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Discourse markers

There are many types of discourse markers:

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What are discourse markers? 

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Discourse markers are words or phrases that are used to organize, connect, or signal relationships between ideas in spoken or written language. They help guide the listener or reader through a conversation or text by indicating the structure and flow of the discourse. Discourse markers serve various functions, such as introducing information, signaling agreement or disagreement, expressing emphasis, or transitioning between different topics or ideas.

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Why are they important?

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They are part of your fluency and coherence score. They are the coherence aspect. They make it easy for the listener to follow what you are saying. A range of them is necessary for band scores 6 and above. 

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Time Phrases 

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  • Meanwhile 

  • A the same time

  • When I was...., 

  • While I was ....., 

  • During ...

  • Last week/ month/ year 

  • (number) years/ months/ days ago

  • Before...

  • After ....

  • In + year/ month 

  • On + day 

  • In + university/ secondary school/ high school/ primary school/ my childhood

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Time
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Opinion Phrases 

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  • I think 

  • I feel 

  • I believe 

  • I hold the belief that 

  • It seems clear to me that 

  • The way I see it is 

  • In my opinion

  • I would argue 

  • I would have to say 

  • I would say 

  • The way I see it is 

  • As far as I'm concerned 

  • What seems obvious is

  • Personally, 

  • From my experience 

  • I guess 

  • I reckon 

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Clarification Phrases 

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  • In other words

  • By that, I mean..

  • That is to say 

  • To clarify 

  • Basically 

  • To put it simply 

  • To put it differently 

  • To make myself clear 

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Agreement Phrases 

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  • Absolutely

  • Totally

  • I couldn't agree more 

  • I agree with that 

  • That seems right to me 

  • That's a good point

  • What a good point 

  • I feel the same way 

  • That's how I feel too 

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Disagreement Phrases 

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  • I don't agree 

  • I can't agree with that 

  • That's not (quite) how I see it 

  • I'm not so sure

  • That doesn't seem right to me 

  • I see what you are saying, but 

  • I understand your point, but 

  • That's not really true 

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Examples Phrases 

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  • For example 

  • For instance 

  • In particular 

  • especially 

  • namely 

  • such as 

  • As can be seen 

  • You can see this ..

  • A good example of this 

  • To illustrate 

  • Take .... as an example 

  • Look at ...

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Sequencing Phrases 

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  • Next 

  • Then 

  • After that 

  • Before..

  • After ...

  • What I did next was...

  • On the following day 

  • In the following year/ month 

  • This was followed by 

  • Finally 

  • Eventually 

  • Lastly 

  • In the end 

  • At the end 

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Results Phrases 

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  • Therefore, 

  • As a result, 

  • Consequently, 

  • Thus, 

  • Hence, 

  • So,

  • This lead to 

  • This resulted in 

  • This brought about 

  • This gave rise to

  • Meaning that .... 

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Contrasting Phrases 

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  • However 

  • But

  • On the other hand 

  • In another way 

  • Nonetheless 

  • Nevertheless 

  • Despite that 

  • In spite of that 

  • Although...., 

  • Even though ....,

  • While ...., 

  • In contrast 

  • By contrast 

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Additional Information 

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  • In addition 

  • Also 

  • Furthermore 

  • What's more 

  • On top of that 

  • Besides

  • To expand 

  • To go further 

  • And  

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General Statements 

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  • Generally 

  • Usually 

  • Well 

  • On the whole 

  • Normally 

  • Often 

  • Frequently 

  • Sometimes 

  • Certainly 

  • Probably 

  • Possibly 

  • Maybe 

  • Perhaps 

  • It's possible 

  • It's doubtful 

  • Frankly speaking 

  • These days 

  • Nowadays 

  • Currently 

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Opinion
Clarification
Agreement
Disagreement
Examples
Sequence
Results
Contrast
Additional
General
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