What is not a sequence word or phrase

Asked by: Cornell Zemlak

Score: 4.8/5
(69 votes)

Nonsequentially meaning

In a nonsequential manner.

What is not a sequence word?

: not relating to, arranged in, or following a sequence : not sequential a nonsequential narrative style a nonsequential list of serial numbers. Other Words from nonsequential More Example Sentences Learn More About nonsequential.

What is a word for non consecutive?

Synonyms & Near Synonyms for nonconsecutive. inconsecutive, inconsequent, nonsequential.

What is the opposite of sequential order?

▲ Opposite of succeeding or following in order. inconsecutive. inconsequent. nonconsecutive.

What is another word for sequential?

In this page you can discover 32 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for sequential, like: succeeding, linear, subsequent, consecutive, chronological, later, successive, regular, , continuous and incessant.

40 related questions found

Learn useful sequence words in English with the infographic. In this article, we learn some linking words and connectors of sequence for ESL learners.

List of Sequence Words

Here are some transition words and phrases that we use to show the sequence and order of events or ideas.

Beginning

• In the beginning
• First of all
• Once upon a time
• One day
• First
• Firstly
• To begin
• To start
• Once

Middle

• Soon
• Meanwhile
• Then
• After that
• Later
• After awhile
• Next
• Second
• Third
• Secondly
• Thirdly
• And
• Furthermore
• Further
• Moreover
• Another
• In addition
• Also
• Subsequently
• After
• Before

Interruption

(something unexpected)

• Suddenly
• All of a sudden
• But then

Ending

• Finally
• At last
• In conclusion
• To summarise
• At the end
• Afterward
• In the end
• Lastly
• After all
• By the end
• By this point
• Eventually

Examples of Sequence Words

In the beginning

• In the beginning, there are only heliotrope flowers on the treetops.

First of all

• First of all, I want you to review what we learned yesterday.

Once upon a time

• Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess.

One day

• One day, the beginning of a new career journey will commence. Today is NOT that day.

First

• First, I’ll explain the rules of the game.

Firstly

• Firstly, they are not efficient, and secondly, they are expensive to make.

To begin

• To begin with, she is too young for that kind of job.

To start

• To start with, we haven’t enough money, and secondly, we haven’t enough time.

Once

• Once I’ve done that, it’s a piece of cake.

Meanwhile

• Mother went shopping; meanwhile, I cleaned the house.

Then

•  If you’re all sitting comfortably, then I’ll begin.

After that

• After that news, I need a stiff drink!

Later

• Later, it transpired she had failed the examination.

Next

• Next to his tanned face, hers seemed pallid and unhealthy.

Secondly

• Secondly, lawyers and economists approach problems from different perspectives.

Thirdly

• Thirdly, the new style guides have clearly been influenced by some interesting graphic design work.

Furthermore

• He is old and unpopular. Furthermore, he has at best only two years of political life ahead of him.

Moreover

• I don’t like skating, moreover, the ice is too thin.

In addition

• In addition to my weekly wage, I got a lot of tips.

Subsequently

• Subsequently, new guidelines were issued to all employees.

After

• My legs were tired after so much walking.

Before

• She worked as a librarian before switching to journalism.

Suddenly

• Suddenly he scooted out of the room.

All of a sudden

• All of a sudden I heard an almighty crash from the kitchen.

But then

• But then he decided to play his trump card.

Finally

• Finally, they arrived in the safety zone.

At last

• At last, I was able to work undisturbed.

In conclusion

• In conclusion, I hope the preceding arguments have convinced you of the need for action.

To summarise

• To summarise, this is a clever approach to a common problem.

At the end

• At the end of each level, you take an exam.

Afterward

• Afterward, the boy became a very famous artist.

In the end

• In the end, we all decided to organize a concert for Easter.

Lastly

• Lastly, I’d like to ask you about your plans.

After all

• Every man should marry. After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

By the end

• By the end of the course, I was a complete basket case.

By this point

• By this point, the council had initiated the first of several large redevelopment projects proposed by the business elite.

Eventually

• Eventually, you’ll learn to cry that on the inside.

Sequence Words | Infographic

Useful Sequence Words in English

Last Updated on July 28, 2020

Министерство образования и науки

ФГБОУ ВПО «Ишимский государственный
педагогический институт

им. П. П. Ершова»

Кафедра иностранных языков

Реферат

IC-model of the Sentence

Работу выполнил:

студентка 4 курса, 701 группы,

историко-филологического факультета,

отделения иностранных языков

Иванова Ксения

Работу проверил:

старший преподаватель

кафедры иностранных языков

Некоз Владимир Васильевич

Ишим, 2014

LIST OF CONTENT:

Introduction……………………………………………………………………..3

The IC method (method of immediate
constituents)……………………………4

IC-model of
the sentence……………………………………………………….6

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..15

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………16

INTRODUCTION

The model of immediate constituents is based on the group-parsing
of the sentence which has been developed by traditional grammar together with
the sentence-part parsing scheme. It consists in dividing the whole of the
sentence into two groups: that of the subject and that of the predicate, which,
in their turn, are divided into their sub-group constituents according to the
successive subordinative order of the latter. Profiting by this type of
analysis, the IC-model explicitly exposes the binary hierarchical principle of
subordinative connections, showing the whole structure of the sentence as made
up by binary immediate constituents. As for equipotent (coordinative)
connections, these are, naturally, non-binary, but, being of a more primitive character
than subordinative connections, they are included in the analysis as possible inner
subdivisions of subordinative connections [1].

