Sentence Starters: 100+ Examples for Essays and Paragraphs

Sentence starters are words or short phrases that open a sentence and tell the reader how it connects to what came before: adding a point, giving evidence, drawing a contrast or wrapping up. Below are 100 of them, grouped by the job they do, and each one comes with an example sentence you can adapt.

Jump to a group:

• Topic sentence starters: open a body paragraph with its main point.
• Starters for introducing evidence and quotes: show where a fact or quotation comes from.
• Sentence starters for essays: introduction, body and conclusion paragraphs.
• Opening a new topic: begin a paragraph or a presentation.
• Adding to an idea: build on a point you have already made.
• Giving examples: make a general point concrete.
• Contrast and comparison: show differences or similarities.
• Cause and effect: explain why something happened or what it led to.
• Conclusions and summaries: signal that you are wrapping up.
• Creative and narrative writing: begin scenes and draw readers into a story.

Topic sentence starters

A topic sentence states the one main point of a paragraph, and it is often the paragraph's first sentence. The UNC Writing Center's guide to paragraphs calls that point the "controlling idea" and compares the topic sentence to the top slice of bread in a sandwich: it tells the reader what all the evidence below it is for. These starters help a topic sentence announce its point clearly.

• One reason students skip breakfast is that school starts too early.
• The main cause of the flooding was a blocked drainage system.
• Another way to cut household waste is to plan meals for the week.
• The most important benefit of reading aloud is that it slows the reader down.
• A key difference between the two poems is the way each one treats time.
• Perhaps the strongest argument for a four-day week is that it gives workers more time to rest.
• While it is often said that homework builds discipline, its value depends on how it is set.
• To understand why the plan failed, we first need to look at its budget.
• Over the course of the story, the narrator learns to trust her brother.
• There are three reasons why the old bridge should be repaired rather than replaced.

Once you have a topic sentence, the paragraph expander can build it out with reasons and examples, which you can then edit into your own words.

Starters for introducing evidence and quotes

Evidence starters tell the reader where a fact, figure or quotation comes from. Purdue OWL calls them signal phrases and notes that most contain a verb such as "indicate" or "argue," while a few, such as "According to," have none.

• According to the class survey, most students start their homework after 8 p.m.
• As Smith points out, the rule was written before smartphones existed.
• Smith argues that a shorter school day would not lower test scores.
• Lee (2021) found that most volunteers stopped taking part within a month.
• The data show that attendance fell in every winter month.
• As shown in Figure 2, sales rose in the month after the price cut.
• The report states that the bridge needs repairs within two years.
• In the words of Franklin Roosevelt, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
• This is evident in the way the narrator avoids saying her father's name.
• This view is supported by the attendance records, which show fewer absences after the change.

Smith and Lee stand in for whichever author you are citing. A quotation also needs words around it. The UNC Writing Center's guide to quotations puts it this way: "The words that precede and follow a quotation are just as important as the quotation itself." Set the quote up with one of the starters above, then follow it with a sentence that explains what it shows, such as the body paragraph starters below.

Mind the comma, too. The same guide notes that when the attribution comes before the quote, a comma follows the verb, and that once you add "that," you no longer need the comma:

• Roosevelt declared, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
• Roosevelt declared that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Citation styles also differ on the tense of the verb in a signal phrase. According to Purdue OWL, APA recommends past-tense verbs, while MLA and Chicago allow the same verbs in the present tense:

Sentence starters for essays, paragraph by paragraph

Each part of an essay has a different job, so each part calls for different starters. The introduction draws the reader in and states your thesis, each body paragraph makes and supports one point, and the conclusion pulls the argument together.

Introduction sentence starters

Open with a hook or some context, then move to your thesis.

• Have you ever wondered why some songs stay stuck in your head for days?
• Over the past decade, online shopping has changed how people use their local stores.
• Imagine a school day that starts at 10 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.
• Few topics divide opinion as sharply as school uniforms.
• This essay argues that public libraries need more funding, not less.

If your assignment discourages phrases like "This essay argues that," state the claim directly instead: "Public libraries need more funding, not less."

Body paragraph sentence starters

A body paragraph often opens with a topic sentence (see the topic sentence starters above), gives evidence, then explains what that evidence shows. UNC's guide to paragraphs says no example should be left unexplained, so these starters cover that explaining step.

• This shows that the price cut, not the advertising, drove the rise in sales.
• This suggests that the narrator does not fully trust her own memory.
• In other words, the rule protects buyers more than it protects sellers.
• The significance of this is that the agreement could no longer be enforced.
• This supports the claim that early start times hurt students' concentration.

Conclusion paragraph starters

Use these to pull your points together and show why they matter.

• Taken together, these points show that the policy did more harm than good.
• This essay has shown that repairing the bridge is safer than replacing it.
• The evidence points to one clear answer: the town needs a new bus route.
• Looking ahead, schools will need clear rules on how students use AI tools.
• The wider lesson is that small changes in habit add up over time.

Starters for opening a new topic

Use these when you want to begin a paragraph, introduce a fresh idea or open a presentation. They help readers follow your train of thought from the first line.

