7 - Linkers

We put words together to form a sentence such as:

It provides the first step to learning and understanding independently (8).

(the first step to learning AND the first step to understanding)

When we want to link two words, or two sentences, together, we need linkers (sometimes called conjunctions).

If a student wants to describe what he studies, he could say:

I study Chemistry. I study Biology.

This is quite repetitive, so a better way of saying it would be:

I study Chemistry and Biology.

In the same way:

I study Chemistry, but not Physics

Is better than saying:

I study Chemistry. I don’t study Physics.

The student might want to say:

I enjoy Chemistry. I did not get a good grade.

This is contrary to what we would expect when someone likes Chemistry, so we use a different linker which shows this unexpected result.

I enjoy Chemistry, although I did not get a good grade.

Here are some linkers from the text:

Because of this, she has to show them how to find out information for themselves, and to work and talk together to discover new ideas, so using the language is part of the process of learning (5).