THE IC METHOD (METHOD OF IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS)

This method was elaborated by the
head of American Descriptive Linguistics Leonard Bloomfield.The IC method aims
at describing any complex form ranging from long sentences to multi-element
words in terms of their  constituents. The form is divided into two parts, the
remaining parts are also divided into parts until ultimate indivisible pieces
are arrived at un][gent]le][man][ly. The main requirement on the
morphological level is that ultimate constituents (or at least one of them)
should be recognizable as morphemes: book||let; let is a
diminutive suffix. The word ham||let (a small village) can also be
divided into 2 parts , though we do not know what ham here means.

Proceeding from the intuition of a
native speaker, L.Bloomfield analyzed the sentence  Poor John ran away
in the following way Poor ][ John// ran ][ away.

The main requirement of the method on
the syntactical  level is that ultimate constituents should be words [2].

There are several varieties of
diagramming of this analysis. We can represent the candelabra division (1) and
the derivation tree division (2).

Poor John ran away (1)
(candelabra diagram)

└———┘    └——┘

          └———┘

                    S     

               /      

         NP         VP            (2)
This is a derivation tree division.

         /            /    

       A       N    V      D

  Poor      John  runs   
away    

                    S                

               /      

         NP         VP

         /            /    

      T       N     V       D

The        rain  falls   greyly

The word greyly semantically
refers to the noun rain, but the diagram doesn’t show it..

The method shows the derivation of a
sentence, but it’s formalized, mechanistic, it disregards meanings and can’t be
employed to analyze polysemy, homonymy, ambiguity, implicit syntactic
relations, syncretism.

The IC method,
introduced by American descriptivists, presents the sentence not as a linear
succession of words but as a hierarchy of its ICs, as a ’structure of
structures’.

Ch. Fries, who further
developed the method proposed by L.Bloomfield, suggested the following diagram
for the analysis of the sentence which also brings forth the mechanism of
generating sentences: the largest IC of a simple sentence are the NP (noun
phrase) and the VP (verb phrase), and they are further divided if their
structure allows.

Layer
3      The        recommending      committee 
    approved   
his      promotion.

Layer 2

Layer
1

The deeper the layer of the phrase
(the greater its number), the smaller the phrase, and the smaller its ICs. The
resulting units (elements) are called ultimate constituents (on the level of
syntax they are words). If the sentence is complex, the largest ICs are the
sentences included into the complex construction.

The diagram may be drawn somewhat
differently without changing its principle of analysis. This new diagram is
called a ‘candelabra’ diagram.

                         
The man                  hit       the ball.

                                               S

If we turn the analytical
(‘candelabra’) diagram upside down we get a new diagram which is called a
‘derivation tree’, because it is fit not only to analyze sentences, but shows
how a sentence is derived, or generated, from the ICs.

IC-MODEL OF THE SENTENCE

In
linguistics, immediate constituent
analysis or IC analysis is a method of
sentence analysis that was first mentioned by
Leonard Bloomfield and developed further by Rulon Wells. The process reached a full blown
strategy for analyzing sentence structure in the early works of Noam Chomsky. The practice is now widespread. Most
tree structures employed to represent the syntactic structure of sentences are
products of some form of IC-analysis. The process and result of IC-analysis
can, however, vary greatly based upon whether one chooses the constituency
relation of phrase structure grammars (constituency grammars) or the dependency
relation of dependency grammars as the underlying principle that organizes constituents into hierarchical structures.

 IC-analysis divides up a sentence into major parts or immediate
constituents, and these constituents are in turn divided into further immediate
constituents. The process
continues until irreducible constituents are reached, i.e., until each
constituent consists of only a word or a meaningful part of a word. The end
result of IC-analysis is often presented in a visual diagrammatic form that
reveals the hierarchical immediate constituent structure of the sentence at
hand. These diagrams are
usually trees. For
example:

This tree illustrates the manner in which the entire sentence is
divided first into the two immediate constituents this tree and illustrates
IC-analysis according to the constituency relation; these two constituents
are further divided into the immediate constituents this and tree,
and illustrates IC-analysis and according
to the constituency relation; and so on.

An important aspect of IC-analysis in phrase structure grammars is
that each individual word is a constituent by definition. The process of
IC-analysis always ends when the smallest constituents are reached, which are
often words (although the analysis can also be extended into the words to
acknowledge the manner in which words are structured). The process is, however,
much different in dependency grammars, since many individual words do not end
up as constituents in dependency grammars.

IC-analysis
is much different in dependency grammars. Since
dependency grammars view the finite verb as the root of all sentence structure,
they cannot and do not acknowledge the initial binary subject—predicate division of the clause associated with phrase
structure grammars. What this means for the general understanding of
constituent structure is that dependency grammars do not acknowledge a finite verb phrase (VP) constituent and many individual words also do
not qualify as constituents, which means in turn that they will not show up as
constituents in the IC-analysis. Thus in the example sentence This tree illustrates IC-analysis
according to the dependency relation, many of the phrase structure grammar
constituents do not qualify as dependency grammar constituents:

Dependency
grammar (DG) is a
class of modern syntactic theories that are all based on the dependency
relation and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesnière. The dependency relation views the (finite) verb
as the structural center of all clause structure. All other syntactic units
(e.g. words) are either directly or indirectly dependent on the verb. DGs are
distinct from phrase structure grammars (= constituency grammars), since DGs lack phrasal
nodes. Structure is determined by the relation between a word (a head) and its
dependents. Dependency structures are flatter than constituency structures in
part because they lack a finite verb phrase constituent, and they are thus well suited for the analysis
of languages with free word order.

