Homonyms, remember, are words that sound the same but mean

different things, such as:

 

Brake which is a restraint (as in the brake pedal that stops the car) and 

 

Break which has many meanings, including to destroy or to smash. 

 

One, which means single or individual or the quantity 1

 

                                         and

 

Won, the past tense of the verb to win, which means to prevail.

 

Listed below are some of the common homonyms and other words that sound so similar that often students become confused.  As I stated earlier, homonyms are particularly dangerous for those of you who have learned your vocabulary chiefly through listening to others speak, watching TV or movies and/or listening to the radio

 

As we have gone along, I have pointed out some of these very confusing words. I will now list them so that it is convenient for you to refer to them as you practice your reading and writing skills:

 

DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF USING

ONE HOMONYM INSTEAD OF ANOTHER!

 

In most instances, this is a sure sign to a teacher that the individual has a very limited vocabulary and poor command of English.

​

Dangerous Homonyms A to Z

and other words that sound similar and are easily confused

 

A. THERE/ THEIR/ THEY’RE: one of the most dangerous of English homonyms. 

 

Many students continue to make this academically horrible mistake, whether English is their first language or not, whether they graduated from an American high school or have even spoken English all their lives.

 

• There means present, in attendance, at hand, near, or nearby.

 

This word has to do with space and time, and is used in many expressions, such as:

 

There are, there is, there was, there were, over there, and there and back again, 

                        and

                                    ‘There is more than one way to skin a cat.’ 

(an American idiom, meaning that there is more than one way to do things –

see Chapter X for more about American idioms.)

 

This is one of those times when I must repeat myself as loudly as possible: 

 

DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF CONFUSING ‘THEIR’ AND ‘THERE’ IN FORMAL WRITING!

 

• Their is a plural possessive pronoun and means one thing and one thing only: belonging to them. 

 

Thus, you will never read or write the following expressions:

 

            Their is or their was, etc.

 

• The last of these three homonyms is the contraction they’re.

 

They’re means one thing and one thing only: they are. It never means anything else. It is the combination of the plural pronoun they and are, the third person plural of the verb to be.

​

When considering contractions, remember that they are acceptable ONLY if you use them correctly.  The best advice I can give is not to use contractions UNLESS you are absolutely sure that you are using the form of the word properly. 

 

In general, you cannot make such a mistake if you do not use contractions.

 

B. ITS/ IT’S: Another homonym using a contraction is the word its or it’s.

 

• It’s is a contraction for it is, as in the sentence:

 

“It’s about time that student came to class and participated in the discussions.”

 

“It is about time that student came to class and participated in the discussions.”

 

• “Its” is a possessive meaning, ‘belonging to it’, as in the sentence:

 

“The cover is loose; its fastenings have broken.”

 

This sentence can be re-written either of the following two ways without changing the meaning at all: 

 

‘The cover is loose because the cover’s fastenings have broken.’

‘The cover is loose because the fastenings of the cover have broken.’

 

C. TO, TWO, TOO:  We have already discussed the word too and that it should NEVER BE USED in formal writing.

 

Too is informal for and or very, as noted in the last chapter.

 

To is a preposition used with the infinitive form of every verb in English, as in, to understand, to know, to comprehend, to exist, or to learn.

 

To is also a preposition indicating direction and means in the direction of, toward, and on the way to, as in the sentence:

 “On the way to school, the student read the chapter assigned for the day.”

 

• “On the way to school, the student read the chapter assigned

 

You will need to use this word almost constantly. 

 

• ‘Two’ means the quantity (number) 2 and nothing else, as in the sentence:

 

“Those two students are the best in the class because they always study and complete their assignments.”

 

D. ACCEPT/EXCEPT: This is one of those instances when the homonyms not only sound alike but also actually have opposite (or nearly opposite) meanings. 

 

• to accept is a verb which means to include, believe, recognize, agree to, admit, acknowledge, allow, agree to, consent, receive, take, put up with, endure, ‘tolerate’, take on, undertake, or assume, as in the sentences:

 

 “I accept your gift.”

 

 “The student accepted the assignment with enthusiasm.”

 

• to except is a preposition which means but, excluding, or not including, as in the sentences:

 

 “The student read every chapter except for the one assigned for today.”

 

Note also that the word except’ is only slightly different than the word ‘expect’. Once again, owning your words (knowing your spelling) will help in such situations.

