phrase (opening) · academic
To begin with, + clause
Used to introduce the first point or reason at the start of a paragraph or when listing points.
Examples
“To begin with, many students cannot afford textbooks.”
“To begin with, the policy ignored long-term environmental costs.”
“To begin with, improving public transport would reduce traffic.”
Band 8 sentence
“To begin with, the data indicate that urbanisation, rather than immigration, accounts for most of the housing shortage.”
Collocations
- To begin with, + clause
Word family
Common mistakes
At the beginning, I will say that recycling is important.→To begin with, recycling is important.
To begin the government should invest more.→To begin with, the government should invest more.
Begin with, the city needs better buses.→To begin with, the city needs better buses.
Say it for a higher band
5Firstly→6First of all→7+To begin with, + clause
Synonyms
Firstly
Easily confused
At the beginning
“At the beginning of the movie, the main character moves to London.”
Initially
“Initially, few people supported the project.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Opening & closing ideas
Learn it with its set