The
IC-analysis for a given sentence is arrived at usually by way of constituency tests. Constituency tests (e.g. topicalization, clefting, pseudoclefting, pro-form substitution, answer ellipsis, passivization, omission, coordination, etc.) identify the constituents, large and
small, of English sentences. Two illustrations of the manner in which
constituency tests deliver clues about constituent structure and thus about the
correct IC-analysis of a given sentence are now given. Consider the phrase The girl in the following trees:

The acronym
BPS stands for «bare phrase structure», which is an indication that
the words are used as the node labels in the tree. Again, focusing on the
phrase The girl, the tests unanimously confirm that it is a
constituent as both trees show:

…the girl is
happy — Topicalization (invalid test because test constituent is already
at front of sentence)

It is the
girl who is happy. — Clefting

(The one)Who
is happy is the girl. — Pseudoclefting

She is happy. — Pro-form substitution

Who is happy?
-The girl. — Answer ellipsis

Based on
these results, one can safely assume that the noun phrase The girl in
the example sentence is a constituent and should therefore be shown as one in
the corresponding IC-representation, which it is in both trees. Consider next
what these tests tell us about the verb string is happy:

*…is happy,
the girl. — Topicalization

*It is is
happy that the girl. — Clefting

*What the
girl is is happy. — Pseudoclefting

*The
girl so/that/did that. — Pro-form substitution

What is the
girl? -*Is happy. — Answer ellipsis

The star *
indicates that the sentence is bad (i.e. it is not acceptable English). Based
on data like these, one might conclude that the finite verb string is
happy in the example sentence is not a constituent and should
therefore not be shown as a constituent in the corresponding IC-representation.
Hence this result supports the IC-analysis in the dependency tree over the one
in the constituency tree, since the dependency tree does not view is
happy as a constituent.

In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words that
functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. The analysis of
constituent structure is associated mainly withphrase structure grammars, although dependency grammars also allow sentence structure to be broken down
into constituent parts. The constituent structure of sentences is identified
usingconstituency tests. These tests manipulate some portion of a
sentence and based on the result, clues are delivered about the immediate constituent structure of the sentence. Many constituents are phrases. A phrase is a sequence of two or more words
built around a head lexical item and working as a unit within a sentence. A word sequence is
shown to be a phrase/constituent if it exhibits one or more of the behaviors
discussed below.

Constituency
tests are diagnostics employed to identify the constituent structure of
sentences. There are numerous
constituency tests applied to English sentences, many of which are listed here:

1. topicalization (fronting)

2. clefting

3.
pseudoclefting

4.
pro-form substitution (replacement)

5. answer ellipsis (question test),

6.
passivization

7.
omission (deletion)

8. coordination, etc.

These
tests are rough-and-ready tools that grammarians employ to reveal clues about
syntactic structure. A word of caution is warranted when employing these tests,
since they often deliver contradictory results. Some syntacticians even arrange
the tests on a scale of reliability, with less-reliable tests treated as useful
to confirm constituency though not sufficient on their own. Failing to pass a
single test does not mean that the unit is not a constituent, and conversely,
passing a single test does not mean necessarily that the unit is a constituent.
It is best to apply as many tests as possible to a given unit in order to prove
or to rule out its status as a constituent [7].

Topicalization involves moving the test sequence to the front of the
sentence. It is a simple movement operation:

He is going to attend another
course to improve his English.

To improve his English, he is going to attend another course.

Clefting involves placing a sequence of words X within the structure
beginning with It is/was: It was X that…

She bought a pair of
gloves with silk embroidery.

It was a pair of gloves
with silk embroidery that she bought.

Pseudoclefting
(also preposing) is similar to clefting in that it puts emphasis on a
certain phrase in a sentence. It involves inserting a sequence of words
before is/are what or is/are who:

She bought a pair of
gloves with silk embroidery.

A pair of gloves with silk
embroidery is what she bought.

Pro-form substitution, or replacement, involves replacing the test
constituent with the appropriate pro-form (e.g. pronoun). Substitution normally
involves using a definite pro-form like it, he, there,here,
etc. in place of a phrase or a clause. If such a change yields a grammatical
sentence where the general structure has not been altered, then the test
sequence is a constituent:

I don’t know the man who
is sleeping in the car.

*I don’t know him who is
sleeping in the car. (ungrammatical)

I don’t know him.

The
ungrammaticality of the first changed version and the grammaticality of the second one demonstrates that the whole
sequence, the man who is sleeping in the car, and not just the
man is a constituent functioning as a unit.

The answer ellipsis test refers to the ability of a sequence of words to stand
alone as a reply to a question. It is often used to test the constituency of a
verbal phrase but can also be applied to other phrases:

What did you do yesterday?
— Worked on my new project.

What did you do yesterday?
— *Worked on. (unacceptable, so worked on is not a
constituent).

Linguists do
not agree whether passing the answer ellipsis test is sufficient, though at a
minimum they agree that it can help confirm the results of another constituency
test.

Omission
checks whether a sequence of words can be omitted without influencing the
grammaticality of the sentence — in most cases, local or temporal adverbials
can be safely omitted and thus qualify as constituents [6].

Fred relaxes at night on
his couch.

Fred relaxes on his couch.

Fred relaxes at night.

Since they
can be omitted, the prepositional phrases at night and on
his couch are constituents.

Passivization
involves changing an active sentence to a passive sentence, or vice versa.
The object of the active sentence is changed to the subject of the corresponding passive sentence:

A car driving at breakneck
speed nearly hit the little dog.

The little dog was nearly hit by a car driving at breakneck speed.

In case passivization
results in a grammatical sentence, the phrases that have been moved can be
regarded as constituents.

The coordination test assumes that
only constituents can be coordinated, i.e., joined by means of a coordinator
such as and:

He enjoys [writing
sentences] and [reading them].

[He enjoys writing] and [she enjoys reading] sentences.

[He enjoys] but [she hates] writing sentences.

Based on the
fact that writing sentences and reading them are
coordinated using and, one can conclude that they are constituents.
The validity of the coordination test is challenged by additional data,
however. The latter two sentences, which are instances of so-called right
node raising, suggest that the sequences
in bold should be understood as constituents. Most grammars do not view
sequences such as He enjoys to the exclusion of the VP writing
sentences as a constituent. Thus while the coordination test is widely
employed as a diagnostic for constituent structure, it is faced with major
difficulties and is therefore perhaps the least reliable of all the tests
mentioned [5].