​

E. THAN/ THEN: not a true homonym, but the words belong here because students confuse them. (Notice I could have written this informally: students get them confused).

 

• Than is a word of comparison, and this is the only way to use it, as in the sentence:

 

 “This student studied harder than that one and surely will pass.”

“My dog is bigger than yours.”

 

•  Then is an adverb with many meanings relating to time, timing, sequence, and/or logic:

 

Then can mean after that, next, afterward, subsequently, followed by, at that time, or at that moment, as in the sentence:

 

           “First Socrates drank the poison, and then he died”.

 

 Then can mean in that case, so therefore, therefore, or it follows that, as in the sentence:

 

 “If the student didn’t study, then it is not a surprise that she didn’t learn.”

 

 Then is often used to express the results (consequences) of an action as the back end of the expression “if…then”, as in the sentence:

 

 “If the students study hard, then they will learn to read and write English well.”

 

F. TAUGHT/ TAUT/THOUGHT: although the third word, thought, is not a true homonym, the other two are. Students frequently confuse these words because of the way others pronounce them:

 

• Taught is the past tense of the verb to teach, as in: 

 

                        “The teacher taught the class to write better.”

 

• Thought is a noun meaning an idea, as in:

 

                        “A sentence is a complete thought.”

 

• Thought is also the past tense of the verb to think, as in: 

 

“The teacher thought the student could improve if she worked harder.”

 

• Taut can mean tight, stretched tightly, rigid, stiff, extended, firm, or inflexible.

 

• Taut can also mean tense, worried, anxious, nervous, or on edge.

 

Slang words for taut include wired and strung out.

Do not use these (or any other slang words) in formal writing.

 

NB: Be careful not to confuse these words with the words though, although and tough, which look very similar but have very different meanings: 

 

            Both although and though both mean even if, despite the fact that,                                               nonetheless, nevertheless and however. 

            Tough means hard, strong, harsh, sturdy or rough.

 

G. WIVES/WIFE’S and LIVES/LIFE’S: 

 

The context in which students become confused with these sound alike words is when they begin to write about their own lives. This usually happens in beginning writing courses (called remedial or below college level; these classes are designed to bring the student up to college level writing) because many college professors believe that asking students to write about themselves accomplishes two goals: it requires the students to think and guarantees that the students will have something to say. You should expect this to happen to you!

 

      The apostrophe before the letter S is used for singular possessive forms:       ’s 

      The letter S followed by the apostrophe is used for plural possessive forms:   s’

 

Wife is the singular form meaning ‘one female spouse’.

Wives is the plural of ‘wife’ and means ‘more than one wife’.

Wife’s is the singular possessive form and means ‘belonging to the wife’

Wives’ is the plural possessive form and means ‘belonging to the wives’

 

The same is true for “life’s” and “lives”:

 

Life is the singular form meaning ‘one existence’ or ‘one living being’, as in the sentence:                                   

 

“This is my life.”

 

Life’s is the singular possessive form and means ‘belonging to life’, as in the sentence:

                  “Curing cancer has been her life’s work.”

 

Lives is the plural of ‘life’ and means more than one life, as in the sentence:

 

                  “It is said that a cat has nine lives.”

 

Lives is also third person singular for the verb to live, as in the sentence:

 

                  “Even after 911, he still lives in New York City.”

 

Lives’ is the plural possessive form of the word life and means ‘belonging to the lives’, as in the sentence:

 

                  “Their lives’ successes and failures depended on the weather.”

 

Which is better stated as: “The successes of their lives depended on the weather.”

 

H. THINKS/THINGS:

 

• Thinks is the third person singular of the verb to think:

 

Conjugation of the verb to think (present tense):

 

     Case                                 Singular                       Plural

first person                          I think                          We think

second person                     You think                     You think                     

third person                         He, she, it thinks        They think                   

 

• Thing’ is the plural of thing, a noun that means just about anything except a person. Among other possibilities, a thing could be an object, an event, a device, an item, an entity, a gadget or even an article.

 

The only acceptable use of thing in formal writing is when you refer to a living thing. 

 

Otherwise, stay away from this word, as it is vague and imprecise and generally means that you, the writer, cannot think of a better word to use.

 

​I. WOMAN/WOMEN and MAN/MEN: 

​

These are words with tricky plural and possessive forms.

​

Woman is the singular form, meaning one female person.

 

Women is the plural form, meaning more than one woman.

 

Woman’s is the singular possessive form meaning belonging to the woman.

