Transition Wordsby

Anita J. Ghajar-Selim

forWriting Lab at Student Learning Support Center

Learning Outcomes

• What transition words are• Types of transition words• Punctuation of them• Common Errors

Definition of Transition words

• Transition words are like a chain. They hold your thoughts and ideas together in a sentence.

• The make your sentence more smooth and connected.

Types of Transition Words

• Example• Add information• Cause• Effect• Compare/contrast

Example

• For example• To illustrate• For instance Ahmed can play a lot of sports, for

instance, basketball, soccer, and volleyball.

Add Information

• Besides• In addition• Moreover• Second, third, etc.• Furthermore The President is young and

ambitious. Furthermore, he is full of new ideas.

Cause

• As• Because of• Due to• For• Since• Because Because we had not booked ahead of

time, we could not find any tickets.

Effect

• Consequently• So• Thus• Hence• Therefore We were late for the movie; therefore,

we didn’t understand anything.

Compare/Contrast

• Although• However• In comparison• In contrast• Likewise• Similarly• Nevertheless• Whereas Dogs like to chase cats; whereas, cats like

to chase mice.

Transition Word Quiz

• First decide what kind of transition words the following sentences need then choose the right one. There is more than one possibility.

1. ………. my mother promised to get me a new bike, I had a feeling she would never do that.

2. She got an A in the exam; ………., she got an scholarship to go study overseas.

3. My uncle smoked a lot. ………. He got cancer.

What kind of transition word is mainly used in the following paragraphs?

• In the first place, no "burning" in the sense of combustion, as in the burning of wood, occurs in a volcano; moreover, volcanoes are not necessarily mountains; furthermore, the activity takes place not always at the summit but more commonly on the sides or flanks; and finally, the "smoke" is not smoke but condensed steam.(Fred Bullard, Volcanoes in History)

What kind of transition word is mainly used in the following paragraphs?

• The ideologue is often brilliant. Consequently some of us distrust brilliance when we should distrust the ideologue. (Clifton Fadiman)

• When you start with a portrait and search for a pure form, a clear volume, through successive eliminations, you arrive inevitably at the egg. Likewise, starting with the egg and following the same process in reverse, one finishes with the portrait. (Pablo Picasso)

• With all the ingenuity involved in hiding delicacies on the body, this process automatically excludes certain foods. For example, a turkey sandwich is welcome, but the cumbersome cantaloupe is not.(Steve Martin, "How to Fold Soup")

Punctuation of Transition Words

[Transition Word], Subject +Verb

Example: I couldn’t be disrespectful to her; she is, after all, my teacher.

Subject + Verb; [Transition Word], Subject +Verb

Example: I couldn’t be disrespectful to her; after all, she was my teacher.

Punctuation Quiz

• Writing an essay can be challenging. However there are techniques that can make the process a little easier. For example; taking plenty of notes on the subject can help the writer generate ideas. Writing an outline is another important step in the writing process, however, some writers are able to conceptualize a sense of logical order for their ideas without actually writing an outline.

Common Errors

• No logical connection:– Abdullah was studying in his room; consequently

the cat started meowing. • Punctuation error:– I saw a little mouse in the yard, however it was

gone by the time I got there.

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