Furthermore, it
has hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.

Also

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. It also has
hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.
*The word also comes before the verb. If the verb is a form of to be, also is
placed after the verb.

As well

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. It has hundreds
of the most respected magazines and journals in
the world as well.

Too

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. It has hundreds
of the most respected magazines and journals in
the world, too.
Additionally,

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. Additionally, it
has hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.

And

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research, and it has
hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.

Not only. . . but also

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is not

only one of the best places to do research but
alsohas hundreds of the most respected
magazines and journals in the world.
*The subject after but also is usually omitted if but and also remain together, and
the subject is the same for both clauses (parts) of the sentence.

Besides that,

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one

of the best places to do research. Besides that, it
has hundreds of the most respected magazines and
journals in the world.
*That refers to what was said in the first sentence. Though this use of the
word besides is not written often, it is commonly used in speech. Besides must
be followed by an object.

Quiz

Directions: Rewrite the following sentences with the connectors

and words we learned in this lesson.

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. She tells

some of the most interesting stories I have ever heard.
1.) Additionally,

____________________________________________________
2.) In addition,

____________________________________________________
3.) Too

____________________________________________________
4.) Also

____________________________________________________
5.) Furthermore,

____________________________________________________
6.) Besides that,

____________________________________________________
7.) And

____________________________________________________
8.) Moreover,

____________________________________________________
9.) As well

____________________________________________________
10.) Not only...but also

____________________________________________________

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. She tells some of the most

interesting stories I have ever heard.

1.) Additionally,

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. Additionally, she tells some of the

most interesting stories I have ever heard.

2.) In addition
My professor is an extremely fascinating person. In addition, she tells some of the
most interesting stories I have ever heard.

3.) Too

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. She tells some of the most interesting
stories I have ever heard, too.

4.) Also

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. She also tells some of the most
interesting stories I have ever heard.

5.) Furthermore,

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. Furthermore, she tells some of the

most interesting stories I have ever heard.

6.) Besides that,

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. Besides that, she tells some of the
most interesting stories I have ever heard.

7.) And

My professor is an extremely fascinating person, and she tells some of the most
interesting stories I have ever heard.

8.) Moreover,

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. Moreover, she tells some of the most
interesting stories I have ever heard.

9.) As well

My professor is an extremely fascinating person. She tells some of the most interesting
stories I have ever heard as well.

10.) Not only...but also

My professor is not only an extremely fascinating person but also tells some of the
most interesting stories I have ever heard.
 Rules to Remember!
These words are not interchangeable. In other words, you cannot remove one of these words
1 and add any other.
In general, do not use two of these words or phrases in the same sentence. The following
2 sentence is incorrect:

My professor is an extremely fascinating

person. Furthermore,she tells some of the most interesting
stories I have ever heardas well.
In general, when you use these words and connectors, make sure the two sentences/ideas are
3 related. The second sentence/idea should add information that is specifically related to the
first idea. Take a look at the following example:

The library on 5th Avenue in New York City is one of the best
places to do research. Furthermore, lots of people like to
go to libraries to read.

This first sentence discusses the importance and usefulness of the library on 5th Avenue in
New York City. The second sentence tells you that people like to go to libraries. Although
these sentences both talk about libraries, the second sentence (which has furthermore) does
not add information related to the library on 5th Avenue in New York City. Therefore, the
second sentence inappropriately uses furthermore.
Don't overuse connectors! It is unnecessary to use them everywhere in your writing. Use
4 connectors when you want to do the following:

 clearly show a relationship between ideas

 add information that builds on the idea in the preceding sentence

We highly recommend you look at our lessons on semicolons and commas.

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