 

Women’s is the plural possessive form meaning belonging to the women.

 

Man is the singular form, meaning one male person.

 

Men is the plural form, meaning more than one male person.

 

Man’s is the singular possessive form meaning belonging to the man.

 

Men’s is the plural possessive form meaning belonging to the men.

 

J. SIT/SEAT/SET: these are tricky sound alike words

 

·      Sit is from the verb to sit and means to be place oneself in a sitting position, as in the sentence:

 

 “Please sit down on the couch and rest.”

 

•  Seat, on the other hand, is a noun indicating what one sits on, as in the sentence:

 

 “The seat designated for the judge is placed high on a pedestal overlooking the courtroom.”

 

Some of the confusion students experience comes from a related word, the verb to be seated which means ‘to sit oneself down’.  This is usually the action of moving from a standing position to a sitting position, as in the sentence:

 

 “After the judge seated himself, the people who were standing were asked to be seated.”

 

•  Set is from the verb to set and means to place, as in the sentence:

 

 “Please set the pen on the table.”  This means to place the pen on the table.

•  Set also means a group of items that belong together, as in the sentence:

​

“Don’t buy your child a set of drums or you will get a headache!”

​

K. ADVISE/ADVICE:

 

• Advice is a noun meaning recommendation, counsel, suggestion, guidance, opinion, assistance or instruction, as in the sentence:

 

 “The guidance counselor gave the student excellent advice.”

 

• To advise is a verb meaning to recommend, to give advice, to direct, to give an opinion, to inform, to tell, to let know, to make aware, or to notify. It is the act of giving advice.

 

 “The guidance counselor advised the student and gave her excellent advice.”

 

Some of the confusion on the part of students relates to the word advisement, which on a college campus usually refers to the process during which a student receives advice from a counselor with regard to what course of study to pursue of what classes to take. Typically, new students are advised for a few years before they are able to select their own classes.

 

L. THROUGH/THREW/ not THRU:

 

•  Thru IS NOT A WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.  It is often written as an abbreviation for the word through. 

 

DO NOT USE THIS IN FORMAL WRITING.

 

•  Through, when used as a preposition, means during, throughout, in the course of, all through, because of, due to, by means of or via. For example:

​

 “The boys and girls walked through the door of the school for the first time.”

 

•  Through, when used as an adverb means from end to end or from beginning to end. For example:

 

 “The teacher asked the students to read the play all the way through to the last act.”

 

• Through, when used as an adjective, means finished, done, over, complete or concluded. For example: 

 

“Please pass the potatoes when you are through serving yourself.”

​

• Threw is the past tense of the verb to throw, as in the sentence:

 

“The teacher threw the student out of the classroom because her cell phone was turned on and was constantly ringing and interrupting the class.” (Something a student should never do!)

 

M. BEEN/BEING: the word to be in English confounds many students.  

 

If I were to state this informally, I might say,

 

“It has so many forms and so many uses that a lot of times students get it wrong.”

 

If I were to state this formally, I might say,

 

“There are a great variety of forms and uses of the verb to be; consequently, students are frequently in error.”

 

• Been is the past participle of the verb to be, as in the sentence:

 

“For the past two weeks, the teacher has been trying to help the students understand this lesson.”

 

• Being is a noun that means life form, organism, creature, person' or individual. It is often used in the expression human being.

 

• Being is also the present participle of the verb to be, as in the sentence:

 

“Being that the teacher was late for more than 20 minutes, the student left the classroom.” 

 

This is an informal expression and should not be used in formal writing for college.

 

• Being is also used to form the progressive tenses, which indicate that the action referred to is continuing, as in the sentences:

 “Right now, I am being taught proper English.”

 

 “He is being taught a new language.”

 

 “Yesterday, while I was being driven to work, we had a car accident.”

 

You should avoid these progressive tenses (which use being) in formal writing as much as possible, as these tenses indicate on-going action (action that continues) and should be reserved for such situations.

 

N. ESPECIALLY/ SPECIAL/ SPECIALLY/ not ESPECIAL

 

•  Especial is NOT AN ENGLISH WORD although it is a word in Spanish.

 

DO NOT USE THIS WORD!

 

•  Special is an adjective meaning particular, extraordinary, unusual, exclusive, elite, exceptional, distinctive or unique (‘unique’ actually means one of a kind or the only one). For example:

​

 “The poem he wrote for his mother’s birthday was very special;”

 

•  Especially and specially are the adverbial forms of the adjective special and have approximately the same meaning: particularly, specifically, expressly or individually. For example:

 

 “The poem he wrote for his mother’s birthday was especially nice.”

