Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Û

103a Vague language

Linking functions

505e

A number of clusters function to link clauses or sentences. In the spoken texts, the

most frequent clusters centre round the conjunctions and and but, while longer

linking clusters tend to be more frequent in the written texts. Linking items

include:

The kitchen’s okay 

but I mean it’d be nice if you had comfy chairs in there.

She wanted to turn around and run back to her room – run up the stairs and

slam the door behind her. 

At the same time she wanted to tell them, tell them

everything. 

In the first place, she persisted in disbelieving the whole of the matter; secondly,

she was very sure that Mr Collins had been taken in.

As a result of the fuel shortage, Cuba has become a nation of cyclists.