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Linking, referencing and substitution
From https://www.better-ielts.com/ Writing an essay – Task 2

1. Linking words

One of the most effective ways to make your essay clear for the reader is by using linking and words. They make it easy for the reader to follow your argument.

Read the following paragraph:

Another reason I believe games are important even in adulthood is because they give us time to relax and enjoy each other in a way that other activities do not provide. A good example of this from my own experience is a family board-game night. When I was a child, my father insisted we spend Friday evenings as a family, playing games. This was a couple hours when the focus was on fun – not homework or housework! Naturally, we learned to value the importance of family time, and were involved as a group, not focused on ourselves or on time-eaters such as the television.

The main point is very clear, right? (Games give us time to relax and enjoy each other). The sentences that follow support the main point.

Now look at the paragraph again and notice the linking words/expressions highlighted.

Another reason I believe games are important even in adulthood is because they give us time to relax and enjoy each other in a way that other activities do not provide. A good example of this from my own experience is a family board-game night. When I was a child, my father insisted we spend Friday evenings as a family, playing games. This was a couple hours when the focus was on fun – not homework or housework! Naturally, we learned to value the importance of this weekly event, and were involved as a group, not focused on ourselves or on time-eaters such as the television.

These expressions help make the paragraph easy to read because they link the ideas.

Here are some linking phrases you may have learned before. Do you regularly make use of them? The ones below are often (but not always) used at the beginning of main points – to start a new paragraph.

First of all… First of all, when you travel with others, you seldom get lonely.
One reason for this is… One reason for this is that you always have somebody to share your experiences with.
Another reason is… Another reason is that it’s significantly cheaper to travel with others.
In addition… In addition, games develop a healthy sense of competition.
Furthermore… Furthermore, because you can share the costs of groceries with your friends, it’s easy to save money on food when you are travelling with others.
Secondly… Secondly, because you can share the costs of groceries with your friends, it’s easy to save money on food when you are travelling with others.
Finally… Finally, it’s definitely safer to be with a group than to be alone.

These are linking phrases that you may find useful as you link supporting ideas together within your paragraph.

For example…
Of course…
In fact…
In my experience…
Naturally…
Understandably…
A good example of this is…
…as well as…

2. Reference words
We’ve looked at linking words and expressions. Now look at the paragraph below again. This time, the referencing words are underlined

Another reason I believe games are important even in adulthood is because they give us time to relax and enjoy each other in a way that other activities do not provide. A good example of this from my own experience is family board-game night. When I was a child, my father insisted we spend Friday evenings as a family, playing games. This was a couple hours when the focus was on fun – not homework or housework! Naturally, we learned to value the importance of this weekly event, and were involved as a group, not focused on ourselves or on time-eaters such as the television.

The underlined words refer to something

Another reason  refers to the point of the argument
Each other  refers to the family members
Where  refers to the couple of hours
Such as  refers to time-eaters

3. Substitution
Finally, we can achieve cohesion in our writing by using grammatical links. Here are some examples:

Personal pronouns he, she, it, they, this, that, these, her, him, us
Relative pronouns why, which, that, where
Other substitutions so, such, this, there, then
Articles We had a game night every Friday. The game night…

This time, have a look at the paragraph again. The original linking words remain highlighted, the reference words are underlined, and the substitutions are in bold.

Another reason I believe games are important even in adulthood is because they give us time to relax and enjoy each other in a way that other activities do not provide. A good example of this from my own experience is family board-game night. When I was a child, my father insisted we spend Friday evenings as a family, playing games. This was a couple hours when the focus was on fun – not homework or housework! Naturally, we learned to value the importance of this weekly event, and were involved as a group, not focused on ourselves or on time-eaters such as the television.

The bold words are all substitutions for other nouns or pronouns. Imagine if you always referred to your family as ‘my family’ ‘my family’ ‘my family’ and never used ‘we’ or ‘us’!

Synonyms are another form of substitution and add to the coherence of your text. Can you think of words or expressions that are synonymous to the ones below? Practice putting things in different words when you write your essays – this substitution will help you be less repetitive and more interesting.

large big, huge, heavy, (depends on the context!)
co-workers colleagues, people I work with, friends…
father dad, parent…
big city
having fun
useful words

You can see from the final highlighted paragraph how important of a role linking, reference and substitution words play when it comes to cohesion of an essay. Check your own practice paragraphs and essays. Do they flow smoothly? Are the ideas connected? Use the useful words and expressions in the orange boxes on this page to help you develop your cohesion.

PHRASES FOR REFUTING AN ARGUMENT.

It is difficult to agree with this because…
I find it difficult to agree with this because…
There is little evidence to support this.
There is little evidence to support the view that…
It is unjustifiable to say this.
It is unjustifiable to say that…

I don’t believe that…
I am unconvinced by this.
I am unconvinced that…
I find it hard to accept that…
I am uncertain whether…
It is doubtful whether…

I would argue that…
In my view/opinion…
As far as I am concerned…
I tend to think that…

However, if this were the case, …
Yet if this were true, ….
Although this is partly correct, …

I agree with this up to a point, but if we think carefully about it, we will notice/ find that…