Structured by the IC-model, the cited sentence on the upper level
of analysis is looked upon as a united whole (the accepted symbol S); on the
next lower level it is divided into two maximal constituents — the subject noun-phrase
(NP-subj) and the predicate verb-phrase (VP-pred); on the next lower level the
subject noun-phrase is divided into the determiner (det) and the rest of the
phrase to which it semantically refers (NP), while the predicate noun-phrase is
divided into the adverbial (DP, in this case simply D) and the rest of the
verb-phrase to which it semantically refers; the next level-stages of analysis
include the division of the first noun-phrase into its adjective-attribute
constituent (AP, in this case A) and the noun constituent (N), and correspondingly,
the division of the verb-phrase into its verb constituent (V or Vf — finite verb) and object
noun-phrase constituent (NP-obj), the latter being, finally, divided into the
preposition constituent (prp) and noun constituent (N). As we see, the process
of syntactic IC-analysis continues until the word-level of the sentence is
reached, the words being looked upon as the «ultimate» constituents
of the sentence.

The IC model is a
complete and exact theory but its sphere of application is limited to generating
only simple sentences. It also has some demerits which make it less strong than
transformational models, for instance, in case of the
infinitive which is a tricky thing in English.

(a)    The
oppositional method of analysis was introduced by the Prague School. It is
especially suitable for describing morphological categories. The most general
case is that of the general system of tense-forms of the English verb. In the
binary opposition ‘present::past’ the second member is characterized by
specific formal features – either the suffix -ed, or a phonemic modification of
the root. The past is thus a marked member of the opposition as against the
present, which is unmarked [4].

The obvious opposition
within the category of voice is that between active and passive; the passive
voice is the marked member of the opposition: its characteristic is the pattern
‘be+Participle II’, whereas the active voice is unmarked.

(b)   The
transformational method of analysis was introduced by American descriptivists
Z.Harris and N.Chomsky. It deals with the deep structure of the utterance which
is the sphere of covert (concealed) syntactic relations, as opposed to the
surface structure which is the sphere of overt relations that manifest
themselves through the form of single sentences. For example: John ran. She
wrote a letter.

But: 1) She made him a
good wife.

2) She made him a good
husband.

The surface structures
of these two sentences are identical but the syntactic meanings are different,
and it is only with the help of certain changes (transformations) that the
covert relations are brought out:

1)     
She became a good wife for him.

2)     
He became a good husband because she made
him one.

The transformational
sentence model is, in fact, the extension of the linguistic notion of
derivation to the syntactic level which presupposes setting off the so-called
‘basic’ or ‘kernel’ structures and their transforms, i.e. sentence-structures
derived from the basic ones according to the transformational rules.

E.g. He wrote a letter. –
The letter was written by him.

This analysis helps one
to find out difference in meaning when no other method can give results, it
appears strong enough in some structures with the infinitive in which the ICs
are the same:

1) 
John is easy to please.

2) 
John is eager to please.

1) It is easy — — It is
easy (for smb.) to please John

Smb. pleases John — —
John is easy to please.

2)
John is eager — —

                                           
John
is eager to please.

John pleases smb. — —

(c)            
The componential analysis
belongs to the sphere of traditional grammar and essentially consists of
‘parsing’, i.e. sentence-member analysis that is often based on the
distributional qualities of different parts of speech, which sometimes leads to
confusion.

E.g. My friend
received a letter yesterday. (A+S+P+O+AM)

His task is to watch.
(A+S+V)

His task is to settle all
matters. (A+S+V+A+O)

The described model of immediate constituents has two basic
versions. The first is known as the «analytical IC-diagrarn», the
second, as the «IС—derivation tree». The
analytical IC-diagram commonly shows the groupings of sentence constituents by
means of vertical and horizontal lines.

THE	SMALL	LADY	LISTENED	TO prp	ME NP-pro	ATTENTIVELY.
	A	N	V	NP
det	NP	VP	D
NP-subj		VP-pred

*S
– sentence

*NP-subj
– subject noun-phrase, VP-pred – predicate verb-phrase

*net
– determiner

*NP
– noun-phrase

*D
(DP) – adverbial (phrase)

*VP
– verb-phrase

*AP
(A) – adjective-attribute constituent

*N
– noun constituent

*V,
Vf – finite verb

*NP-obj
– object noun-phrase

*prep
– preposition [3]

CONCLUSION

Building up the
«model of immediate constituents» is a particu­lar kind of analysis
which consists in dividing the sentence into two groups: the subject group and
the predicate group, which, in their turn, are divided into their subgroup
constituents according to the successive subordinative order of the constituents.
The main advan­tage of the IC-model is that it exposes the binary hierarchical
principle of subordinative connection. The widely used version of the IC-model
is the «IC-derivation tree». It shows the groupings of sentence
constituents by means of branching nodes: the nodes symbolize phrase-categories
as unities, while the branches mark their division into constituents.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.    
Блох, М.Я. Теоретическая грамматика
английского языка, под ред. Маненок, И.С. [Текст] – М.: «Высшая Школа», – 1982

2.    
Theoretical Grammar
Of
English
[Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://allrefs.net/c1/4akkq/p6/

3.    
Immediate constituent
analysis
[Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immediate_constituent_analysis

4.    
IC—model
[Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://dahliasagucio.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/immediate-constituent-analysis-ic/

5.    
Constituent (linguistics) [Электронный
ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Constituent_(linguistics)

6.    
Theoretical Grammar
Of
English
[Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://www.studsell.com/view/2604/10000

