Transition words and phrases are used to connect ideas in your writing and help readers understand your arguments. Also called connecting words, linking words, or transitional words, these words describe the relationship between phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.
Transition words exampleMany researchers (e.g., Bates, 2019; Chan, 2022) have argued that the two variables are correlated. Others, however, disagree (Jones and Hernandez, 2023). Thus, the question is not yet settled.
Understanding and using transition words effectively is necessary to produce clear and cohesive writing. Using a paraphraser like QuillBot’s can help you integrate transition words into your writing.
Published on
July 2, 2024
by
Hannah Skaggs.
Revised on
December 10, 2024.
What are homophones? They’re words that sound alike and might have the same spelling but have different meanings.
English can be a bit mind-boggling at times, and one of those times is when we’re dealing with homophones or other commonly confused words. We can understand various types of words by understanding the names we assign to them. It helps to be familiar with the roots that make up these terms:
homo = same
hetero = different
phon = sound
graph = written
onym = name
So, for example, homophones have the same sounds, while heterographs have different spellings.
Let’s look at a list of homophones and other words that overlap in sound, meaning, or spelling so you can see how to tell them apart.
Published on
June 26, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA.
Revised on
September 16, 2024.
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition (e.g., “in,” “with,” “of”), an object, and any modifiers. It usually provides more information about a thing or an action. For example, prepositional phrases can tell us when, how, or where something is done, or they can clarify which person or thing is being talked about.
Prepositional phrase examplesI’ll go shopping in the morning.
A conditional sentence describes a hypothetical situation and its potential consequence.
Conditional sentences always include both a dependent clause (also known as a subordinate clause) and an independent clause (also known as a main clause).
The dependent clause expresses a condition (e.g., “If I drink coffee”), and the independent clause describes the result of the condition (e.g., “I will be awake all night”).
In English, there are four primary types of conditionals, corresponding to different levels of possibility or likelihood.
TypeFunctionExample
Conditional sentence types
Zero conditional
Expresses a general truth
If you press this button, the car unlocks.
First conditional
Expresses a likely future consequence
If you take some medicine, you will feel better.
Second conditional
Expresses an unrealistic or unlikely future consequence
If I won the lottery, I would buy a mansion.
Third conditional
Expresses an unreal past situation and its result
If you had listened to me, you would not have missed your train.
A dependent clause is a type of clause—a group of words that contains a subject and a verb—that cannot stand on its own as a sentence. Dependent clauses are also known as subordinate clauses.
A dependent clause must always be connected to an independent clause (also known as a main clause) to form a complete sentence.
Dependent clause examplesJonas went to the bakery because he wanted a pastry.
An independent clause (also known as a main clause) is a group of words with a main subject and verb. Independent clauses are complete thoughts and full sentences that can stand by themselves.
Independent clauses can occur on their own or be combined with a variety of dependent clauses to express more complex ideas.
A base word is the smallest part of a word that has meaning and can be used on its own. Base words can be expanded by adding affixes (i.e., prefixes and suffixes) to the beginning and/or end of the word, but they are also complete words that can stand alone.
For example, “misguided” can be broken down into three parts:
prefix
base word
suffix
mis
guide
ed
“Guide” is the base word. It can be used on its own in a sentence and still make sense, and it cannot be broken down further into smaller parts. “Mis,” meaning “wrong,” modifies the base word “guide.” Finally, the “ed” ending is an inflection that indicates that the word is being used in the past tense or as an adjective.
A root word is the most basic part of a word and does not have any affixes (i.e., prefixes or suffixes) attached. A root word is the fundamental unit of a word and forms the basis for a word family, or all the words that can be created using the root word.
A root word can be built on using prefixes (e.g., “pre-”, “de-,” “anti-”) and suffixes (e.g., “-able”/“-ible,” “-tion,” “-ly”). Adding prefixes or suffixes to root words creates new words.
For example, the word “proportionate” is made up of these components:
pro
portion
ate
prefix
root word
suffix
A root word like “portion” is the basis of a word family that includes many other words, such as “improportion,” “disproportional,” and “proportionality.” Word families contain words that share similar spelling as well as meaning.
