CONNECTORS: BESIDES

Good morning and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin.

Today we continue our series of Vitamins about CONNECTORS that are used to continue the same idea or give additional information.

Today's connector is: Besides

It is used: to continue the same idea of something that has been previously stated or to give additional information. You can also use besides to add another stronger reason for something you have just said.

Word position: you can begin a sentence with besides comma. You can also place besides at the end of your phrase.

Example 1:
John is the best person for the job because he's the only one who speaks German. Besides, he has travelled extensively.

Example 2:
Besides answering the phone, your responsibilities will include typing and filing.

In Examples 1, besides is followed by a clause. It can also be followed by a gerund (see Example 2) or a noun (see Example 3).

Example 3:
Besides the sofa that I had originally planned on getting, I ended up buying a new armchair.

Do not confuse besides (connector word) with beside (preposition of location).

Beside means next to.

Example 4:
The lamp is beside the sofa.

Tomorrow we will look at another connector word used for giving additional information.

⇒ To get some writing practice in English, I encourage you to write your own sentence (or two) with today's word. You can post your sentence to one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and we will give you feedback about your writing ASAP.

I hope you have a pleasant day!