Discourse Markers

A discourse marker is a word or phrase that guides the listener through what the speaker or writer is saying.

Discourse markers for giving examples

When you’re presenting information or arguing a point, it can be useful to give examples to illustrate what you’re saying or back up a point you’ve made. You may also need to give examples when someone doesn’t understand exactly what you mean. In this article I will show you how to use discourse markers in English to show that you’re giving an example of something.

The following discourse markers are most often used to give examples in everyday English:

• for example
• for instance
• like
• such as

“We need to see a change in your attitude to work. For example, you need to arrive in the office on time and be more courteous towards your colleagues.”
“I have tried several extreme sports such as surfing and abseiling.”

Giving examples and supporting information in formal speech and writing

“This city is becoming a popular tourist destination, as shown by the steady increase in visitor numbers of the past five years.”

When writing a report, presentation or article it may be appropriate to use one of these phrases to back up what you’re saying, but these are rarely used in casual conversation:

• as illustrated by
• as revealed by
• as shown by
• as we can see from
• in the case of

“This city is becoming a popular tourist destination, as shown by the steady increase in visitor numbers of the past five years.”
“As we can see from our customer feedback, we need to improve our delivery times.”

Another one that is hardly ever spoken is e.g., which is an abbreviation of the Latin exempli gratia and means for example. This should generally be avoided in formal writing though.

“You should always use a capital letter for days of the week and months of the year (e.g. Monday, April, September) in writing.”

Emphasising an important example

If you want to highlight an example as particularly important, you may use one of these discourse markers:

• above all
• especially
• in particular
• notably

“I try to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, in particular leafy greens.”

“There are many bad habits that annoy me, but above all I can’t stand people speaking loudly on their phones in public.”

Discourse markers for addition

In this article we’ll look at the discourse markers we can use to show that we’re giving additional information when we speak or write. The additional information should be linked in some way to the first.

For example, consider the sentence: My dog’s name is Jerry and it’s a sunny day today. Although grammatically correct, the two pieces of information are not linked in any way, so it doesn’t make sense to join them like this.

So, which discourse markers do we use to add information?

You’re probably familiar with these simple discourse markers already:

• and
• also
• too
• as well (as)

Usage note: too and also

It can be confusing knowing where to place too and also in a sentence, so here is a quick guide:

Too usually comes at the end of a sentence:

“James loves chocolate ice cream and I do, too.”
“We went on holiday to France but we visited Italy for three days too.”

It can also come mid-sentence:

“I, too, am passionate about helping disadvantaged people.”
“They, too, went to the park at the weekend.”

For more about using too, have a look at this article.

Also usually comes before the main verb:

“Joanna also likes riding horses.”
“We have also had an excellent month of sales.”

The exception is where the main verb is ‘be’ (and there are no auxiliary verbs), in which case also comes after ‘be’:

“Liam is a good runner and he’s also good at swimming.”
“I think we should paint the bedroom blue, but purple is also a good idea.”

In informal American English, also may be used at the end of a sentence, in the same way as too. This structure isn’t used in British English, though.

Usage note: as well and as well as

As well is used at the end of a sentence, just like too:

“Are you coming to the party as well?”
“They went shopping and watched a movie as well.”

As well as is a conjunction and can be used at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence:

“My husband is good-looking as well as intelligent.”
“As well as bread, the bakery sells cakes and local jams.”

More formal discourse markers for addition

The following discourse markers are all used at the beginning of a sentence to show that you’re about to give additional information, and can be used in more formal contexts:

• Moreover
• Furthermore
• Further to this/that
• In addition
• Additionally
• What’s more
• On top of this/that

Remember that we use these to add additional, supporting information. This means that if the previous point was positive, we’re adding more positive information and vice versa. This article has more about comparing and contrasting points.

“Our company has a proven track record in the field of SEO. In addition, we’ve recently added three industry experts to our management team.”
“The plans to build a new supermarket will have a negative impact on smaller local businesses. Furthermore, we will lose a valuable area of park land.”

One more…

We use besides when we are supporting what we have previously said, but adding something on a slightly different topic. We can use besides when stating an opinion, giving advice, or supporting one side of an argument:

“You’re too young to be going out to a party. Besides, you have school in the morning.”
“I think you should try speed dating. You could meet the man of your dreams, and besides, you’ve got nothing to lose!”

Discourse markers for cause and result

Here we will look at how to use discourse markers to link cause and result, or to talk about the reason why things happen.

Result -> cause

When you want to state the result or outcome before the cause, use one of these discourse markers:

• as a result of
• because
• due to
• thanks to

“The class achieved excellent grades as a result of their teacher’s dedication.”
“I’m going to be late because I missed my bus.”
“Thanks to an anonymous donor, the charity has been able to build a new animal shelter.”

Cause -> result

The four discourse markers above can also be used to state the cause before the result. To do this, we just swap the two clauses around and adjust the punctuation:

“As a result of their teacher’s dedication, the class achieved excellent grades.”
“Because I missed my bus, I’m going to be late.” (It is not so common to use ‘because’ to begin a sentence.)
“The charity has been able to build a new animal shelter thanks to an anonymous donor.”

The following discourse markers are also used in sentences where the cause is stated before the result (but they can’t be used the other way around):

• so
• as a result
• consequently
• hence
• in that case
• therefore
• thus

So is used as a conjunction to join the cause and result in one sentence:

“My friend is getting married at the weekend so I need to go shopping for a new dress and a wedding gift.”

The others are used to begin a new sentence or clause stating the result:

“You’ve done an excellent job during your first three months at the company. Therefore, we’re awarding you a permanent contract.”
“Manufacturing costs have increased a lot in the past year. As a result, we’ll have to raise our prices if we want to maintain a steady profit.”

In that case is used to respond to information from someone else:
Giles: I’m going to order chocolate cake for dessert.
Nicola: In that case, I’ll get a dessert too.

Please note that hence and thus are not often used as conjunctions in spoken English, and may be used more in formal writing or storytelling.

Conditional results

If a result is based on a condition that may or may not be met (in the future), use one of these:

• then
• otherwise

“If it’s sunny tomorrow then I’ll walk to work.” (Often then is omitted in casual speech – see below.)

Otherwise is used to present the alternative option:
“If it’s sunny tomorrow, I’ll walk to work. Otherwise, I’ll take the bus.”

Discourse markers for order, structure and sequence

In this article we’ll focus on discourse markers that we can use to give structure or order points when we speak or write. We can use these to show in what sequence things happened, are happening or will happen.

For a numbered list we can also use first/firstly, second/secondly, third/thirdly, fourth/fourthly, etc. These can be useful when you add a lot of information after each point and want to draw the reader or listener’s attention back to the next point. However, using too many of these in a short space of time, particularly in spoken English, can sound strange.

These discourse markers are particularly useful for:

• Giving the outline of a presentation, speech or report:
  “Firstly, we’ll look at the results of the research conducted, then we’ll examine the impact this is likely to have on the community. Finally, I will present a list of suggested actions. At the end there will be a chance for you to ask questions.”
• Going through a list of numbered points:
  “First, we’re going to visit the castle. Second, we’ll stop at a monastery. Third, we’ll have lunch at a local restaurant, and last of all we’ll spend a couple of hours at the beach.”
• Giving an account of something that’s happened:
  “I arrived in the office as usual, and first of all I switched on my computer. After that, I went to the kitchen to make myself a coffee. Next I checked the mail, and when I returned to my office I saw that the safe was open and all the money was gone.”

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