Writing is a medium through which one’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings are expressed. However, those ideas need to be logically linked. Transitions help a writer with this. Penlighten gives you a list of transitional words and phrases used in writing.
The word transition means, to make a change or a change from one state, place, or condition to another. Transition is the shift from one idea to another, and transitional words and phrases are used to make the transition.
When two or more ideas, thoughts, or points are written in separate sentences, it becomes necessary to tell the readers how they are connected. Plain sentences without the use of transitions look disconnected. Look at these sentences. “It was raining yesterday. She decided to go out with an umbrella. The rain stopped the minute she stepped out of the house.” The example narrates an incident, where the sentences are related to one another. Unless transitional words are used to connect them, the relation between them is not evident.
In writing long pieces of content, it becomes all the more important to establish the connection between sentences so that the writing gets a flow. If the connections are not established, there are chances of the readers feeling lost or bored while reading the text. Transitional words, or just transitions, as they are also called, help a writer establish these relations. Take the example of the same three sentences. “It was raining yesterday. Therefore, she decided to go out with an umbrella. However, the rain stopped the minute she stepped out of the house.” In these sentences, transitions like “therefore” and “however” have been used. They establish a cause-and-effect relation among the sentences.
Transitions are usually used in the beginning of a sentence. They establish the relation between that sentence and the one preceding it. Transitions can occur in one sentence as well, joining the different points in it. Here are some examples of transitional words and phrases that can be used in writing.
A List of Transitional Words and Phrases
To Show Similarity
For Addition
To Show Exception/Contrast
To Show Sequence/Order
To Show Time
For Emphasis
To Show Place/Position
To Show Cause and Effect
For Conclusion/ Summary
To Give an Example
To Repeat
For Result
As you saw in the lists above, transitional words or phrases are used to begin or conclude a paragraph, to compare two things, to repeat or emphasize something, to show the place or time, to show the result of something, or to denote a cause-and-effect relationship. The words to be used differ with the purpose they are used for.
