Conjunctive adverb conjurer
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In a thesis, the conjunctive adverbs signal to examiners that you understand the precise nature of the relationship you are talking about. This will give the examiner more confidence that you know what you are doing. It’s a subtle thing, so let’s look at some examples. This is a poor use of the conjunctive adverb:
“We sequenced the coconut genome and could not identify all the elements; incidentally we changed our approach”
“Incidentally” is a word we use to change the subject, it’s another way of saying “by the way…”. It is more correct to say:
“We sequenced the coconut genome and could not identify all the elements; consequently we changed our approach”
Consequently means “as a result” which signals the cause and effect relationship implicit in the statement. To add more variety to your writing, try substituting other cause and effect conjunctive adverbs, for instance:
“We sequenced the coconut genome and could not identify all the elements, so we changed our approach accordingly”
“Accordingly “ means “appropriate to the particular circumstances,” which implies that you made a logical and appropriate change.
Here are some common conjunctive adverbs and phrases, grouped according to relationship type. Some conjunctive adverbs are multi-dimensional and can fall into more than one category.
Exercise:
1) Scan a page of your text and circle the conjunctive adverbs
2) Examine each one carefully – does it precisely capture the nature of the relationship you are attempting to convey?
3) Try substituting the conjunctive adverbs with new ones which describe the same kinds of relationships – what difference does it make?
Note: this handout was inspired by Dr Scott Mayson is released under the creative commons share alike attribution license. You may change it and circulate it freely, but be cool and acknowledge Dr Inger Mewburn as the original author.