Words to Start a Paragraph

Updated: 30 Jun 2023

Words to Start a Paragraph

Do you know how many essays or papers you’ll write in your school life or how many paragraphs you will craft? The answer is simple. You are going to write tons of essays. Because one essay has numerous paragraphs, you will write way more paragraphs than essays.

We like to see students excelling in their studies, so we’ll show you 12 different ways of starting paragraphs so that you can deliver convincing and professional essays. If you need assistance writing your essays, simply place an order with us. We offer comprehensive academic writing services to all students.

Without much ado, let’s look at the best sentence starters for paragraphs. First, what is a sentence starter?...

Are you in need of a high-quality, 100% plagiarism free essay or online class help?
Place your order and get 100% original work.

Get Free Quotes

What Is a Sentence Starter in a Paragraph?

A sentence starter is a phrase that comes at the beginning of a sentence and gives readers the direction of the text: readers get to understand what to expect in the entire sentence. Sentence starters play a huge role in unifying ideas and topics within a paragraph or essay.

Sentence starters are present in all sentences. Nonetheless, this guide will only look at sentence starters at the beginning of a paragraph, not in all the sentences. This type of sentence starter can be termed a “paragraph starter.”

These words that start a paragraph are also more or less like transitions. So, if you know a thing or two about transitions, you get what we are saying. If the phrase “transitions” is new to you, click it to see what it means.

The trick for writing amazing paragraphs is incorporating different sentence starters. Different in what essence? Continue reading, and you’ll see 12 different types. Afterward, we’ll explain:

Tips on how to start a paragraph.
Words you should not use when starting a paragraph.
The widespread mistakes that you ought to stay away from.

1. Cause and Effect Sentence Starters in Paragraphs

Are you wondering about the best sentence starters for paragraphs in a cause and effect essay? Then wonder no more. The best words to use include:

Since …
As a result, …
Therefore …
Because …
Subsequently …
For this reason, …

2. Paragraph Starters for Adding Extra Points or Explanations

If your paragraph is adding a new point or furthering a specific argument, then your go-to words to introduce the paragraph are:

Also …
Additionally, …
Furthermore …
Moreover …
Likewise, …
Then …

3. Words to Start with When Explaining a List or Sequence

When writing an essay about a series of events or a list of items, it is vital to use sentence starters suited for this kind of essay. Some of these sentence starters are:

Next …
Later …
Afterward…
Subsequently …
One…, two…, three…, etc.
First…, second…, third…, etc.

4. Excellent Paragraph Starters for References

You can use the words below when starting a paragraph with a citation.

According to …
Bestowing to …
As explained by …
Based on the results of …
As indicated by …

5. Paragraph Starters for Showing an Era

Use the following words to explain an event that happened in the past or present.

Recently …
Initially …
Traditionally …
In the past …
Historically …

6. Comparison and Comparing Sentence Starters in Paragraphs

If your paragraph involves comparing and contrasting, you can use the following words when starting your paragraph.

However, …
On the other hand, …
In comparison …
Rater …
Whereas …
Outside of …

7. Paragraph Starters for Mentioning Examples

Are you thinking about what is a good sentence starter for introducing examples? Then, we have an answer for you. You can use any of the following words.

For instance, …
Such as …
To illustrate this …
In this case …
Specifically, …
This can be seen …

(It is worth noting that we offer academic help services to all students. Place an order with us if you need one of our experts to write your essay or paper or provide you with answers to your homework.)

8. Paragraph Starters for Showing Emphasis

Sentence starters for indicating emphasis are not always needed, but it is a good idea to incorporate them when you want a certain point to stand out among your readers. Some of the words for these sentence starters are:

Namely …
Indeed …
Above all …
Obviously …
Undoubtedly …
Generally speaking, …

These sentence starters are common in texts like articles, narratives, novels, and short stories. Emphasis words are rare in essays and research papers, as many lecturers are against their use.

9. Paragraph Starters for Widespread and Rare Concepts

When writing a paragraph explaining a common or exceedingly rare idea, you may use the following starters.

Usually …
Unusually …
On occasion …
Rarely …
A few …
Seldom …

10. Paragraph Starters for Displaying Doubt or Inconclusive Ideas

In case the idea you are writing about is inconclusive or uncertain, use the words below to make it easy for your readers to see the doubt.

Arguably …
Perhaps …
It is possible that …
Although not proven …
It may be that …

11. Paragraph Starters for Time and Order

If you are portraying the order or time of certain events, the following words will be beneficial when starting paragraphs.

Finally …
Afterward…
Earlier …
To begin with …
Firstly…, secondly…, thirdly…
Additionally …

12. Words for Starting a Conclusion

There are two main ways of indicating the conclusion paragraph in a text. One way is having a “conclusion” subheading or its synonyms, such as “summary.” The other way is using paragraph starters for conclusions, namely:

In summary …
In conclusion …
Overall …
In short …
To wrap things up …
All in all, …

Do you know the strategies for writing the conclusion of an essay? If not, consider reading our guide on how to end a college essay.

