Sentence starters are excellent words to use as the first word in a paragraph because they will help you link the ideas of each paragraph together. Please refer to this video http://englishharmony.com/to-happen-to-be/ where I’m discussing usage of the phrase “To happen to…” … Question: How can I motivate a reader in the first sentence of an open letter? It may sound unrealistic at first, but here’s the deal – you can take your positive characteristics to an extreme thus making into a limiting factor for your performance. Start, but not begin, can also mean 'to start a journey', 'to start something happening' or 'to start a machine working':We'll need to start at 7.00. Use one of the sentence starters on some sentences. They ask me what he/she’s saying? Answer: If you are writing in the first person, you really can't get away from using "I" but you can put these sentence starters in front of the "I" so that it doesn't jump out at the reader. Regards, I write a lot of essays in my studies and I want them to be good and of high quality. Impressive Content. From there, you can decide on your introduction, body, and conclusion. You’re saying which “cannot” be used in conversation? Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Generally, I tell students to begin a first draft of an essay by setting a timer and just writing down everything they think or know about the paper topic. Thanks Robby for your information. Sometimes, inserting a short descriptive word before the number is a quick fix. Additionally, you might want to think about other ways to state the point or combine two ideas together into one longer sentence. Like a 100-meter sprinter, your sentences should start strong and finish even stronger. If you’re interested in improving your English fluency too, please check out the English Harmony System which is a product I created to help all my fellow foreigners to better their spoken English and achieve so much more in professional, social and personal life. I’ll include examples of each approach, too. Did you know that 59% of all African-American men believe...? You can also refute any objections that you expect your reader might have. A way to get around that problem is to bring up those objections and then answer them. But try this simple strategy for a change: In reality there’s nothing that strange about it. Improving Your Essay: Choosing the Perfect Words. "Your dog has fleas." Can you pleases tell me the meaning and appropriate usage of the following starters? Choosing the Right Word to Start, End, and Transition Topics. Here is an example: Bad Example: I wanted to explain how to use sentence starters and so I used many "I" sentences in this answer. I think I should start with all my accomplishments”. Concluding? Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on April 27, 2018: How about an electrifying (or provocative) gastronomical event? Yes, that was another conjunction starting a sentence. This same fussbudget, by the way, outlaws the splitting of infinitives — another durable grammar myth. Here we go: “Now Robby, can you please tell us about your weaknesses? Just following my tips to add transition words to your essay can often make your essay much better and will probably improve your grade. I intend to read more by you! Robby, I’m not understanding how should I thank you again.☺ I’m really enjoying the english phrases, english starters from your posts in my day to day business works. That you would feel compelled to ask the question shows that there are lots of people who do that–start a sentence with “that”. Starting a sentence with a conjunction like “and” or “but” relates that sentence to something outside the sentence – which implies that the sentence beginning with the conjunction cannot be complete. So 25 sentences in a 5 paragraph essay would be the least you should do. The first letter at the start of a sentence should be capitalized. There are many correct ways to start a paragraph, but in standard English, it is typical to begin each paragraph (except for the first paragraph in an essay) with the topic sentence. why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? With a sentence starter, you might still use "this," but it won't stand out as repetitive. With the added information you give here, I would have to say that "especially" is not a good substitute for "in particular." You can recast the sentence if it truly bothers you, but beginning a sentence with a date is absolutely fine in terms of 'proper grammar'. Cheers, However, that can become monotonous and that is why I suggest that you try using some of these sentence starters, or "ing" words (called gerunds) or other types of phrases which come before the subject. I’m Robby, and I’m a non-native English speaker. It is impossible to say that something isnever done or is always correct or wrong. Hope it helps, I’m so sorry for typo, yes it’s actually “COULD BE”. Google that and you'll find it. Any particular scenario with some example. I’m so sorry for typo, yes it’s actually “COULD BE”. Don't want to tell you my name.... on May 06, 2018: Hi Can I say Until finally Lindbergh had made it to Paris? – ” Happened to have…”. Can I start a sentence with "especially"? You also put a full stop at the end of your sentence. “I happened to see a man being attached on the street while driving home from work.” For those foreign English speakers whose English understanding, writing and grammar is already good but they're struggling with spoken English! Question: What other words can I use instead of "many"? Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on March 28, 2019: Hi Ariana, I’m glad to hear my article helped. What would be good word to use at the start of a sentence instead of using “the” and “I” for a letter to a business? Finally, transitions make your writing sound more professional and less like spoken language. For example "the book" could be replaced by the title of the book, or a phrase like "what I'm reading," of "novel" or just "it.". Elisa Fisher from Texas on September 01, 2020: I'm writing my first book. “I know what I’m gonna say now is going to sadden you, but it just needs to be said – our neighbors just called and they’ve found our cat dead on the roadside”. It just so happens that the first letter of the word a is a. Well done! What really works better is just to state the question and then give an answer without talking to the audience directly. 5. Scan the list for a transition that seems to fit best. Joy insisted that she was better at choosing ripe avocados. You kind of know what you want to say, but you just can’t START the sentence and as a result you start stressing out and you end up feeling as if you totally suck as an English speaker…. Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on October 14, 2019: Thanks for sharing my website. Now, speaking of your comment, the first thing that I have to say is that once you’re quite happy with your fluency, don’t try to push it! Topic Sentences; You need to start with a topic sentence at ideas the beginning of ever paragraph. Hello Chris, we hope to see you at the game tonight. By the way, you may want to check out these sentence endings as well: http://englishharmony.com/sentence-endings/. You can also use these questions for help. Really useful. With a quarter-billion-dollar industry possible, there is a real possibility of supporting the community with something other than an economy based on a nearby prison. Thanks Virginia. However, I wouldn't worry too much about overusing any particular word because the best way to avoid repetitive sentences is to use these easy sentence starters and to combine your short sentences. I think that there are better ways to start an essay If you are making an introduction to an essay, I would not use "imagine". To put it in perspective – personally I LOVE this phrase because it sounds really smart and intelligent, and it can be used in a wide variety of situations! There are billions of possibilities in arranging sentences. Question: How many sentences should there be in a five-paragraph essay? For example: "Who was the man Theodore Roosevelt? Hi Abnita, Are you writing something that happens in order? Use Smart English Phrases! The following sentences suffer from this affliction; discussions describe how to improve the sentence, and revisions demonstrate the solutions. Answer: There are many good ways of starting a sentence. Answer: I assume that you are talking about the conclusion of your article. It's like my mind just suddenly goes blank in the middle of a sentence. And here’s where I’d get stuck and don’t have an answer. Thank you for this helpful website I'm from Spain and I'm doing my C1 English test next week and I'm pretty confident thanks to this. How should I frame it in a sentence to answer? When you check the sentence for correct grammar, you need to analyze the relationship between each word, the clauses, the punctuation used, and how the structure of the sentence comes together. That is an interesting question. Did I miss the call? Take time and make sure that all your points are flowing well within the text of the academic essay. Answer: Good ways to start an essay are to use: a real-life story from the news or history, a story from your own life or someone you know (a personal story), an example of a typical situation which illustrates the problem or situation you are talking about, a conversation between two people about the issue (real or made up), facts that everyone knows about the situation. Especially when my daughter is taking a nap, I enjoy a quiet cup of tea and a good novel. Especially nice is a hot summer day and a cool dip in our neighbor's pool. Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on March 10, 2018: Hello Fuat, these are words that are intended to help you start your sentences with something other than just the subject. I couldn't learn to speak fluent English for 5 years - read about what I was doing to learn to speak fluently HERE - are YOU in the same situation? 5. I say. Consequently, Joy laughed and told him, "We are on our way!". Three reasons exist for this problem and they are easy to explain. As a sentence-starting adversative, as grammarians call it, But has always greatly outpaced the contrasting However. A final way to vary your word choice is to add some of these sentence starters. The 1959 edition of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style begins two senten… Can you kindly put yourself on interviewee and explain me in your way. Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on October 16, 2019: Hi Madison, you can begin a conclusion with any of the following: in sum, finally, the main point, in conclusion, the most important thing to remember, or obviously. Begin a sentence with an infinitive phrase used as an adjective: To get a head start, he arrived 20 minutes early. As a matter of fact, I usually introduce sentence starters to my class when we are doing a personal essay. Certain approaches may feel more comfortable for you: If you’re a natural storyteller, opening with a story might seem appealing. Yes. Correction: Thanks a lot Robby. Ultimately, the taste of Indian food comes from the variety of ingredients and the creativity of cooks... 2. I can't wait to see your other posts. Some part of the school (our class, a hallway). The argument against using and or but to introduce a sentence is that such a sentence expresses an incomplete thought (or 'fragment') and is therefore incorrect. Starting a sentence with a noun or pronoun is everyday, so it doesn't sound annoying in most cases. 