Leaderboard Banner

Conjunctive Adverbs: Conjunctive Adverbs (#1)

Dennis Oliver
Conjunctive Adverbs (#1)

Conjunctive adverbs (which are sometimes also called
sentence connectors or transitional words) are commonly
used in serious business, technical, and academic writing.
Conjunctive adverbs are.similar in meaning to other types
of connecting words such as and, but, or, etc., but they 
have one very important difference: they join sentences,
not parts of sentences.

Conjunctive adverbs also have special punctuation: 
with them, a 
semicolon or a period is used after the first
sentence, and a 
comma is usually used after the conjunctive
adverb. After the comma, the connected sentence follows.

Following are some common conjunctive adverbs, plus
general comments on their usage:

conjunctive adverb

accordingly

as a result

consequently

therefore

however

in contrast

on the other hand

in addition

also

besides

similarly

furthermore

moreover

nevertheless

nonetheless

still

otherwise

usage

showing results

showing results

showing results

showing results

showing general contrasts

showing direct contrasts

showing direct contrasts

showing additional information

showing additional information

showing additional information

showing additional information

adding stronger information

adding stronger information

showing unexpected results

showing unexpected results

showing unexpected results

if not


Special Note:

Conjunctive adverbs are challenging to use appropriately
because they have special requirements for the kinds of
ideas and information that they connect. There will be
further information on conjunctive adverbs in the next
several Hints of the Day.

Leaderboard Banner