7.    
Theoretical Grammar
Of
English
[Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://www.BiblioFond.ru/view.aspx?id=444934

sequence | word | In context|transitive|lang=en terms the difference between sequence and word is that sequence is {{context|transitive|lang=en}} to produce (music) with a sequencer while word is {{context|transitive|lang=en}} to say or write (something) using particular words. As nouns the difference between sequence and word is that sequence is a set of things next to each other in a set order; a series while word is the fact or action of speaking, as opposed to writing or to action {{defdate|from 9th c}}. As verbs the difference between sequence and word is that sequence is {{context|transitive|lang=en}} to arrange in an order while word is {{context|transitive|lang=en}} to say or write (something) using particular words. As a interjection word is {{context|slang|aave|lang=en}} truth, to tell or speak the truth; the shortened form of the statement, «my word is my bond,» an expression eventually shortened to «word is bond,» before it finally got cut to just «word,» which is its most commonly used form. sequence Noun (en noun) A set of things next to each other in a set order; a series A series of musical phrases where a theme or melody is repeated, with some change each time, such as in pitch or length (example: opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony ). A musical composition used in some Catholic Masses between the readings. The most famous sequence is the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) formerly used in funeral services. (mathematics) An ordered list of objects. A subsequent event; a consequence or result. * 1891 , Mary Noailles Murfree, In the «Stranger People’s» Country , Nebraska 2005, pp. 12-13: he found no words to convey the impressions he had received; then he gave way to the anger always the sequence of the antagonism of opinion between them. A series of shots that depict a single action or style in a film, television show etc. * {{quote-news, year=2012 , date=April 26 , author=Tasha Robinson , title=Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits : , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=What follows is a bunch of nonstop goofery involving chase sequences‘, dream ‘ sequences , fast-changing costumes and an improbable beard, a little musical help from Flight Of The Conchords, and ultimately a very physical confrontation with a surprisingly spry Victoria. }} (card games) A meld consisting of three or more cards of successive ranks in the same suit, such as the four, five and six of hearts. Usage notes * (mathematics) Beginning students often confuse (term) with (series). Verb to arrange in an order to determine the order of things, especially of amino acids in a protein, or of bases in a nucleic acid to produce (music) with a sequencer word English Etymology 1 From (etyl) word, from (etyl) verb. Noun (en noun) {{examples-right, The word inventory may be pronounced with four syllables (/??n.v?n.t?.?i/) or only three (/?n?v?n.t?i/). The word island» is six letters long; the »s» has never been pronounced but was added under the influence of »isle . The word me signed in American Sign Language. }} The smallest unit of language which has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. * 1986 , David Barrat, Media Sociology (ISBN 041505110X), page 112: The word , whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, ‘Maggie’ would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds. * 2009 , Jack Fitzgerald, Viva La Evolucin (ISBN 055719833X), page 233: Brian and Abby signed the word‘ »clothing», in which the thumbs brush down the chest as though something is hanging there. They both spoke the »’word»’ »clothing». Brian then signed the »’word for »change , * # The smallest discrete unit of spoken language which has a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes. #* 1894 , Alex. R. Mackwen, The Samaritan Passover», in »Littell’s Living Age , series 6, volume 1: Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder, #* # The smallest discrete unit of written language which has a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes. #* , act 2, scene 2: Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words‘, »’words»’, ‘ words . #* 2003 , Jan Furman, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon: A Casebook (ISBN 0195146352), page 194: The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read the word but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape, #* 2009 , Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read (ISBN 1101152400): Well-meaning academics even introduced spelling absurdities such as the “s” in the word “island,” a misguided Renaissance attempt to restore the etymology of the [unrelated] Latin word insula . # A discrete, meaningful unit of language which is approved by some authority. #* 1896 , (Israel Zangwill), Without Prejudice , page 21: “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word ?” #* 1999 , Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean , Hyperion, page 11: Fisherwoman isn’t even a word . It’s not in the dictionary. # A sequence of letters or characters, or sounds, which (does not necessarily belong to a language or have a meaning, but which) is considered as a discrete entity. #* 1974 , Thinking Goes to School: Piaget’s Theory in Practice (ISBN 0199839077), page 183: In still another variation, the nonsense word is presented and the teacher asks, «What sound was in the beginning of the word?» «In the middle?» and so on. The child should always respond with the phoneme; he should not use letter labels. #* 2003 , How To Do Everything with Your Tablet PC (ISBN 0072227710), page 278: I wrote a nonsense word , «umbalooie,» in the Input Panel’s Writing Pad. Input Panel converted it to «cembalos» and displayed it in the Text Preview pane. #* 2006 , Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse (ISBN 3161491122), page 141: Here the scribe has dropped the ?? from ?????????, thereby creating the nonsense word ???????. #* 2013 , The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language (ISBN 1317859979), page 91: If M. V. has sustained impairment to a phonological output process common to reading and repetition, we might anticipate that her mispronunciations will partially reflect the underlying phonemic form of the nonsense word . Something which is like such a unit of language: # (telegraphy) A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space. # (computing) A fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit by a machine (on many machines, 16 bits or two bytes). # (computer science) A finite string which is not a command or operator. # (group theory) A group element, expressed as a product of group elements. The fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action. * 1811 , (Jane Austen), (Sense and Sensibility) : she believed them still so very much attached to each other, that they could not be too sedulously divided in word and deed on every occasion. * 2004 , Richard Williams, The Guardian , 8 Sep 2004: As they fell apart against Austria, England badly needed someone capable of leading by word and example. * 1611 , Bible , Authorized Version, (w) XXVI.75: And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. * (1809-1892) She said; but at the happy word «he lives», / My father stooped, re-fathered, o’er my wound. * (Charles Dickens) (1812-1870) There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark. * 1945 April 1, Sebastian Haffner, in The Observer : «The Kaiser laid down his arms at a quarter to twelve. In me, however, they have an opponent who ceases fighting only at five minutes past twelve,» said Hitler some time ago. He has never spoken a truer word . * 2011 , (David Bellos), Is That a Fish in Your Ear? , Penguin 2012, page 126: Despite appearances to the contrary […] dragomans stuck rigidly to their brief, which was not to translate the Sultan’s words, but his word . A watchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words). * 1592 , William Shakespeare, : Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons! * 1647 (published), John Fletcher and William Rowley, (The Maid in the Mill) (published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio), scene 3: I have the word : sentinel, do thou stand; mum’s the word (lb) A proverb or motto. * 1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Court : Among all other was wrytten in her trone / In golde letters, this worde , whiche I dyde rede: / Garder le fortune que est mauelz]] et [[bon, bone . * 1599 , Ben Jonson, (Every Man out of His Humour) : Let the word be ‘Not without mustard’. Your crest is very rare, sir. * 1646 , , The Balm of Gilead : The old word is, ‘What the eye views not, the heart rues not.’ * Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. An order; a request or instruction; an expression of will. Don’t fire till I give the word Their mother’s word was law. A promise; an oath or guarantee. A brief discussion or conversation. (in the plural) Angry debate or conversation; argument. * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , : And that worde‘ was made flesshe, and dwelt amonge vs, and we sawe the glory off yt, as the glory off the only begotten sonne off the father, which ‘ worde was full of grace, and verite. Usage notes * (distinct unit of language) In English and other space-delimited languages, it is customary to treat «word» as referring to any sequence of characters delimited by spaces. However, this is not applicable to languages such as Chinese and Japanese, which are normally written without spaces, or to languages such as Vietnamese, which are written with a space between each syllable. * (computing) The size (length) of a word, while being fixed in a particular machine or processor family design, can be different in different designs, for many reasons. See for a full explanation. Quotations * 1897 , Ouida, The New Woman», in »An Altruist and Four Essays , page 239: *: But every word‘, whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, every ‘ word which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music. * 2011 , John Lehew (senior), The Encouragement of Peter (ISBN 1615074708), page 108: *: In what sense is God’s Word living? No other word , whether written or spoken, has the power that the Bible has to change lives. * Synonyms * (distinct unit of language) vocable * (something promised) promise * (God) God, Logos * (Bible) word of God, Bible * See also Verb (en verb) (lb) To say or write (something) using particular words; to phrase (something). I’m not sure how to word this letter to the council. To flatter with words, to cajole. * 1607 , William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra , act 5, scene 2: He words‘ me, girls, he ‘ words me, that I should not / be noble to myself. (lb) To ply or overpower with words. * 1621 November 30, James Howell, letter to Francis Bacon, from Turin: if one were to be worded to death, Italian is the fittest Language [for that task] * 1829 April, Webster’s Dictionary», in »The North American Review , volume 28, page 438: if a man were to be worded to death, or stoned to death by words, the High-Dutch were the fittest [language for that task]. To conjure with a word. * (Robert South), Sermon on Psalm XXXIX. 9 : Against him who could word‘ heaven and earth out of nothing, and can when he pleases ‘ word them into nothing again. * 1994 , Liminal Postmodernisms»/»Postmodern Studies , volume 8, page 162: «Postcolonialism» might well be another linguistic construct, desperately begging for a referent that will never show up, simply because it never existed on its own and was literally worded into existence by the very term that pretends to be born from it. * 2013 , Carla Mae Streeter, Foundations of Spirituality: The Human and the Holy (ISBN 0814680712), page 92: The being of each person is worded into existence in the Word, To speak, to use words; to converse, to discourse. * 1818 , John Keats, Hyperion : Thus wording timidly among the fierce: / ‘O Father, I am here the simplest voice, […]’ Synonyms * (say or write using particular words) express, phrase, put into words, state Interjection (en interjection) (slang, AAVE) truth, indeed, to tell or speak the truth; the shortened form of the statement, «My word is my bond,» an expression eventually shortened to «Word is bond,» before it finally got cut to just «Word,» which is its most commonly used form. * «Yo, that movie was epic!» / «Word‘?» («You speak the truth?») / «‘ Word .» («I speak the truth.») (slang, emphatic, stereotypically, AAVE) An abbreviated form of word up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval. * 2004 , Shannon Holmes, Never Go Home Again: A Novel , page 218 » Know what I’m sayin’?» / «Word !» the other man strongly agreed. «Let’s do this — « * 2007 , Gabe Rotter, Duck Duck Wally: A Novel , page 105 «» * 2007 , Relentless Aaron The Last Kingpin , page 34 «» Derived terms * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * See also * * * * * * * * * * * * Statistics *

