Firstly | Secondly | Finally | Actually , – English Grammar Profiler
In this post, we explore some common connecting words, also known as linking or transition words. In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 49 in ADVERBs/as modifiers is defined as:
adverbs as discourse markers to organise text. (position)
For example:
Finally, I just take a rest.
PELIC STUDENT: Arabic, Male, level 3, writing class
Although the title of this post lists only 4 examples that are found in the EGP examples, there are many more one could manually locate that relate to organizing the ideas in a text. If we just want words for sequencing then we should consider:
first (ly); second (ly); third (ly); another; additionally; finally moreover; also; subsequently; eventually; next; then
Here we do a search in iWeb corpus for
. _R ,
1 . HOWEVER, 2766869 2 . ALSO, 705751 3 . SO, 661814 4 . NOW, 367181 5 . THEREFORE, 322268 6 . INSTEAD, 299474 7 . THEN, 284991
8 . ADDITIONALLY, 270679 B2 connecting words
What’s more, sometimes, when you do have pain,
an abnormality on MRI may have nothing to do with it.
Additionally, an MRI doesn’t always capture what‘s happening with your muscles
or tell us how pain is being processed in the brain.
TED
9 . UNFORTUNATELY, 261850 10 . THUS, 246490 11 . FINALLY, 216695 12 . WELL, 212120 13 . AGAIN, 196715 14 . TODAY, 190162 15 . FURTHERMORE, 183912 16 . MOREOVER, 167331 17 . STILL, 153125 18 . INDEED, 143149 19 . MEANWHILE, 126679 20 . OTHERWISE, 119167 21 . HERE, 110723 22 . SIMILARLY, 99036 23 . SURE, 94663 24 . YET, 93918 25 . NEVERTHELESS, 89720 26 . ANYWAY, 88350 27 . FORTUNATELY, 87499 28 . ALTERNATIVELY, 84292 29 . OVERALL, 78493 30 . FURTHER, 74402 31 . CURRENTLY, 72690 32 . RATHER, 71875 33 . SOMETIMES, 65286 34 . HENCE, 63787 35 . BASICALLY, 63060 36 . LIKEWISE, 62269 37 . CONSEQUENTLY, 58895 38 . ACTUALLY, 58037 39 . OBVIOUSLY, 57740 40 . GENERALLY, 57063 41 . BESIDES, 56920 42 . SPECIFICALLY, 56502 43 . LUCKILY, 55499 44 . LATER, 55239 45 . TYPICALLY, 54189 46 . EVENTUALLY, 52347 47 . PERSONALLY, 48521 48 . ULTIMATELY, 47542 49 . OFTEN, 45673 50 . SADLY, 45089 51 . SECONDLY, 40848 52 . USUALLY, 40799 53 . RECENTLY, 40656 54 . THERE, 40404 55 . LASTLY, 40045 (B2) 56 . NONETHELESS, 39687 57 . TOGETHER, 39342 58 . INTERESTINGLY, 38476 59 . THANKFULLY, 38404 60 . ACCORDINGLY, 38196 61 . PREVIOUSLY, 35191 62 . CONVERSELY, 32747 63 . IDEALLY, 32376 64 . HOPEFULLY, 30763 65 . APPARENTLY, 30059 66 . HONESTLY, 28518 67 . OK, 27925 68 . NATURALLY, 27766 69 . ESSENTIALLY, 27250 70 . FIRSTLY, 26769 71 . REGARDLESS, 26295 72 . CLEARLY, 26259 73 . SERIOUSLY, 26137 74 . OKAY, 25326 75 . NORMALLY, 25147 76 . INITIALLY, 21332 77 . IRONICALLY, 20235 78 . REALLY, 20153 79 . SUDDENLY, 19514 80 . AFTERWARDS, 18207 81 . CERTAINLY, 17487 82 . PLEASE, 16656 83 . SOON, 16565 84 . OCCASIONALLY, 15816 85 . NOWADAYS, 15036 86 . FRANKLY, 14964 87 . HISTORICALLY, 14853 88 . SURPRISINGLY, 14676 89 . TRADITIONALLY, 14124 90 . BELOW, 13625 91 . INSIDE, 13525 92 . SUBSEQUENTLY, 12556 93 . WHY, 11752 94 . IMPORTANTLY, 11549 95 . SOMEHOW, 10917 96 . PERHAPS, 10375 97 . ORIGINALLY, 10182 98 . NOTABLY, 9956 99 . INCIDENTALLY, 9710
100 . ADMITTEDLY, 9653
*Even though ‘actually’ is in the English Grammar Profile examples, it seems odd that it falls into the same kind of ‘listing’ adverbs.