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,