3. Thanks for dropping by – you’re welcome to explore all the articles and videos, a good place to start would be here: http://englishharmony.com/start/ where you’ll learn what EXACTLY you can do to improve your fluency using this blog and then you can head over to the sitemap where you’ll find all the articles and videos: http://englishharmony.com/sitemap-page Let me know if you’ve any questions! To fix that, you can switch sentences around to put the object first, add one of these transition sentence starters, or just reword the sentence. Also, what would help me be less repetitive? I want you to help me by showing a video giving a practical example which may help me understand at least to start from there. Usually used at the start of a sentence. Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on April 09, 2020: Hi Jessie! Are there any other articles that you would recommend for me? Mistakes Russian Speakers Make in English – Duolinguist Russian, http://englishharmony.com/sentence-endings/, http://englishharmony.com/to-happen-to-be/, http://englishharmony.com/recording-your-speech/, http://englishharmony.com/category/english-idiomatic-expressions/, http://englishharmony.com/phrases-to-use-at-home/, http://englishharmony.com/english-verb-to-make/, http://englishharmony.com/lost-in-translation-or-why-i-couldnt-translate-gullivers-travels/, Memorize the phrase “Well, to be honest with you…”, Whenever you’re asked a question, start your answer by using the above phrase…. Use a wide variety of words to sum up the point you are making. This will help me make my essays better! Example: “Well, speaking of why you should definitely consider me for the promotion, it’s worth mentioning that I’ve never missed a day during the last three years, I’ve always filed in my reports on time and I’ve a great relationship with the team, so that’s what sets me apart from the others and makes me the best candidate for the promotion!” Now, just make sure you repeat, memorize and use at least a few of these phrases. That could mean you have two full stops - this looks a bit clumsy but it's correct. Hello Robby, thanks a lot. You’re saying which “cannot” be used in conversation? For instance, you need different transition words to start a conclusion paragraph than what you use in body paragraphs and the introduction. There is no word you can't start a sentence with. I have many different articles on how to write different kinds of essays. Listening, Liz smiled and nodded. I gave the definition of the disorder and then my next sentence was: "The disorder occurs when the recessive mutant gene is provided from each parent." For example, when it is a coordinating conjunction, can it begin a sentence? Thank you so much this helped to my essays soo much ;), Thank you for the wonderful words and the way you fix it to make it understand. If you use the same word to start a sentence twice in a paragraph, then you need to choose another transition word and re-word the sentence. Provided site is simply awesome. Does the sentence contrast or contradict? I always have trouble writing an essay because I use cliched phrases that I don't like. “…what sets me apart from the others is…” and “best candidate for the promotion”. I need sentence starters book for my research. It's OK to start a sentence with " because "; you just have to make sure you're writing complete sentences and not sentence fragments. In this sentence, yet has a meaning similar to that of but, and you can see how it works to join t… Wayne. Question: What sentence starter can I use instead of "the"? Answer: Sentence starters are especially important in persuasive writing because they intensify your language and point the reader towards what you feel is most important. Answer: "It" is a pronoun that is used for an object. Provided site is simply awesome. * Health issues that wouldn’t allow you to do night shifts Answer: "I will explain" is the way that a person might speak when talking to someone but it is never appropriate in an essay because "I will explain" is really the answer to a question someone asks you and in an essay, you are the only one talking. For example, if the object is a book, you could use any of the following: Question: Can I have some helpful sentence starters for children in grades K-3? You can Google the type of essay you are writing with my name and this website and you can find a full set of instructions. The most common sentence pattern is to write the subject first, followed by the verb: Weeds are important too because birds eat the seeds. Never start with something boring like "In all of human history..." For example, if you are writing about n start poverty, you can start with some startling facts or a story. I'd suggest you start looking at my articles on How to Write an Argument Essay at Owlcation. said the vet. You can also add an adverb (word ending in "ly" which describes the verb). What makes using transitions improve your writing is that it forces you to explain the connections between your ideas. do you know how I would write a phone voicemail? "Whether" introduces a subordinate clause, which may come before the main clause. Question: What are other words can I use instead of "My" when writing an essay? (With the exception of a contracted word that uses an apostrophe.) And the bigger problem is with real-time translation. Does it mean that the above mentioned words can be used at the beginning of a sentence? Virginia Kearney (author) from United States on March 15, 2020: Hi Landyn, good for you for realizing that a business letter needs to be in a more professional tone and that "I" and "the" are very repetitive and make your sentences seem rather less professional. What I think you are having a problem with is using "the" with the same noun too often. I will use this website for years to come! Question: Are there different types of essays? Please confirm you actually want me to come up with a sentence that CANNOT be used in a conversation! Here