“The present was purchased specially for me.”

 

NB: Generally is an opposite of especially or specially.

​

O. WHETHER/WEATHER:

 

•  is a noun meaning what is happening outside in the atmosphere or the climate conditions, for example:

 

 “The weather outside was frightful.”

 

•  Weather is also a verb, meaning to endure, withstand, or survive, as in the sentence:

 

 “The old house was so unstable we were not sure it could weather the storm.”

 

Slang for this would be to sit out or ride out or stick out or get through.

 

NB: DO NOT EVER USE SLANG EXPRESSIONS IN 

FORMAL SPEAKING OR WRITING.

 

• Or weather can mean erode, season, toughen, harden or wear away.

 

 “The surface of the table was weathered by the many cold winters and hot summers.”

 

•  Whether means if, and is a much better word to use, so use it whenever possible.  Whether or not you use the expression properly (as I just did), you should nevertheless attempt it.

​

Acceptable: “It does not matter if he is a friend or an enemy, bind his wounds.”

 

Better: “Whether friend or foe, bind his wounds.”

 

 whether or not” Often whether is used with or not to mean if or not

 

Acceptable: “The students were told to use the words if they owned them or not.”

Better: “The students were told to use the words whether or not they owned them.”

 

P. SAVE/SAFE Both of these words have several uses and meanings which adds to the confusion students have:

 

•  Save is the present tense of the verb to save, which has three meanings:

 

To save can mean to put aside, put away, keep, accumulate, or collect as in the sentence:

 

 “She was saving her pennies for a rainy day.”

 

To save can mean to rescue, recover, salvage, revive, or resuscitate.

 

 “The firefighter arrived and put out the fire: they saved the day.”

 

To save can mean to avoid, prevent, stop, preclude, or avert.

 

• As a preposition, save can mean but, except, apart, from, or with the exception of, as in the sentence:  

 

“All the cats were all okay after the storm, save for the young one who came in last.”

 

•  Safe, as a noun, means a structure or hidden location that is a locked and secured for the storage of valuables, as in the sentence:

 

 “They kept all of the valuables locked up in the safe.”

 

•  Safe, as an adjective, can mean secure, protected, not dangerous, harmless, innocent, reliable, dependable, trustworthy, careful, cautious, prudent, or sound, as in the sentence: “The strong roof kept us all safe from the storm.”

 

•  to be safe means to be secure, as in the sentence:

 

       “She wanted to be safe, so she locked all her doors.”

 

Q. LOST/LOSS/LOOSE/LOSE:

 

• Lost is an adjective meaning misplaced, confused, missing, vanished, nowhere to be found, bewildered, stumped, puzzled, perplexed, abandoned, alone, or disoriented. In slang usage, gone. 

 

“The toy the child was playing with yesterday is lost and cannot be found.”

 

• Lost is a noun meaning defeat, failure, bereavement, deficit, shortfall, deficiency, harm, damage, injury, or hurt.

 

 “The soccer players were upset about their loss to the championship team.”

​

To lose is a verb with five different meanings:

 

​To lose means to misplace, be unable to find, mislay, or drop. 

                        For example:

 

       “Keep track of your money or you may lose it.”

 

To lose means to be defeated, be beaten, fail, or suffer defeat. For example:

 

          “The entire team must practice or they will lose the game.”

 

To lose means to evade, elude, escape, liberate yourself from, leave behind

For example:

 

 “He will lose the people following him if he goes too fast.”

​

​To lose means to waste, squander, exhaust, consume, or use up

For example:

 

            “All his money was lost on gambling.”           or

 

            “He lost all his money by drinking and staying out at night.”

 

To lose means to be bereaved, to suffer the loss o’

 

            “The daughter was upset that she lost her mother.”

 

(Meaning that her mother died.)

 

Loose is an adjective which can mean, among other things,  movable,  unfastened, not tied up, baggy, slack, loose-fitting, roomy, voluminous, ample, unchained, or untied, as in the sentence:

 

“The dress was very loose fitting because she lost so much weight.”

​

 

R. PATIENCE/PATIENTS/PATIENT/IMPATIENT

• Patients is the plural of patient, a noun meaning the client treated by a medical doctor or staff person.  People in hospitals are referred to as patients. This meaning of the word does not have any relationship to the following meanings, even though the spelling is similar:

 

“The doctor had a good bedside manner with her patients.”

