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,