Learning specific example transition words for the TOEFL will help you to score higher. During the speaking section, you will be asked to support your ideas with specific details from your own experience. In addition, you will be asked to explain detailed information from authors and speakers for reading and listening passages.
I’ve included 11 transition words that you can use to introduce examples in your TOEFL speaking and writing tasks. Furthermore, I created some example sentences to show you how to contextualize these important connecting words. Practice using these transition words as you complete speaking and writing practice tests. In time, these words will become more natural as you communicate.
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Specific example transition words for the TOEFL: Case in point
“Case in point” has a similar meaning as “for example” or “for instance.”
- Good roommates should be honest if they are going to live with me. Case in point, last year when I attended the University of California, Riverside, I lived with a roommate who never took any of my money or electronic appliances.
Specific example transition words for the TOEFL: E.g. and I.e.
Two Latin abbreviations, I.e. and E.g. can be used in academic writing to introduce examples.
“I.e.” means “in other words”; this abbreviation is used to clarify something that you are saying. In this case, you are providing more precise information regarding something.
- In the lecture, to further clarify a point in the reading passage, the speaker explains the unique survival capabilities of a specific type of mammal, i.e., beaver.
“E.g.” means “for example”; thus, with this abbreviation, you open up more options with your ideas.
- In the lecture, the professor explains that the most biologically complicated organisms living on Earth today are mammals, e.g., humans, bears, horses, whales.
For example/For instance
These two types of transition words are overused so be careful that you do not use them too frequently as you complete the four speaking tasks and the two writing tasks during the integrated parts of the exam.
- My friend Hank likes to do dangerous sports that give him an adrenaline high. For example, last month, he went skydiving in Perris, California with several of his friends.
- The speaker refutes the idea that the tortoise can be relocated to a new habitat; for instance, the tortoise, according to the speaker, is uniquely adapted to dry environments, so this reptile cannot tolerate conditions with abundant rainfall and high humidity levels.
Such as/like
“Such as” introduces an example that is mentioned in the text.
- In the lecture, the professor gives examples of several animals that have adapted to desert environments such as tortoises, coyotes, crows, and kangaroo mice.
“Like” shows how two ideas are similar but are not included in the topic discussed.
- Like the Mojave Desert, the Inland Empire of Southern California often has temperatures soaring over 100 F.
One/Another example
Both of these transition words add an example or a second example to illustrate a point.
- To explain why Kenneth did not attend the concert, he gave several reasons, one of which is that he was completing a formal outline for his oral communications class.
- Another example that the professor provides to illustrate unique animal adaptations is how bats are able to fly in the air even though they are blind.
Excluding/Including an example being
“Excluding” means not being a part of something.
- The professor in the lecture, excluding any mention of whether Christopher Columbus had discovered America, simply explains when Columbus arrived and how he and his crew reacted when Native Americans approached their camp.
“Including an example being” refers to an example that is introduced.
- The speaker in the lecture gives several reasons why she has problems with the critical period theory of adult language acquisition, including an example being that many adults are able to proficiently master a second language long after the puberty period.
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