Sunday, July 17, 2011

Sentence adverbial

sentence adverbial
Conjuncts and disjuncts are described as sentence adverbials. They are used in a piece of continuous writing to link different parts together. They work in a variety of ways, including:
Adding and listing
In narratives, explanations, and arguments we often want to place items in a particular order. We indicate this fact and show the order by using words like ‘firstly’:
Firstly, the feeling for the tradition is very strong in the village; secondly, Gawthorpe is an ancient settlement — its history can be traced back to a Viking chief named Gorky and there is evidence that it existed in Roman times; thirdly, the original custom was to bring in a new May tree each year.
Sometimes the sequence is less important, but we still wish to make it clear that items are linked:
Cynics may scoff that he is yet another stiff-upper-lip, old-soldier type, having come like so many of the august men of the Club from a military background before moving on to the sugar industry. And, as he admitted yesterday, he has little knowledge of the racing industry, apart from having been ‘a very amateur rider’. Furthermore, the fact that Haines must report to the Jockey Club Stewards and has no authority to act unilaterally has inevitably led to suggestions that his is merely a token appointment.
Sentence adverbials used in this way include:
also
as well
at the same time
besides
finally
first
furthermore
in addition
last
meanwhile
moreover
next
soon
then
too
Giving examples
Sometimes we wish to introduce an example or a list of material which exemplifies part of the argument:
These birds are not evenly distributed along the coast. For example, scoter are mainly confined to East Sussex and mergansers to West Sussex …
Other words used in this way are:
namely  as follows
Saying things another way
We may also wish to restate something using different words:
Pagan festivals were incorporated into the church calendar, fertility rites becoming Christian processions. The yule log became a Christmas ‘ingredient’; many magic springs became holy wells, still capable of healing the sick. In other words, the church controlled popular magic by offering its own brand.
Cause and result
In texts that contain an argument one sentence is often the logical development of what has gone before:
The nation's filmmakers, like its people, can't express emotion; they lack drive and passion, they're tame and repressed. As a result, the British can write novels and plays, even produce an occasional world-class painter but, when it comes to cinema, they might as well forget it.
Other sentence adverbials of this type are:
accordingly
as a result
consequently
hence
so
therefore
thus
Contrasts and alternatives
A sentence can be contrasted with what has gone before:
The speed of sound in water is roughly four times as great as it is in air. On the other hand, water is not much different for taste and smell, and much worse for vision.
Other sentence adverbials of this type are:
all the same
alternatively
anyway
by contrast
conversely
even so
however
instead
nevertheless
on the other hand
rather
yet
Concession
Another type of contrast is similar to that used in adverbial clauses of concession: despite this fact, the following is true. For example:
Anyone could have attacked Ella. Why should it be the O'Neills just because Ella had tried to befriend Kathleen? Nevertheless, she felt uneasy and was almost glad to hear that a second girl had been attacked in a different part of Liverpool.
Other sentence adverbials of this type are:
however  yet  even so

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