The word sequelae at first looks promising due to its etymology: from Latin sequela, from sequi («follow»). However, it is specialized to a medical sense, “diseases or conditions which are caused by an earlier disease or problem”. OED also shows a rarely-used sense, “A person’s followers”, that is a little more general. The noun follower itself, meaning “Something that comes after another thing”, is a better possibility, along with previously-mentioned adjective following (“Coming next, either in sequence or in time”).

Subsequent (“Following in time; coming or being after something else…”) was mentioned in passing in another answer. Aside from follower, it may be the best choice among common words. Also consider succedent (“That succeeds; succeeding, following”) and successor (“a person or thing that succeeds another”).

The slightly-odd word comeafters seems to be in common use among service dog trainers, apparently referring to things to train a dog on after prerequisite things have been trained on (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

And now let us take a closer look at words and phrases which you can use to link the parts of your presentation/essay together. These act as a signal to the audience/readers, telling them what they will hear/read next. They are divided in the following groups:

1. Sequence (послідовність)

There are natural sequences, like infancy followed by childhood, adolescence, maturity and old age. In language we can express sequences both by our choice of tenses, and by our choice of sequence words and phrases. Look at the chart below:
 

Beginning	Going further	Concluding
First(ly) First of all For a start In the first place Initially To begin/start with Let us begin/start by First and foremost First and most importantly	Second(ly)/third(ly) In the second place Subsequently Simultaneously And then Next Formerly/previousely	Summing up/to sum up  To conclude/in summary Finally In short/in brief On the whole Ultimately Last/lastly Last of all Last but not the least

Such words as after, afterwards, before, currently, meanwhile, in the meantime, until , till, when, as soon as, soon after, etc. serve the same purpose when we’re indicating time sequence.

Here is an example of a specific sequence:

First, / To start with, / To begin with, / First of all… wash the wound with cold water.
Secondly, / After that, / Afterwards, / Then, / Next,… wrap a bandage around the cut.
Finally, / Lastly, / Last but not least, … place the patient in a comfortable position.

2. Addition to what has been previously indicated.

When stating your main points you may need to introduce additional ideas. Then use the following phrases:

Above all Along with Additionally As well as Besides

Equally important Furthermore Further In addition Moreover

Not only . . . But also . . . Not to mention One could also say What is more

Check these examples:

To express your personal or somebody else’s point of view or to quote the authorities, use the following phrases:
 

Personal opinion	Another source
In my opinion/In my view/To my mind To my way of thinking Personally I believe that/ I think that… It strikes me that I feel very strongly that I’m inclined to believe that It seems to me that As far as I am concerned	It’s popularly believed that People often claim that It is often alleged that Some people argue that A lot of people think/believe that

I’m inclined to believe that, / It seems to me that, / As far as I am concerned, / I think that the world would be a much better place without nuclear power.

4. Comparison/Contrast

Similarity	Comparison/Contrast
Both… and … Analogously Equally Likewise Just like Similarly Correspondingly In the same way In the same manner By the same token	Alternatively ButHowever ConverselyOn the contrary Even thoughAlthough In spite ofDespite Differing fromIn contrastInstead In comparison In reality On the one handOn the other hand NotwithstandingNonethelessNevertheless StillYet Unlike WhereasWhile

• Although /Though / While / Even though / Despite the fact that the identity of the attacker is known to the police, no name has been released. 
•  I prefer city life, whereas John prefers country life.
• Donahue established his reputation as a novelist. In contrast, his new book is a non-fiction work.

Indeed/truly In fact/actually Notably Particularly/specifically

Especially/mainly Admittedly  Of course /certainly/surely No doubt/undoubtly

Obviously Needless to say As a matter of fact For this reason

See which effect they produce:

• Clearly, / Obviously, / Of course, / Needless to say, if everyone were allowed to carry a gun, the crime rate would rise considerably.
•  In fact, / As a matter of fact/, Actually/, Indeed, a crash helmet would be quite useless in the event of a serious motorcycle accident.

In other words That is  Namely  That is to say To put in another way, One example of this is

For example/for instance Such as Frequently As an illustration To demonstrate To illustrate

For example: In other words, / That is to say, / To put in another way, if people make more effort to protect the environment, the world would be a much healthier place to live in.
 

Accordingly As a consequence  For this/that reason Hence

In that case On account of this Therefore Thus

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Thus, the effective usage of linking phrases can help connect your ideas logically. Using them fluently and confidently you’ll come across as a skilled speaker. BUT there are some tips you should consider:

•   Don’t over-use linking phrases. Use them sensibly where they are needed.
•   Don’t try to be clever by using more unusual words and phrases, you’ll probably misuse them and get a lower score.
•   Don’t use the same phrases again and again. There must be a variety of them, so just make sure you a few common ones that are used with simple structures.

The following video will help you summarize the information about transition in spoken and written language:

Мы рассмотрели правила и примеры использования связывающих слов и фраз в английском языке. Чтобы узнать больше об английской грамматике, читайте другие публикации в разделе Grammar!

When describing a sequence of events, time transition words will help you order things chronologically. Without these time order words it can be difficult for your reader or listener to logically follow what you’re saying. They also help make your English more interesting!

Transition words, also known as discourse markers, are expressions we use in everyday speech and writing, as well as in more formal contexts like essays, articles, papers and presentations.

Whatever the situation, these sequencing transition words are essential for talking about the order in which things happened (or will happen).

We’re going to cover more than 100 time order transition words here! They are grouped logically according to which part of a sequence or what point in time they describe. We have included example sentences to show how they can be used, too.

Once you have found what you need here, you might enjoy some idioms about time as well.

Transition words to begin a sequence

It makes sense to begin with some transition words for the first event in a sequence. Some of these can also be used to commence an argument, discussion, or story.

• To begin with
• To start
• First
• First of all
• At first
• Firstly
• Originally
• Initially
• Once
• In the beginning
• Let’s begin with

“First of all, I’d like to address the matter of the parking permits.”
“Let’s begin with a look at our quarterly sales report.”
“Initially they wanted to buy a brand new car, but then they decided to purchase second-hand.”
“Once there was a princess who lived in a castle.”

Another time transition word which sounds like it should belong in this list is ‘in the first place’. This phrase actually means ‘before’, and is generally used to talk about something that should have happened earlier, but didn’t.

“We should have listened to her in the first place!”
“Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place?”

Continuing a sequence of events

After you have introduced the first point in a sequence or argument, you can continue chronologically with one of these transition words:

• Then
• Next
• After (this/that)
• Afterward
• Afterwards
• Subsequently
• Following (this/that)
• Until
• Till
• Second, third, fourth, etc.
• Secondly, thirdly, fourthly, etc.

“They were happy playing in the garden until it began raining.”
“After this meeting, let’s continue the discussion over lunch.”
“I need to pop to the shops this morning. Afterwards, I’ll tidy the house.”

