CAROLINA T

Level: B1-B2

Skill: Writing

Topic: Connectors

Objective: Use connectors to establish sequence relationships and textual cohesion.

Hello everyone!

As you know, synonymous with a communicative competence is to be able to express our ideas in an understandable way. To detail, give examples, reformulate and other objectives is required to include sequence connectors, which are fundamental elements to link large groups of words to form phrases and sentences. You can also use them to connect paragraphs to give them coherence. Sentence connectors are usually placed at the beginning of a sentence and may be categorized as follows:

CONNECTORS
CONTRAST
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
However	Sin embargo	This restaurant has the best kitchen in town. However, their staff are quite rude.
In contrast	Por el contrario	House prices have gone up this year. In contrast, car prices seem to be stagnating.
Nevertheless	Sin embargo, aun así	I was in so much pain I didn’t want to get up in the morning. Nevertheless, I went to football practice as usual.
Nonetheless	No obstante, sin embargo	I don’t think Sean has serious behavioral problems. Nonetheless, I’ll talk to him first thing in the morning.
Yet	No obstante, sin embargo	I’ve asked you a thousand times not to leave your dirty socks on the floor. Yet, you keep doing it.
On the other hand	Por otro lado	England has the best language schools. On the other hand, it has the worst weather.
On the contrary	Al contrario, por el contrario	I don’t hate Jim. On the contrary, I’m rather fond of him.
Instead (of)	En lugar (de)	I didn’t want to take a side in the argument. Instead, I put my headphones on and listened to some smooth jazz.
In any case	En todo caso, en cualquier caso	I was thinking of going round Jim’s place. In any case, I haven’t been invited.
SIMILARITY
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
Likewise	Igualmente, asimismo	You can’t give your phone number to every man who asks for it. Likewise, you can’t go out with everyone who fancies you.
Similarly	Similarmente, de manera similar	You’re not allowed to use your phone here. Similarly, you have to switch it off when you’re in the library.
Correspondingly	En la misma medida	She’s an excellent photographer. Correspondingly, her paintings are works of art.
In the same way	De la misma forma, del mismo modo	Cutting down on sugar will help you lose weight. In the same way, doing more exercise will help you get rid of a few kilos.
Also	También	I want to talk to Prince Harry when I’m in England. Also, I want to meet his sister-in-law.
RESULT
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
As a result	Como resultado	I’ve done a pranic healing course. As a result, I’ve been able to cure my neighbor’s sick cat.
As a consequence	En consecuencia	Zack has skipped school on many occasions. As a consequence, he’s failed his French test.
Therefore	Por lo tanto	We’re going to experience some meteor showers in the next few days. Therefore, the number of miraculous self-healings will rise.
Thus	Por consiguiente, así	You didn’t tell me you wanted to come. Thus, we won’t be taking you with us.
Accordingly	Por lo tanto, por consiguiente	Plenty of tourists visit the area in summer. Accordingly, selling hand-made objects is the main source of income for locals.
SEQUENCING
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
First, firstly, first of all, in the first place.	En primer lugar, primeramente, primero que todo, en primer lugar	First of all, I’d like to talk about the benefits of having a pet pig.
To begin with	En primer lugar	To begin with, pet pigs are cleaner than dogs.
For one thing	En primer lugar	For one thing, they’re completely loyal to their owners.
Second, secondly, in the second place	En segundo lugar	Secondly, their impressive numeracy skills must be mentioned.
For another thing	En segundo lugar	For another thing, you might want to consider how cute they look in pyjamas.
Third, thirdly, in the third place	En tercer lugar	In the third place, you can always count on your pet pig to perform some tricks for you when you’d like to impress a pretty girl.
Also	También	Also, they don’t eat much.
Besides	Además	Besides not eating much, they won’t ever chew on your electric cords.
In addition	Además	In addition, they can be taught to feed themselves if you allow them access to your pantry.
Furthermore	Además	Furthermore, they make wonderful walking buddies.
Moreover	Además	Moreover, they’ll show you the way home when you’re drunk.
Finally	Finalmente	Finally, pet pigs are fantastic guards. No burglar would ever have the heart to hurt a pet pig.
Last, lastly, last of all	Por último, finalmente	Lastly, your reputation as an eccentric will rapidly grow in the neighborhood if you’re seen walking a pet pig on a leash every morning.
ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
Most importantly	Principalmente, sobre todas las cosas	I’d like to talk to you about how to keep calm at your workplace. Most importantly, never go to the canteen while your boss is there.
Primarily	Principalmente, fundamentalmente	You’ll have to focus on your immediate surroundings. Primarily, on your computer screen.
Above all	Sobre todo, más que nada	Above all, don’t ever look up from your notes when people are around.
