ENGLISH
REFERENCE

in other words

fixed phr..
B1 Intermediate Oxford

fixed phr.. you use this to explain something again in a simpler or different way to make it clearer.

fixed phr.. a discourse marker used to introduce a paraphrase or a clarification of a preceding statement.


SIMPLE

He is very busy; in other words, he cannot come.

CONTEXTUAL

The company is downsizing, in other words, many people are going to lose their jobs.

COMPLEX

The results were statistically insignificant; in other words, the experiment failed to prove the hypothesis that the team had spent months developing.

Usage

usually placed at the beginning of a sentence or clause to clarify the previous point.

Teaching tip

teach this as a 'reformulation marker' to help students improve their cohesion in writing and speaking tasks.

Pitfall

in another wordsin other wordsthe phrase is fixed with the plural 'words', so 'another' cannot be used.

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