First of all means firstly, before anything else, first and foremost. It opens a list of arguments or says what to do first or what matters most. It is neutral and slightly conversational, so it sounds natural in speech and in an email to a colleague.
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First of all, + first point … Secondly, + next point; first of all + verb (what to do first)
- First of all, remote work saves employees several hours of commuting every week.
- When you move to a new country, first of all find out how local transport works.
- First of all, thank you all for coming on such a rainy evening.
What changed
First versionAt first, living in a big city gives you more job opportunities.
RevisionFirst of all, living in a big city gives you more job opportunities.
At first looks like a way of saying “firstly”, so it often appears before the first argument. But at first means “in the beginning” and suggests that things changed later: At first I hated the job, but now I love it. The first point in a list needs First of all.
Examiners see First of all in essays all the time, and it sounds a little conversational. Firstly… Secondly… is drier, and what works best is a paragraph that states its idea straight away: One major advantage of city life is… And don't put First of all at the start of every paragraph: a text can have only one “first”.
Your turn
There are two reasons why I chose this university. ___, it has an excellent engineering department.
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First of all — This starts a list of two reasons, and the first one is introduced with First of all. At first would mean that this was true only in the beginning and then changed, but the excellent engineering department hasn't gone anywhere.
Write a reply to a colleague who asked why you live in your area. Give two reasons: the first with First of all, the second with Secondly.
First of all, my office is only fifteen minutes away on foot. Secondly, there are three parks nearby, so I can go running every morning.
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