• To begin with, climate change remains one of the biggest challenges we face today.
• Firstly, education plays a vital role in shaping a person's future.
• In the beginning, the club met once a month in a borrowed classroom.
• To start off, let us look at the basics of how the system works.
• Initially, the plan seemed simple, but it turned out to be complex.
• At first, I thought the project would be easy to complete.
• Before anything else, we must identify the core issue.
• As a starting point, it is important to define our goals.
• Primarily, our focus should be on improving the customer experience.
• To introduce the topic, we will look at the causes behind the issue.

Starters to add to or build on an idea

Use these when you have made a point and want to develop it further. They connect the new detail to what came before, so the writing reads smoothly.

• Additionally, this method saves both time and money.
• Moreover, teamwork encourages creativity and new ideas.
• Furthermore, the survey results support this approach.
• In addition, students benefit from regular feedback.
• Also, social media has become a powerful marketing tool.
• Besides that, many people find this strategy easier to apply.
• Another point worth mentioning is that small habits can lead to big results.
• What is more, the new route is cheaper to run.
• Along with that, careful planning helps a project succeed in the long term.
• Not only that, but it also helps build stronger relationships.

Starters for giving examples

Use these to make a general point concrete. An example shows the reader what you mean; for facts, figures and quotations from a source, use the evidence starters above.

• For example, many students prefer to study in the morning.
• For instance, this technique works well in small teams.
• To illustrate, imagine a bakery that sells out of bread by noon every day.
• In particular, the second chapter shows how the narrator's view of her father changes.
• Take the case of small businesses that use email to stay in touch with customers.
• A good example of this is the way a recipe lists its ingredients before the method.
• One example is the habit of checking a phone first thing in the morning.
• Consider how long a cat will watch a closed door before pushing it open.
• As an example, look at how a shop arranges its window display.
• To give you an idea, the walk from the station takes about twenty minutes.

Starters for contrast and comparison

These show differences or similarities between ideas, people or situations, and they make your reasoning easier to follow.

• However, not everyone agrees with this point.
• On the other hand, working remotely has its own challenges.
• In contrast, online classes offer more flexibility than traditional ones.
• Whereas the first poem is about loss, the second is about hope.
• While some people enjoy city life, others love the countryside.
• Similarly, both products aim to make daily tasks easier.
• Likewise, her approach mirrors that of her mentor.
• Although this option seems cheaper, it may not be reliable.
• Even though the results were delayed, the outcome was successful.
• Compared to last year, this quarter's sales show significant growth.

Starting a sentence with "however" is fine. The old warning against it most likely comes from William Strunk's The Elements of Style, and Wayne Schiess, writing on the University of Texas legal-writing blog LEGIBLE, calls it "a stylistic suggestion, not a rule." Our guide to starting a sentence with "however" shows where the comma goes.

Whereas, While, Although and Even though each open a dependent clause, so the sentence needs a main clause after the comma. A sentence built that way is a complex sentence; our guide to the types of sentences explains how it works.

Starters for cause and effect

These explain why something happened or what it led to, which keeps an argument logical. You will see them most in academic work, research papers and business reports.

• Because the weather was bad, the event was canceled.
• Since sales increased, we expanded our marketing budget.
• As a result, the company gained more loyal customers.
• Therefore, we decided to change our strategy.
• Consequently, traffic to the website doubled.
• Thus, teamwork proved essential for success.
• For this reason, the manager introduced new policies.
• Hence, the need for better communication arose.
• Because of rising costs, the project was delayed.
• So, we adjusted our plans to meet the deadline.

So works at the start of a sentence, but it sounds conversational. In a formal essay, Therefore or As a result usually reads better.

Starters for conclusions and summaries

These sit at the start of a closing paragraph or a summary. Whether you are wrapping up an essay, a presentation or an article, they tell the reader you are summarizing or closing.

• In conclusion, teamwork is the key to achieving great results.
• To sum up, our findings show a steady rise in customer satisfaction.
• In summary, the new plan improved efficiency and reduced costs.
• Overall, the project was a success.
• In short, clear goals lead to better performance.

For a full list of conclusion starters, see our conclusion sentence starters guide. If "In conclusion" feels overused, our list of synonyms for "in conclusion" has 60 alternatives.

Starters for creative and narrative writing

When you are writing stories, poems or personal reflections, these draw readers into the scene.

• It was a bright morning when the adventure began.
• I could not believe my eyes when I saw the letter on the doorstep.
• As the sun dipped below the horizon, silence filled the air.
• My heart raced as I stepped closer to the door.
• Out of nowhere, the wind began to howl through the trees.
• Long before anyone noticed, the river had begun to rise.
• Had I known then what I know now, I would have taken a different path.
• That was the day when everything changed.
• Some say it was luck, but I know it was fate.
• The night was darker than ever, and danger was just around the corner.

Putting sentence starters to work

Most transition words, such as "however" and "therefore," work as sentence starters, but a starter can also be a longer phrase that sets a scene or introduces a quote. Either way, its job is the same: to tell the reader what kind of sentence is coming.

Pick a starter, then write the rest of the sentence in your own words. If you have a topic and an opening line but are stuck on the rest, the paragraph generator has Introduction, Body and Conclusion modes that draft a first version for you to rewrite.

So next time you sit down to write, do not only think about what you want to say. Think about how you begin.