Most significantly	Principalmente	Most significantly, avoid eye-contact at all costs.
PARTICULARIZATION
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
In particular, particularly	En particular, particularmente	Nearly a third of marriages end in divorce. In particular, it’s middle-aged couples that yearn for much more from life.
More specifically	De manera más específica, concretamente	Couples tend to argue about financial issues. More specifically, they argue when one of them is out of work.
EXEMPLIFICATION
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
For example	Por ejemplo	To solve this problem, you might want to try making small gestures. For example, making your spouse’s favorite meal for dinner.
For instance	Por ejemplo	Appreciate the small things your spouse does for you. For instance, leave thank-you notes for them every now and then.
To illustrate	Para ilustrar, a modo de ilustración	Misunderstandings can be highly destructive. To illustrate, if your spouse sees you with a friend of the opposite sex in a café, he might not understand why he hasn’t been invited and demand an explanation.
EXPLANATION
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
That is to say, that is	Es decir	Keep romance alive. That is to say, don’t let your love life fall into routine.
Namely	Concretamente	I have a very good reason for not trusting my ex. Namely, he’s a convicted felon.
In other words	En otras palabras, dicho de otro modo	Don’t be unsociable. In other words, go out and make some friends.
Put differently	Dicho de otra manera	John has managed to get over Jane. Put differently, he’s started seeing other women.
EMPHASIZING
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
As a matter of fact	De hecho, por cierto	I love sleeping with my pet pig. As a matter of fact, I can’t fall asleep unless he’s in my bed.
In fact	De hecho, en realidad	I told them not to invite Rachel to the party. In fact, I was the only person who saw what a party pooper she really was.
Actually	En realidad, para ser exactos	I think it would be a good idea to send her some flowers. Actually, you should get her a hundred orchids.
Indeed	De hecho	He may be the best-dressed man around. Indeed, he has a really good taste in fashion.
FOCUSING AND LINKING
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
As for (often sug-gests disinterest or dislike)	En cuanto a, con respecto a	I’m going to Janet’s party at the weekend. As for Mary’s, I think I’ll pass.
With regard to	Con respecto a, con relación a	With regard to handling complaints, you might want to keep in mind that your customers are always right.
With respect to	Con respecto a	Starting your own IT company may be the one of the best things you can do right now. With respect to opening a pet shop, it’s hard to say the same thing.
Regarding	En relación con, sobre	Start your day with making the most important phone calls. Regarding emails, you might put them off until later.
As regards	Con relación a, en lo que respecta a	Working from home has many advantages. As regards disadvantages, it might be difficult to keep your cat off your keyboard.
Talking of	En cuanto a	Talking of cats, you can’t trust them to keep you company when you need it. They’re quite selfish creatures.
As far as… concerned	En lo que respecta a	As far as dogs are concerned, they might give you a chance to get up from your desk and get some exercise during the day.
CONCLUSION
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
In conclusion	En conclusión	In conclusion, it may be said that pigs make the best pets.
In brief	En resumen, en definitiva	Meeting my boss at the pub was an interesting experience. In brief, it was a disaster.
In summary	En resumen, en síntesis	In summary, it may not be the best idea to frequent the same pubs as your boss.
To sum up	Para resumir	To sum up, some people are better suited to working from home than others.
All in all	En definitiva, después de todo, en resumidas cuentas	All in all, you have to make sure both you and your customers are satisfied with your work.
CORRECTION
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
Rather	Más bien	I thought it was a good idea to get a ferret. Rather, it had always been my dream to get one.
To be more precise	Para ser más preciso	You might want to change a few things. To be more precise, I think you should start again from scratch.
TIME
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
At first	Al principio	It wasn’t a piece of cake to learn English. At first, I couldn’t pronounce all the words correctly.
Then	Luego, después	Then, I couldn’t spell all the words correctly.
Afterwards	Luego, después	Afterwards, I had a hard time understanding the tenses.
Later	Más tarde, luego	Later, I couldn’t memorize phrasal verbs and idioms.
In the meantime	Mientras tanto	In the meantime, I was getting some help from my English teacher.
Meanwhile	Mientras tanto	Meanwhile, I was enjoying my Skype lessons more and more.
DISMISSAL
CONNECTOR	MEANING	EXAMPLE
Anyway	De todas formas, de todas maneras	I couldn’t get my head around the Passive Voice. Anyway, I don’t think it’s important to use it all the time.
Anyhow	De cualquier modo	Anyhow, I’ve just decided to learn Russian next.
At any rate	De cualquier forma	At any rate, I don’t want to become a simultaneous interpreter in five languages.

