Using Transitional Words and Phrases

Writers are using transitions to show connections between pieces of information.

Those connections are helpful for the reader to understand the writer’s purpose and the content.

Transitions are helping in a way that they are creating cohesive writing by linking some sentences together and linking various paragraphs together. Transitions are all used with the purpose of connecting to the author’s thesis.

Authors may use transitions in a number of ways, but two of the most common methods are the use of transitional phrases and words and repeating key ideas that will create pattern transitions.

Transitional Words, transitional Phrases
Authors use transitional phrases and words to demonstrate connections between pieces of information.

Common Transitional Words and Transitional Phrases
Additionally	For example	Otherwise
After	Hence	Similarly
Also	However	Therefore
Consequently	In the end	Thus
First/Second	On the other hand	Then

Writers can choose from several other transitions as well when they try to achieve a specific effect in their essays. This may include the use of transitions for showing exemplification, comparison & contrast, definitions, processes, or cause & effect. These tables below are showing examples of transitions that are working well with all writing styles:

Transitions That Show Exemplification
Another example	For example	Specifically
As an example	For instance	Such as
As evidenced by	Including	To illustrate
Especially	In particular	To show this

 

Transitions That Show Comparison & Contrast
Also	However	In the same way
As opposed to	In addition	Likewise
But	In comparison	On the other hand
Conversely	In contrast	Similarly

 

Transitions That Show Definition
Another definition	As defined by	As supported with
Another meaning	As evidenced by	As these examples show
As compared with	As explained by	Is complicated by
As contrasted with	As illustrated by	To define

 

Transitions That Show Process
Afterward	Concurrently	Then
Another step	Finally	First
At this point	Next	Second
Before	Subsequently	Third

 

Transitions That Show Cause & Effect
Accordingly	Consequently	On account of
As a result	Hence	Since
Based on	In the end	Therefore
Because	In view of	Thus

 

Pattern Transitions
One more way of connecting information is the use of pattern transitions.

When using this technique, authors will repeat key ideas and words for keeping paragraphs cohesive and for keeping the attention on a specific idea.

Authors will often be referring back to the essay’s main idea or thesis statement throughout their essays.

To give you an example, when an essay’s topic is “college admission application process,” the author will often be referring to that topic by writing phrases like “Another crucial step in the college admission process…” or “To gain admission to your favorite college is…”

So again, the authors use transitions to demonstrate connections between two or more pieces of information. These connections help the reader to better understand the author’s purpose and the passage’s content.

This lesson is a part of our GED Reasoning Through Language Arts Guide

Last Updated on July 30, 2021.