Which type of words can help students express complex relationships in writing?

Connecting words such as "because" or "therefore" are crucial in helping students articulate complex relationships in their writing. These words serve to clarify the connections between ideas, demonstrating causality, contrast, or sequences in a logical manner. By using such connecting words, students are able to convey their thoughts more effectively, linking one idea to another and showing how they relate to each other in the context of their writing.

For instance, when a student writes, "She was late because the bus broke down," the connecting word "because" makes it clear that one event caused the other. Similarly, "He studied hard; therefore, he passed the exam" shows a clear relationship between effort and outcome. These connections make writing more cohesive and coherent, allowing readers to follow the writer's line of reasoning easily.

In contrast, descriptive adjectives enhance the vividness of writing but do not fundamentally define relationships between ideas. Simple conjunctions may connect clauses but do not necessarily indicate the type of relationship (cause, purpose, result, etc.) that connecting words can. Adverbial phrases, while they can add detail and context, also do not specifically provide the relational context that connecting words offer. Thus, connecting words are particularly effective in facilitating complex thought patterns in written