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Virginia has been a university English instructor for over 20 years. She specializes in helping people write essays faster and easier.

Transition

Word or phrase that shows relationship between ideas. Usually used at the start of a sentence.

Improve Your Writing Today!

Can you quickly and easily improve your writing? Yes. For over 20 years, I've taught these tips to students and seen their writing dramatically improve. Why?

1. Using transition words helps you resist habitually using simple subject-verb sentence structure.

2. Transitions link your ideas more effectively and create more nuanced meaning.

3. Finally, transitions make your writing sound more professional and less like spoken language.

How To Use Sentence Starter Lists

The most important tip for improving your writing quickly is to follow one rule:

Start every sentence in a paragraph with a different word. How? Here is my step-by-step guide:

Use the transition list as you write: Think about how the sentences in your paragraph are related to one another. If you are comparing and contrasting two ideas, then use the "Showing Contrast" transition words (see list below). Are you writing about steps in a process? Then use the "Adding to an Idea" transition words below. When writing about something that happened, use the "Sequence/Time" transitions I've provided.

Using the transition list while you are revising: Sometimes, it is easier not to worry about these words until your final draft stage, especially if you are a beginning writer. How do you do this? Use the following tips:

1. Go through your first draft and circle the first word in every sentence.

2. If you use the same word to start a sentence twice in a paragraph, then you need to choose another transition word and re-word the sentence.

3. How to choose transition words? Think about how each sentence fits with the one before it.

Does this sentence add information? Then use "moreover," "furthermore," or another word that adds to the idea.
If this sentence contrasts with the previous sentence, you might use "however" or "on the other hand."
If it is a time sequence, use "next," "then," or consider using "first," "second," etc.
Don't use the same transition too often. Also, don't forget the comma after the transition word and don't forget to put the subject of the sentence after the comma.

Choosing the Right Word

How can you choose the right word for each sentence? What makes using transitions improve your writing is that it forces you to explain the connections between your ideas. Ask yourself:

1. What does the sentence before this one say?

2. How does this sentence relate to that one?

3. Scan the list for a transition that seems to fit best. You can also use these questions for help:

Does this sentence add information? Use: moreover, furthermore, additionally, or another addition transition.

Does the sentence contrast or contradict? Use: however, on the other hand, in contrast, or another contrasting transition.

Are you writing something that happens in order? Use: next, then, or consider using time order like first, second, third, and finally.

Does this sentence add evidence? Use: for example, consequently, for this reason, or another consequence transition.

Does the sentence emphasize an idea? Use: obviously, especially, as a rule, particularly or another emphasizing transition.

Tips to Remember

1. Use a variety of transition words, not the same one.

2. Put a comma after the transition word.

3. Put the subject of the sentence after the comma.

2. Use a Variety of Words When Citing Examples

3. Use Different Words to Order Events and Sequence Time

4. Use Interesting Words When Summarizing

Short paragraph without transition words:

Cell phones have changed our family communication for the worse. Parents complain their teenagers spending too much time on their phone. Teenagers are annoyed that they can't get the attention of their parents who are always working or shopping on their phones. We need to make some changes.
Adding transition words:
Generally speaking, cell phones have changed our family communication for the worse. Obviously, parents complain about their teenagers spending too much time on their phones. Moreover, teenagers are annoyed that they can't get the attention of their parents who are always working or shopping on their phones. Unquestionably, we need to make some changes.

Improving Your Writing Over Time

Just following my tips to add transition words to your essay can often make your essay much better and will probably improve your grade. Inevitably, as soon as I tell my classes about this technique their writing improves dramatically. Better yet, the more you use transition words in revision, the more you begin to add that technique to your writing during the first draft.

Why does that help? It begins training you to think about how your ideas relate to one another and helps you to write essays that are deeper, more connected and logical. If you've found this technique helpful, or if you have another sentence starting technique, please add your comments below to help out other writers.

Questions & Answers

Question:

What are other words to use instead of using "I" all the time?

Answer:

If you are writing in the first person, you can't avoid using "I." However, if you follow the easy five tips, I give for writing better sentences: https://hubpages.com/humanities/Writing-Effective-...

you will be able to hide the fact that you are using "I" a lot by not starting every sentence with the personal pronoun.

Question:

Can I start a sentence using the word "My"? Example: My hoarding of unnecessary things is getting out of hand.

Answer:

My answer has to be yes! As long as you use "my" as the possessive of something it works. In my example "my answer" uses "my" with a noun and describes whose answer it is. In your example, the "my" is used with a phrase describing an action "hoarding of unnecessary things" which is the subject of the sentence.

Question:

Can you end a sentence with "that is"?

Answer:

I don't think that phrase would make an effective ending of a sentence unless you were using it in a conversation.

Question:

What sentence starter can I use instead of "the"?

Answer:

Any of the words in these lists would work. You should also think of different ways to address your subject. For example, if your subject is "the school" you could also say:

1. The actual name of the school.

2. A description of the place.

3. Some part of the school (our class, a hallway).

4. A synonym: this educational establishment, our place of learning.

5. The name of the school with an adjective or possessive: our friendly school, this horrible school, this exciting school.

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Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write Better Essays

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Virginia has been a university English instructor for over 20 years. She specializes in helping people write essays faster and easier. Word or phrase that shows relationship between ideas. Usually used at the start of a sentence. Can you quickly and easily improve your writing? Yes.

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The Learning Portal / Le Portail d’Apprentissage

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Collections of your TRANSITION WORDS - Google Jamboard