 

• Patience is a noun that can mean endurance, tolerance, persistence, fortitude, or serenity. 

 

In slang usage: staying power.           DO NOT USE SLANG!

 

“She was so upset with her children that she lost her patience.” 

 

    Or: “The teacher’s patience when teaching the students was remarkable.” 

 

• Patient is also an adjective that can mean tolerant, persistent, uncomplaining or serene.  

​

• For example,

 

“The teacher is patient with students who have difficulty understanding the difference between the words affect and effect.”

 

In the above example, patient is an adjective describing the subject the teacher.

 

Impatience is the opposite of patience and can mean irritation, edginess, intolerance, eagerness, haste, or anxiety, as in the sentence:

 

“The teacher was impatient with the student who asked the same question over and over.”

 

• Patiently is an adverb describing the way something is done or occurs, meaning tolerantly, persistently, or serenely, as in the sentence:

 

“The faster readers in the class waited patiently for the slower students to catch up.”

 

Impatiently is the opposite of patiently and can mean with irritation, with edginess, intolerantly, with eagerness, hastily, or with anxiety (anxiously).

 

“The husband waited impatiently while his wife took her time getting dressed.”

​

S. CHOSE/CHOOSE/CHOSEN:

 

• To choose means to decide, want, prefer, desire, opt, select, pick, take, decide on, indicate, elect, or point out, as in the sentence:

 

“The students had to choose which test to take.”

 

• Chose is the past tense of the verb to choose, as in the sentence:

 

“The teacher chose both the best and worst essays to share with the class.”

​

• Chosen is the past participle of the verb to choose, as in the sentence:

 “Both the best and worst essays were chosen by the instructor to be shared with the class.”

 

T. HIS AND HE’S 

 

•  His is the possessive pronoun, third person masculine, meaning belonging to hi’, as in the sentence:

 

 “That book on the table is his.”

 

• He’s is the contraction of he is. Once again, if you do not use the contractions in formal writing, you can’t make this mistake!

 

A student wrote: 

 

Incorrect: “He knows he wasn’t dreaming and his confused.”

 

Correct: “He knows he wasn’t dreaming and he is confused.” 

 

Or

 

Correct:  “He knows he wasn’t dreaming and he’s confused.”

 

U. AFFECT/EFFECT

 

This is one of the most confusing sets of words in the English language. Simply looking in the dictionary will not do. I suggest you think about these words in the following way:

 

• Affect can be a noun meaning appearance. This term is used most often in psychology to describe the way a patient appears upon examination. For example:

 

“The patient’s affect seemed disturbed.” 

 

This means that the patient appeared to be disturbed. 

 

(NB: when pronouncing this word, the emphasis is on the first syllable.)

​

• Affect can be a verb, meaning to influence or cause. You should use the word affect when you want to say that one thing is the cause of something else, as in the sentences:

 

“The teacher’s style positively affected the student’s ability to learn.” 

“The student’s ability to learn was positively affected by the teacher’s style of teaching.”

“The student was positively affected by the teacher’s style.”

 

All of these sentences mean that the way the teacher taught caused the student to learn better. You could substitute the word influence for affect.

 

• Affect can be a verb, meaning to assume or pretend, as in the sentence

 

“The candidate affected an English accent to improve his chances of being accepted. It didn’t work because the voters knew he was pretending.”

 

• Effect can be a verb meaning to result in, as in the sentence

 

“The house caught fire effecting a big mess for the tenants.”

​

The dictionaries allow the verb effect to mean to cause as well as to result in’ However, the verb affect also means to cause. This causes much confusion among students (and everyone who desires to write formal English) as to when to use which word. My recommendation is:

 

Use AFFECT to mean to cause and use EFFECT to mean to result in.

 

This simple rule can keep you out of much trouble!

 

• Effect can also be a noun, meaning result, consequence or ‘utcome, as in the sentences

 

“What is the effect on the student of the teacher’s teaching style?”

“What effect does the teacher’s style have on the student?”

 

Both of these questions ask for a result: What happened to the student?

​

V. __________________

 

W. __________________

 

X. __________________

 

Y. __________________

 

Z. __________________

 

Okay, so I only got to U! It is one of my favorite letters, anyway. You fill in the list to Z with the homonyms or similar sounding words that you have the most trouble with…

​

Tips on how to express yourself better:

 

1. Never use the expression “no ____” in formal writing.  Always use the expression “not any”, as in the sentence: “I ain’t got no money, I ain’t got no job, I ain’t got no friends.”