A note on numerical transition words

Although numerical transition words (first, second, third, fourth, etc.) can, in theory, be continued indefinitely, in reality we rarely go beyond ‘third’ when speaking or writing.

If you list more than three points out loud when speaking, it might make it hard for your listener to follow along. And in writing, it would be more common to use a numbered bullet list for 4+ items, rather than writing a sequence of events or points using ordinal numbers.

The question often arises as to whether you should use ‘first, second, third’ or ‘firstly, secondly, thirdly’. Some style guides recommend using ‘first’ to begin a list, regardless of how you continue. If you are writing in a formal context then you should check whether there is a particular rule for you to follow.

In general, however, either format is acceptable as long as you are consistent. For example, you shouldn’t combine ‘first, secondly, third’.

Time order words to end a sequence

When you reach the last point on a list, the last event in a sequence, or the end of a presentation, you can use one of these to show you are concluding:

• Finally
• In the end
• Last
• Lastly
• Last of all
• At last
• In conclusion
• In summary
• To wrap up
• At the end

These should only be used to end a list or sequence containing more than two points. It’s not strictly necessary to end with one of these transition words; you could end with ‘then’ or ‘after’, for example. However, these ending words will help make it clear that you have reached your final point.

“In the end, we decided to go on vacation to Costa Rica.”
“Last of all, I’d like to toast the happy couple.”
“To wrap up, let’s break out into small groups and share what we’ve learned today.”

Check out some more transition words for concluding here.

Examples of sequential transition words

Here are some examples of these start, middle and end transition words for chronological order, in situations where you may often need them.

To outline 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.”

To go 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.”

To give 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.”

Do you think that’s all there is to know about time transition words? We’re only just getting started! Next, let’s look at some sequencing transition words to talk about different points in time.

Time order words: past, present, future

In the past (ending before now)

The following time transition words can be used to talk about something that began in the past and finished before the current time, or which ended/will end before the next thing in the series.

• Prior
• In the past
• Formerly
• Previously
• Earlier
• Before

“In the past he was living homeless, but now he has made a good life for himself.”
“Before rolling out the dough, be sure to dust the worktop with flour.”
“Prior to becoming a teacher, I worked in a bank.”

You may also want to use some idioms to talk about the past.

Until now

What about something that began in the past but is still applicable at the present time, or as the next thing in the series begins? Try one of these:

• Until now (past: until then)
• Up to this point (past: up to that point)
• Up to the present time
• So far

“So far I’m enjoying my job, but I have only been here for 2 weeks.”
“At age 36 he decided to travel the world. Until then, he had been working in a factory.”

Present time

You might want to emphasis that you are referring to the current moment in time using one of these time words:

• At the moment
• At this time
• At this point
• At this point in time
• At the present time
• At present
• Currently

“At this point in time I’ve decided to focus on my family rather than looking for work.”
“She said she isn’t hungry at the moment.”

Using any of these suggests that the situation may change soon and the current state is only temporary.

See some idioms about the present time, or learn some phrases to describe change.

In the future

Here are some phrases you can use to talk about something starting at the current time and extending into the future:

• From now on (past: from then on)
• From this point forward (past: from that point forward)
• From today (past: from that day)
• Henceforth
• Now that
• Going forward
• In future

“I had a bit of a health scare last month. From now on I’m going to exercise every day.”
“From that day forward, he decided to dedicate his life to helping others.”
“In future, we should be more careful about the clients we take on.”

And yes, there are idioms about the future too!

Concurrent events

What if you need to talk about two things happening at the same time? The following time order transition words show that one thing takes place at the same time as another:

• Concurrently
• At the same time
• Meanwhile
• In the meantime
• During
• While

“He fell asleep during the movie.”
“Please could you investigate the drop in traffic to our website? In the meantime, I’ll speak to our Sales team.”
“I don’t know how you can work while you’re listening to that music!”

How soon will it happen?

Next, we have some transition words and phrases, most of which are adverbial, to add a sense of timing to an action. Will it happen very soon or not for a while?

These are listed more or less in order from the soonest to the furthest away. However, many of them have a similar meaning so there is not a strict distinction between every one.

• Straightaway
• Immediately
• Instantly
• This instant (past: that instant)
• Forthwith
• Without delay
• Presently
• Shortly
• Quickly
• Soon
• After a while
• Later
• By the time
• In due time
• In due course
• In time
• Sometime
• Sooner or later
• Eventually
• At long last

“I’ll take care of that without delay.”
“They took a stroll through the woods and after a while came across a mysterious shack.”
“At long last we found the campsite, but it was already dark.”

See also: Confusing adverbs and A while vs awhile

Showing surprise at the timing of an occurrence

• Suddenly
• All of a sudden
• All at once
• Out of the blue
• No sooner … than …
• As soon as

“No sooner had he passed his driving test than he wrecked his car.”
“I had a phone call from an old school friend out of the blue.”

Time transition words to describe frequency

Finally, you might want to say how often something occurs. Again, these are listed roughly in order from most to least frequent.

• All the time
• Often
• Regularly
• Frequently
• Occasionally
• Sometimes
• Now and again
• Now and then
• From time to time
• Once in a while
• Hardly ever
• Rarely

“I like to get my hair cut regularly.”
“I often eat out but I hardly ever cook a meal from scratch.”
“She visits her grandparents from time to time.”

You can learn about the difference between sometimes and sometime here, if you’re unsure.

Note that ‘all the time’ is usually not taken literally to mean ‘constantly’. Instead, it means ‘very often’.

“I go past that shop all the time but I have never been inside.”
“My mum phones me all the time, it’s so annoying!”

And that’s all we have to say about time transition words! If you’d like to discover some more transition words to use in written or spoken English, check out these other articles:

Transition words for addition
Transition words for cause and effect
Transition words to compare and contrast
Transition words for similarities
Transition words for giving examples