Adapted from: https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/list-of-sentence-connectors-in-english/ 

Goal . . . 

Now, to implement the use of these connectors let’s write an open letter to people or entities unlikely to respond. 

What is a letter? 

To begin with we must know that letters belong to the epistolary genre. Epistolary comes from a Greek word, epistolē, which means “letter”. This literary genre can add realism to a narrative, being able to describe different points of view. The primary function of this form of writing is to give readers an intimate view of characters’ feelings and thoughts, and develop a direct connection with the events. Adapted from: https://literarydevices.net/epistolary/

To write a letter you must keep in mind:

First of all you have the date and a salutation which is the opening of a letter, later the body and finally the concluding valediction. There’s also a signature so it could be your full name, a pseudonymus, just ‘anonymous’, or how you prefer. Then you can also have a postscript (P.S.) which literally means the after writing, this is use to add some info that you forgot to mention in the body. It can be used to express a sensitive, emotional, mental state that places the letter in relation to the feelings experienced by the sender/writer (e.g. Hope: “Your sweater will be ready for your February visit”; anger: “Fuck you!”, psycho: “If you break up with me I’ll kill myself”, and others).

Keep it:

1. Date

2. Salutation

3. Body

4. Signature

5. P.S.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Check out the following examples of open letter to people or entities who are unlikely to respond:

• An open letter to the phrase ‘positive vibes only’ 

• An open letter of thanks to my absentee students 

2. Review the components of a letter.

3. (Optional) Watch the video Writting Letters: Formal & informal English (since 2’) to recognize the elements that a letter should contain. Pay attention to the structure of the epistolary genre, and the tips that will help you give a formal or informal record to your letter, depending on the person or entity you choose, and the personality you are going to assume. 

4. Review the connector table. 

5. Get to work. Create a Prezi account, and go here: Multimodal task: Open letter to people or entities unlikely to respond. You will find a book template with different images that will help you devise people or entities unlikely to respond. 

6. Select with a click the person or entity that catches your attention or use any other image of your interest to inspire you. 

7. Write an open letter to the entity or person you want to confess a few truths to. 

Length: 150-300 words. 

8. Last and most important: Please, use sentence connectors! They will allow you to harmonize textual cohesion in your open letter.

The letter writing can give you the power to express yourself more creatively. Go ahead!

*Possible unknown words:

Valediction: farewell speech. 

Any questions? Send me an e-mail: carolina.torres.ospina@correounivalle.edu.co