連接詞是大學英語四六級寫作通順連貫的一個重要“橋梁”和“紐帶”。根據語法中的平行和從屬結構原則，一個復合句中至少要有一個連接詞，否則這個句子是不符合語法規則的。眾所周知，復合句運用的好壞與否直接影響著考生的作文分數的高低，因此廣大考生應該高度重視連接詞在寫作中的作用。為此，老師將連接詞的用法總結如下，以供考生參考學習。
　　一、表示因果關系的連接詞
　　because (of ), since, for, as, due to, owing to, result in (from), on account of, as a result of, for the reason, consequently, as a consequence, accordingly, therefore, hence, consequently...
　　二、表示對比關系的連接詞
　　instead, yet, however, whereas, nevertheless, in contrast, but, rather than, conversely, otherwise, on the contrary, likewise, similarly, in the same way, like, on the other hand...
　　三、表示舉例關系的連接詞
　　such as, for example, for instance, take...as an example, a case in point, namely, that is, like...
　　四、表示次序關系的連接詞
　　in the first place, first of all, to begin with, initially, finally, to start with, what is more, furthermore, moreover, next, for another, besides, in addition to, first and foremost, last but not least...
　　五、表示總結關系的連接詞
　　on the whole, to sum up, to conclude, in summary, in a word, on a large scale, in brief, in short, as far as I am concerned, to some extent, generally speaking, in a way, to take the idea further, as a rule, in terms of, in a sense...
　　六、表示讓步關系的連接詞
　　although, even though, in spite of , despite, even though, granted that...
　　七、表示時間方位關系的連接詞
　　at last, immediately, in the meantime, lately, meanwhile, shortly, afterwards, presently, since, temporarily, after, while, when...
　　in (the) front of, in (the) back of, beyond, above, below, inside, outside, beside, on the left (right)...
　　以下面的范文為例，考生可體會一下連接詞在整篇作文中的作用和用法。
　　As is vividly depicted in the picture, a young mother was holding her litter girl’s hand while three decades later（時間）, the grown-up daughter led her aged mom by（方式） the arm. The one thing（列舉） that hasn’t changed is the smiles on（方位） the faces. The picture intends to draw people’s attention to the issue of empty nesters in China.
　　In recent days（時間）, it is not uncommon to see young people being busy with their all-consuming career while（對比）neglecting to accompany their lonely elderly parents. According to the sixth national census, at least 31 percent of Chinese households with old people are empty nesters. Therefore（因果）, it is high time for due attention to be given to the senior with families live apart from（方位）their offspring. To begin with（次序）, the young should do their best to keep in touch with their parents. Technological developments such as（列舉）cell phones, text messaging, and（并列）the internet all allow for increased communication between parents and their children. What’s more（次序），laws, regulations and criteria regarding services for the elderly should also be improved.
　　To take the above opinion to an extreme（總結關系）, concerted efforts should be made to solve the issue of empty nesters.
　　由此篇范文可以看出，句子之間的連貫需要有連接詞來構筑，復合句內部必須要有連接詞。甚至段與段之間也需要連接詞來加以練習，以達到通順的效果。連接詞體現的是句子內部和句子之間嚴謹的邏輯和論證推理關系，是英語語言的特色。