TRANSITIONS

Let’s improve

your writing!

WHAT ARE THEY AND WHAT DO THEY DO?

In writing, transitions are words that connect

the logical sequence of events. They are important

because they will help you organize thoughts and

write proficiently. These words are used to

connect single sentences and thoughts in order to

complete an order in which events take place.

WHY DO WE NEED TRANSITIONS?

Without transitions, your writing does

not flow smoothly. • They are words and phrases that serve as

bridges from one idea to the next, one sentence to the next, or one paragraph to the next.

• They keep the reader from having to find his or her own way and possibly getting lost in the text.

GLUE YOUR WRITING TOGETHER!

Transitions can be looked at as the glue that

holds your ideas together. They are

important, however, too many transitions can

cause as much confusion as too few.

• Just like too much glue can ruin an art project, too many transitions ruin your writing.

JUST THE “WRITE” AMOUNT!

You don’t necessarily need a transition

between every idea or sentence, but it is a good

idea to use a transition between each

paragraph. • The eight sentence paragraph has 4

transitions!

Transitions usually come near the beginning

of a sentence or paragraph.• However, you should use a transition wherever

it works best!

FINICKY 5 COMMA RULE!

All transitions are followed by a comma!

• For this reason, always double check your

punctuation.

• In fact, you could be marked down if you

forget a comma.

• Lastly, it is easy to do so don’t forget!

TRANSITIONS TO EMPHASIZE A POINT

Again,

For this reason,

Indeed,

With this in

mind,

To repeat,

In fact,

TRANSITIONS TO SHOW LOCATION

Next to the...

Above the…

To the left of…

In the middle of…

In front of…

Beyond the…

Into the…

Near the…

TRANSITIONS TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST ITEMS

Similarly,

In the same way,

Also,

In the same

manner,

On the other hand,

Even though…

But,

However,

TRANSITIONS TO SHOW TIME

Afterward,

Meanwhile,

Last,

Finally,

In the

meantime,

At the same

time,

Immediately,

Next,

Today,

After…

TRANSITIONS TO CLARIFY

For example,

To clarify,

For instance,

Simply

stated,

To illustrate the

point,

In other words,

Stated differently,

Put another way,

TRANSITIONS TO ADD INFORMATION

Additionally,

For example,

As well as…

For instance,

Next,

Also,

Equally

important,

In addition,

Finally,

TRANSITIONS TO ENUMERATE (OFTEN USED AS SETS)

First-second-third

One important-equally important-most

important

First-next-last

One-also-in addition

In the beginning-toward the middle-at the end

A significant-another significant-of greatest

significance

TRANSITIONS TO CONCLUDE OR SUMMARIZE

All in all,

Finally,

In summary,

Therefore,

Clearly,

In closing,

In conclusion,

Lastly,

To conclude,

Most importantly,