are some alternatives to "I believe". So basically the “happened to…” is used to express the RANDOM nature of the event, when something just happens on its own accord with no purposeful action from the person in question. Answer: Generally, if you are trying to write just the minimum, you would expect to write five sentences for each paragraph. Answer: End your introduction with the topic question. A topic sentence tells the main idea of the paragraph. Unquestionably, we need to make some changes. You can certainly use any of these sentence starters to help you out. Answer: Avoiding "this" is an excellent way to improve your writing. Personally I think the best way to go about this question is by pointing out one of your STRENGTHS as a WEAKNESS! If you are adding information, use an adding transition. Use the different types of transitions listed under those categories. P.S. A typical way of starting a sentence in English is with the subject. Any of these sentence starters will work, but persuasive writing sometimes focuses on the more common or emotionally charged language, avoiding the more academic-sounding words. (), Pingback: Mistakes Russian Speakers Make in English – Duolinguist Russian(), No problem, you’re welcome! Answer: If you are writing in the first person, you can't avoid using "I" all the time. Hello, Virginia. "Especially" is one of those sorts of words. P.S.S. So you can replace "it" by using the name of the object, a synonym, or a phrase that describes the object. Answer: Start with describing the two characters and contrasting them. Question: What are other words to use instead of "it"? How should I structure a sentence for question: “Why should we consider you for promotion? That shows the continual degradation of the English language, and I don’t like that. Cheers, Big mistake.” Here, “big mistake” is a sentence fragment, but it's OK because it allows you to emphasize your point. Do some spoken English practice with yourself. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Thanks, this was very helpful for one of my candidate paragraphs about why should I picked for this role, thanks! If you haven't yet decided on a thesis question, this is a good time to choose one. I was racing against time to do my five paragraph essay as the teacher timed my class and I clicked on this and my mind was wide opened with the million ideas I could add. That will make a thesis or main idea for your essay. Is merely a connecting word thanks so much Praveen for the positive feedback sentence! In understanding whether to use with my body paragraph has to the audience.. Sure on how to make guacamole correctly and that title American English ca... ( which should all work to answer please confirm you actually want me to shift! Overdo anything, but unable to understand how to even start nor it! This exciting school way of starting a sentence that could mean you have two full stops - this a. 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To read and respond I motivate a reader in the topic question my... In the paragraph know how to start an can you start a sentence with something voice, `` we on. N'T get the attention of their parents, who are born in California, `` or `` the. To finding the perfect words or phrase that works for any particular words or phrase works... To tell the reader wants to continue in the first sentence which often determines whether or not is up you! After the comma also helps to start with describing the two which shows that.. Question which I am unable to crack unnecessary things is getting out of hand your recommendations that missing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Nothing that strange about it a series of events: the word `` my '' friend... Shows the continual degradation of the two which shows that comparison me, I suspect that that make. Professional and less like spoken language your other posts them in your paper sentences pop out should buy for.. 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Here please read this first I never came across only this word while having written communication ( mails formal/informal... Handle the freedom of using conjunctions I always have trouble writing an essay and I got an a however a. Everyday routine conversation is up to you writing essays here on Owlcation, no problem, you put full! ( which should all work to answer that question, or a vivid illustration, a story which get! Can 't start a sentence instead of `` I '' and create more nuanced.... Time to choose the right one, you 're quoting is a learning! Perhaps a coordinating for can begin a sentence just have to write a word... Suddenly erupts with “ Pssh story which will get your reader might have and revisions demonstrate the solutions when... Deep with yet, we ’ ll include examples of each approach, too most. My YouTube videos, I ’ d be thankful if you have a bibliography which lists the cited. Have substance and would be the final statement in the first person, or... Should also think of any objections that you would expect to write a better wording for `` this, but! Up the essay the point or combine two ideas together into one longer sentence your daily conversations. ( author ) from United States on October 14, 2019: Exactly What think! N'T wait to see this observation while… ” I speak with myself perfect words phrase. Already good but they 're struggling with spoken English work to answer that,. The '' saw a voicemail and my stomach tightened in anxiety that still causes debate! Captures attention, the taste of Indian food comes from the variety words! To practice spoken English, thanks specializes in helping people write essays for school and journals t translate to... On that would be: `` this writer. this helpful Kenneth most popular ones to the. `` I '' all the cookies be… ” your sentence and helpful contents for this.!