Signal Words

Signal Words Signal Words or Expressions Used in Lectures and Essays 1. Expressions that signal the Topic and Plan of a lecture: For the Topic: Our topic today is … Today’s topic is … We’re going to discuss … We’ll be looking at … I want to talk about … I am going to talk about … What I want to talk about today is … Today I am going to focus on … I’ll give you an overview of … Let’s continue our discussion of … Last time we discussed …, and this week we’re going to … For the Plan: First we’ll look at …, then …, and finally we’ll move on to … We’ll start out with …, and look at … I am going to cover …, and then … We’ll discuss a few examples/types of … Today I’m going to look at two aspects of … Now, what I want to do is discuss the causes of … We’ll look at several ways that … I’ll be covering two areas of … What I want to do today is compare … and … I want to give you some background on … There are a few things we’ll be covering today … 2. Expressions that signal a Transition: Now … Let’s start with … First, let’s look at … First we’re going to look at … Next, let’s talk about … Next, I’d like to discuss … Let’s look at / take a look at … Let’s move on to … Now that we’ve talked about …, let’s talk about … That’s enough about … Let’s go on to … 3. Expressions that signal a Definition: That is, … In other words, … X, meaning … By X, I mean … What do I mean by X? Well, I mean … What is …? Let me define that: … The definition of that is … 4. Expressions that signal an Example: For example, … For instance, … Take X for an example … To illustrate, … Specifically, … …, such as … Here are some examples: … Let me give you an example … Let’s look at a few typical examples: … 5. Expressions that signal an Explanation: Let me explain … Let me clarify … What I mean is … What I’m saying is … That is to say … Let me show you what I mean. … Let me say that another way. … Let’s look at how this works. … So I hope you can see how this works. … 6. Expressions that signal Important Information: This is important: … It’s important to note that … Listen to this: … Pay attention to this: … I want to point out … I want you to notice that … I’ll say that again. … Let me repeat that. … You should write this down. … 7. Expressions that signal Generalization: This leads us to believe … I hope you can see … We can infer from this that … What can we infer/conclude from this? … This shows/proves/illustrates that … 8. Expressions that signal Cause and Effect: Causes: What is the cause of this? Well, … Why is this? Well, … This comes from (the fact that) … This is due to … The reason(s) for this is(are) … One explanation is … This is caused by … This came as a result of … Effects: This leads to … As a result/consequence, … For this reason, … One effect of this is … This results in … Consequently, … Therefore, … Thus, … 9. Expressions that signal Comparison and Contrast: Comparison: Similarly, … Likewise, … In the same way/fashion, … Both X and Y … Like X, Y … What do X and Y have in common? … Contrast: However, … Nevertheless, … While / Whereas … Although / Even though … On the other hand, … On the contrary, … In contrast, … Compared to X, Y is more/less … While/Whereas X …, Y … Unlike X, Y … The difference between X and Y is … 10. Expressions that show Addition Also, … Besides, … Furthermore, … In addition, … Moreover … 11. Expressions that indicate Sequence or Order First, … Firstly, … Second, … Secondly, … Thirdly, … Next, … Last, … Finally, … Subsequently, … Ultimately, … 12. Expressions used to Summarize or Conclude In short, … In summary, … In conclusion, … To sum up, …