Common, Simple Connective Words

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Before you view a very large list of Common, Simple Connective Words, we'd like you to know about a two brand new resources, each one available for just $3.97 that will give you an easy way to teach children how to build a sentence starting with the verb, and then adding in adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, connective words, and complex connective word sentence openers. 

Connective words are a great tool for children to use, but connective words mean so little to students who have not learned how to create good, interesting sentences. In fact, without that knowledge, a child could easily misplace or misuse connective words.

For example, a child learning how to use Complex Connective Word Sentences Openers and who knows how to begin with a simple, past-tense verb to build a complete sentence would not make a mistake such as the following:

Because many soldiers died by the Civil War.

Here, the student did not realize that a subordinate clause beginning with the word “because” must also have a main clause to be a complete sentence. In reality, this student probably thought that his clause WAS the main clause and that it WAS complete.

A child who has mastered the process of beginning with a simple, past-tense verb and building a complete sentence that answers questions such as Who? What? Where? When? What kind? and How? would most likely write that same sentence something like this:

Because so many brave soldiers were killed in the Civil War, our bitter, worn-out country was emotionally ripped apart for many years.

So many times we really believe that our children are capable of writing a good sentence simply because they seem to talk, at times, in complete sentences. While there are some students who just seem to “naturally” know how to construct a good sentence, most children do not.

And yet it should be “second nature” for all children to be able to construct a basic sentence complete with nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases by the end of the 4th grade.

Therefore, for just $3.97 each, we have put together two new resources, now available to purchase as an INSTANT DOWNLOAD, to show you just how simple it is to teach children to write fantastic, creative sentences and then how to add varied sentence openers to the beginnings of those sentences using subordinate clauses. 

First, our resource, Teaching Children to Write Creative Sentences, explains what preliminary work is vital before a child is ready to construct a solid sentence, and then how to teach students to build consistent, creative sentences (with a teacher and a blackboard, starting with the verb)

Second, our resource, 100 Subordinate Clause Sentence Openers, gives you the following additional eBook supplements:

Why Teach Subordinate Clause Sentence Openers
Teaching Children to do Research and to Use their Research in their Writing
How to Teach Children to Write Subordinate Clause Sentence Openers
100 Subordinate Clause ANIMAL Sentence Openers

Just click on the Add to Cart Buttons (below) to purchase either or both of these resources.

  Teaching Children to Write Creative Sentences

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Common Connective Words Listed by Category

When adding on information, use these connective words:
In addition,
Moreover,
Furthermore,
Besides
In fact,
Incidentally,
Meanwhile,
Another way to...
What's more,

When adding contrasting information, use these connective words:
On the other hand,
In contrast,
Nevertheless,
However,
On the contrary,
Despite the, Despite this, Despite these,
In the second place,
Conversely,

When adding comparative information, use these connective words:
Similarly,
Also,
Even if...
At any rate,
At the same time...
After all,
By the way,
Even so...
In addition to,
In other words,
Instead of...
For the same reason,
On the other hand,
In general,
More specifically,
Another way to
No matter what...
Such a...
In the same way,
If not for...

When placing information in an orderly fashion, use these connective words:
After that,
Before...
Just before...
Before that,
Then,
At first,
Since...
Since then,
Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly,
Next,
Lastly,
Eventually,
Gradually,
Finally,
While...
Meanwhile,
Furthermore,
To begin with,
Summing up...

When listing information as a result or a cause of something, use these connective words:
As a result,
As a consequence,
Consequently,
Therefore,
Thus,
Hence,
Accordingly,
Likewise,
Moreover,
Furthermore,
Because she...
This is why...
That is why...
If not for...

When adding information that is conditional, use these connective words:

Otherwise,
Indeed,
As far as

When adding a concluding information, use these connective words:
In conclusion,
In summary,
Finally,
Lastly,

When adding information that will serve as an example or as an illustration, use these connective words:
For example,
For instance,

When adding information that describes a relationship between things or people, use these connective words:
Also,
Incidentally,
Likewise,
Moreover,
Next,
Yet,
Instead,
However,
Therefore,
Thus,
Usually,
Whatever...
Accordingly,
In contrast,
Although,
Besides,
Meanwhile,
Furthermore,
Generally,
Nevertheless,
For example,

When adding information to give a sense of time, use these connective words:
First,
Finally,
Once,
Ultimately,

At last,

Lastly,
Meanwhile,
Then,
Formerly,
Secondly,
Now,
When...
Eventually,
Later,

Later on,
Previously,
Soon,

As soon as,
Sometimes,

Shortly after that,

Along the way,

Before long,

Earlier,

After all of that,

An hour later,

Without delay,

Immediately,

At that very moment,

A moment later,

Not a moment too soon,

Next,

Later that same day,

During all of this,

During that time,

While this was happening, 

When desiring to introduce more intensive information, use these connective words:
Especially since,
Increasingly...
More importantly,
Particularly...
significantly...
Most of all,
Above all,
As much as ...
By far...
Highly...
In fact,
Quite...
Especially unique...
Indeed,
Even if...
Even though...
In any case,

                                   

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