FUNCTION OF LINKING WORDS

Linking words are used to connect two clauses or two sentences and they have different functions:
Adding extra information, contrasting ideas, expressing cause and effect, narrating, expressing purpose, listing examples, etc.

POSITION IN THE TEXT:

Some linking words normally form a link between clauses WITHIN a sentence. It is bad style to start a sentence with these words:
and but so because then until such as
Other linking words are used to form a link BETWEEN sentences. They must start with capital letters and are usually followed by a comma:
Furthermore, Nevertheless, Moreover, Therefore, However, In conclusion,
GRAMMATICAL DIFFERENCES:
Some linking words must be followed by a CLAUSE (Subject + Verb + Object)
while why because although so whereas when
Other linking words should be followed by a NOUN PHRASE (linking word + (the) + Noun/Gerund)
in spite of despite during because of

ADDING AND RELATIVE CLAUSES CONTRASTING EXPRESSING CAUSE AND RESULT

and but because
as well as However, Nevertheless, As / Since
Besides, / Moreover, / Furthermore, Although / Even though / Even if so / Therefore,
What is more, / In addition, …, though As a result,
not only… but Despite / in spite of This is why,
also / … as well / … too On the contrary, Consequently,
another point is that on the one hand For this reason,
who on the other hand, too…for/to
where whereas not enough…for/to
that while due to / owing to / because of
which In contrast,
whose Neither…nor CONCLUDING
when Otherwise All in all
what In conclusion,
why EXPRESSING PURPOSE / OPINION On the whole
to To sum up,
so as to / in order to/ in order that / so that Lastly,
GENERALIZING
I would say that In short,
On the whole,
In general, In my opinion,
I (don’t) think (that) NARRATION
In most cases, First (of all) / At first / Firstly
Mostly, I (don’t) believe (that)
Personally, To begin with, / In the first place,
From my point of view, / In my view, At the beginning / In the beginning
AGREEING / DISAGREEING As far as … is concerned, secondly,
I agree with/to As regards thirdly,
I don’t agree with/to / I disagree with/to As far as I can see, then / later / next
I’m in favour of Before
After
CLARIFYING GIVING EXAMPLES / EXCEPTING After that / afterwards
I mean (that) for example immediately
That is to say, for instance Once
such as Suddenly
In other words,
Apart from, As soon as
With the exception of Finally/Eventually
until
EMPHASIS Take the case of
At the end
especially In the end / At last
particularly
SHOWING CONDITIONALITY
If SHOWING SIMILARITY
Naturally, likewise
exactly In case
If not in the same way
above all similarly
provided that
In fact, in a similar manner
Actually, unless
in that case like
As a matter of fact,
Definitely INSIST ON AN EARLIER POINT CHANGE OF SUBJECT
Obviously As I have said (before), By the way,
Without a doubt As I have noted, Anyway,
so…that
As suggested above, Anyhow,
such a(n)…that