Tips for Using Paragraph Starters

It is not a must to use the above special paragraph starters. In other cases, you will just use ordinary words. So, how do you know when to use a special or an ordinary word? Easy. If there is a good flow of paragraphs from one to another, then a special paragraph starter is not needed. However, consider adding special words if the paragraphs or essay seem off.

If you use special paragraph starters or words, be mindful of the following.

Do not use one word repeatedly. At least try to use another word. You can look for a replacement for the word by identifying its category from the above lists and picking any other word in its category.
Ask yourself the following questions when having a hard time determining an excellent word to start a sentence.

- Is it a conclusion paragraph?
- What type of essay is it? A cause-effect essay or a compare-contrast essay?
- How does the paragraph relate to the subsequent one?
- Are you adding a new idea?
- Do you need to stress an idea?

In almost all cases in the body section, the first sentence of a paragraph is a claim. Throughout this guide, we have shown you what a good sentence starter is. If you want to know more about writing conclusion starters, we have written an article about the best conclusion paragraph starters for college essays.

What Words Should You Not Start a Paragraph with?

Writing techniques differ significantly from one type of text to another. For instance, you’ll see many contrasting features when you compare essays and blogs. In general, essays and other academic documents scorn the use of redundant, flabby, colloquial, grammar expletives, and vague words. However, this is not the case in blogs and other non-academic documents, as you can use these words.

Now, let’s slightly touch on these words, which you should not use to start an essay paragraph. Click on this link if you want to understand the nitty-gritty of these words. Remember, you can use these words in blogs like the one you are reading now. In fact, we have used a couple of them.

1. Redundant Words or Phrases

Redundant phrases and words are unnecessary as they have no purpose. Contrary, they undermine your key points and disturb the flow. Some common examples of redundant words are:

Add up …
As a matter of fact, …
Absolutely …

2. Flabby Words or Expressions

Direct and clear essays do not need flabby words as they don’t add value, dilute arguments, and slow down the reading time. This includes words such as:

In my opinion …
I might add …
In the event that/of …
The first step is to …

3. Grammar Expletives

Grammar expletives are sentences that begin with it, there, here, or other phrases, as shown below.

It is/it’s …
There is/there’s …
It would be …
There were/there are …
Here is the thing …
For the most part …

4. Vague Words

Another group of words that is not good for starting essay paragraphs is vague phrases. Professors detest vague words as they bring confusion. They include words like:

Thing
Stuff
Sort off
Something

5. Colloquial

Colloquial are words that are more informal than formal. You’ll find a good number of them being Slang. Most of the colloquial are:

Clichés: read between the lines.
Figures of speech: the wind whispered in my ears.
Profanities:

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can Someone Help Me Choose the Right Words?

Yes, we can. We provide wide-ranging academic writing services. On top of helping you choose the right words for your essays and papers, we can proofread and edit, write the entire essay from scratch, or even work on your assignment and exams. All you need is to place an order with us, and our experts will do the rest. We have experts in each field, and all possess advanced degrees. We are deadline-driven and available around the clock. Just know you are in safe hands when you come to us.

2. **Can Words like And, But, Because, etc. Start A Sentence?**

Yes. You may have heard people saying words such as and, but, and because, among others, cannot start a sentence. According to Richard Nordquist, these are Bogus Writing Rules. Richard is an English and Rhetorical professor at the University of Georgia who believes these words and others are grammatically okay to start a sentence. In his article, Bogus Writing Rules, he gives detailed reasons to support his stand and examples.

3. What Is the Difference Between Paragraph Starters, Transitions, And Sentence Starters?

There is little difference between these three phrases, but they might mean the same thing in other cases. Paragraph starters are the first words in a paragraph. Sentence starters are the first words in a sentence. A sentence starter can be considered a paragraph starter if we focus on the first sentence of a paragraph.

Transitions can be placed at the beginning or end of a paragraph. They may be termed paragraph starters if they occur at the beginning. Both transitions and paragraph starters improve the flow of a text.

Bottom Line

There are diverse ways that you can start a paragraph. You can begin with any word or use special ones. This article has focused on 12 types of special paragraph starters. You must understand an essay well to pick the best word to start a paragraph. It is because each special paragraph starter is used in particular situations. For instance, if you cite a source, you’ll use words like according to or as illustrated by. You will use phrases like one, two, three, or later when listing.

We have gone the extra mile and given you tips on selecting a good sentence starter for a paragraph. Just go through the article to learn more about them. If you need someone to write your essay, simply place an order with us.

Do you need any homework, essay writing or online class help?

Words to Start a Paragraph - Homeworkmarket

author Melaine

Meet the author

By Melanie

Melanie is a seasoned writer with more than 8 years of experience. She is passionate about academia and works off the clock to ensure she write the topnotch content for her readers.

Get Homework Help Now

Why Choose Us

Confidentiality and Privacy
100% Original Work
24/7 Customer Support
Unlimited Free Revisions
Experienced Writers
Real-time Communication
Affordable Prices
Deadline Guaranteed