Rather, write, “I do not have any money…”

 

Informal: “There is no way the student will complete the 

   assignment on time, she will have to take a grade of incomplete.”

 

Formal: “There is not any way the student will complete the

   assignment on time, she will have to take a grade of incomplete.”

 

2. AMONG and BETWEEN: these two words have different usages, as follows:

 

• use between when you are referring to two things and two things only

• use among only when you are referring to more than two things

 

Correct: “Socrates chose between exile and death.”

 

Correct: “Among the three, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, only Socrates sacrificed his life for the right to search for truth by asking questions.”

 

3. Use the word sufficient as a synonym for enough, as in the sentence:

 

Common: “Most unemployed students have enough time to study.”

Better: “Most unemployed students have sufficient time to study.”

 

And use insufficient for the expression not enough, as in the sentence:

 

Common: “The student received a grade of ‘F’ because there were not enough words in the student’s essay.”

 

Better: “The student received a grade of ‘F’ because there were an insufficient number of words in the student’s essay.”

​

4. Among the frequent slang words not to use is the word kid (plural: ‘kids’).

            

A ‘kid’ is a baby goat. For young people, please use instead the words ‘child’ and ‘children’, as in the following sentence written by a student:

 

SLANG “Innocent kids are happy from the very depths of their beings.”

 

Correct: “Innocent children are happy from the very depths of their beings.”

 

This is a matter of showing respect for children as people.

​

​​5. Omitted Words: Very often students do not proofread and therefore do not notice that they have omitted words from their sentences. 

 

This can easily happen to anyone, because we often think faster than we write. 

 

You must proofread carefully and slowly in order to find situations where you have omitted words.

 

About the teacher/student relationship, a student wrote: 

 

Incorrect: “They hold the future in their hands, that why a teacher is someone who should always be respected.”

 

The verb ‘is’ is left out of this sentence:

 

Corrected: “They hold the future in their hands, that is why a teacher is someone who should always be respected.”

 

6. Try not to use the same word twice in the same paragraph. 

 

After you have written anything, you want people to read it. For this reason, you do not want your writing to be boring. 

 

One way to avoid boring writing is to use different words in your writing rather than to repeat the same word over and over. 

 

The thesaurus is an excellent tool for finding words with similar meanings. 

 

USE IT!

 

7. Do not begin sentences with because.

 

Students often ask about beginning a sentence with the word because. I tell them that it is probably better not to begin a sentence with because and that they should consider one of the alternatives listed in chapter VIII or re-write the sentence with because in the middle, as in the sentence:

 

Common: Because I was thirsty, I took a drink.”

Better: “I took a drink because I was thirsty.”

 

8. Another way to prevent (method of preventing) your writing from being boring is to vary your sentence patterns:

 

Use different sentence patterns means mixing short and long sentences, passive and active voice, and manipulating the transitional words so that they appear at different points in different sentences. Please see the following examples:

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• Short and long sentences mixed:

 

“A woman went to the store. He bought fruit and vegetables for his dinner salad, which consisted of pears, lettuce and tomatoes. He enjoyed his meal.”

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• Passive and active voice mixed:

 

“The girls were so excited that they screamed. The tallest girl wept and the shortest girl laughed out loud. The rest of the girls were congratulated by each other.”

 

The first two sentences are in the active voice. 

 

                        The last sentence is in the passive voice.

 

• Use the transitional words in your sentences in a variety of positions:

 

“Generally, students do not enjoy taking tests.” 

can also be written

“Students, generally, do not like to take tests.” 

 

9. TRANSITION TECHNIQUES: The transition techniques to use relate to the structure (outline) of your essay.

 

• Comparisons and Contrasts: If you are comparing two different things, the following transition words will help your essay:

 

On the one hand --- On the other hand

However, Nevertheless, Yet, Nonetheless (These all mean but)

 

• Emphatic order: Use these transition words to help you describe steps in a process or an event:

 

First, Second, Third

Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly

First of all, Second of all, Third of all

The first reason that ___ is, The second reason that ___ is, The third reason that ____ is

 

• Levels of Importance: Use these words to express significance:

 

Primarily, Secondarily...

 

• Link ideas: use these words to show how ideas relate to each other (they all mean and):

Furthermore, Moreover, In addition, Additionally