ESL Writing: However / Nevertheless / Still / Despite that / Nonetheless / Even so (lesson, examples)

Transitions

When you write a formal essay, you should not start a sentence with “And”, “But”, or “So”.

You can use the following transitions instead of “But”:

However / Nevertheless / Still / Despite that / Nonetheless / Even so

 **Note 1: You usually start a new sentence with these transitions. You can also put these after a semi-colon (;).

**Note 2: When you start a sentence with these words, you need to put a comma after them.

Examples:

• • I’m a vegetarian. However, I sometimes eat fish.
  • Tom said his English is terrible. Nevertheless, he got a perfect score on his English test.
  • Pakistan is a dangerous country for travelers. Still, I want to go explore it someday.
  • The water in the city is not safe to drink. Despite that, Kim gives it to her dog to drink.
  • Terry is afraid to speak in front of people. Nonetheless, she is giving a speech at the United Nations next week.
  • Brian goes to church every Sunday. Even so, he can be very rude.
  • The tornado destroyed the entire town. However, no one was killed.
  • The doctor said that Benjamin needs to stop eating meat. Nevertheless, he still eats a hamburger every day for lunch.
  • Joseph said that his father is rich. Still, he should get a job and learn to be responsible with money.
  • The school said that we can’t wear shorts. Despite that, Julie wore her new shorts and was told to go home.
  • It has been raining for a week. Nonetheless, we’re going to try to go camping this weekend.
  • Our guitarist is sick. Even so, we’re going to perform without him tonight.