{"id":4031,"date":"2013-06-27T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/?page_id=4031"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:37:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T18:37:00","slug":"transitional-words-and-phrases","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/transitional-words-and-phrases\/","title":{"rendered":"Transitional Words and Phrases"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lyte-wrapper fourthree\" title=\"Transitional Words and Phrases\" style=\"width:420px;max-width:100%;margin:5px auto;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_D-GEH9kydmk\"><div id=\"lyte_D-GEH9kydmk\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FD-GEH9kydmk%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\">Transitional Words and Phrases<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/D-GEH9kydmk\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FD-GEH9kydmk%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Transitional Words and Phrases\" width=\"420\" height=\"295\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:420px;margin:5px auto;\"><\/div>\n<p><script>\nfunction zuj_Function() {\n  var x = document.getElementById(\"zuj\");\n  if (x.style.display === \"none\") {\n    x.style.display = \"block\";\n  } else {\n    x.style.display = \"none\";\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"moc-toc hide-on-desktop hide-on-tablet\">\n<div><button onclick=\"zuj_Function()\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/toc2.svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"show or hide table of contents\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p>On this page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<nav id=\"zuj\" style=\"display:none;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Indicating_Time\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Indicating Time<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Indicating_Examples\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Indicating Examples<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Comparing_and_Contrasting\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Comparing and Contrasting<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Indicating_Additional_Information\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Indicating Additional Information<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Reflecting_Logical_Relationships\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Reflecting Logical Relationships<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Steps_in_a_Process\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Steps in a Process<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\"><input id=\"transcript\" type=\"checkbox\" class=\"spoiler_button\" \/><label for=\"transcript\">Transcript<\/label>\n<div class=\"spoiler\" id=\"transcript-spoiler\">\n<p>Transitional words and phrases are used to guide the reader through the text.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ve probably seen a lot of these common transitional words and phrases before, but you may not have thought about what their operation is\u2014what their purpose is in the paper. So let&#8217;s look at different ways the transitions can be used.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Indicating_Time\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Indicating Time<\/h2>\n<p>\nYou can have transitions that show time information. For instance, <em>after<\/em>, <em>before<\/em>, <em>during<\/em>, and <em>in the middle of<\/em> all tell you when in time something is happening.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Indicating_Examples\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Indicating Examples<\/h2>\n<p>\nYou can also have transitions that indicate an example that is about to be given: <em>for example<\/em>, <em>in fact<\/em>, and <em>for instance<\/em>. If you say something, if you state your main idea, and then you want to give a supporting example, you can say &#8220;in fact let me tell you this thing.&#8221; &#8220;For example, dogs make good pets because they are very loyal.&#8221; These phrases let you know that an example is coming.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Comparing_and_Contrasting\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Comparing and Contrasting<\/h2>\n<p>\nTransitions can be used for <strong>comparing<\/strong> (<em>also<\/em>, <em>likewise<\/em>). You&#8217;re saying how two things are alike. &#8220;This is also like this.&#8221; &#8220;Likewise, we can look at how dogs are good companions.&#8221; You can also use them for <strong>contrasting<\/strong>, saying how two things are different (<em>however<\/em>, <em>but<\/em>, <em>yet<\/em>). You would like a dog for a pet because they are so companionable, but a cat is not going to be as affectionate. They won&#8217;t make as good of a companion as the dog. <\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Indicating_Additional_Information\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Indicating Additional Information<\/h2>\n<p>\nTransitions can be used to suggest additions to let you know that more is coming (<em>and<\/em>, <em>also<\/em>, <em>furthermore<\/em>). <\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Reflecting_Logical_Relationships\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Reflecting Logical Relationships<\/h2>\n<p>\nYou can have transitions that reflect logical relationships: <em>if<\/em>, <em>then<\/em>, <em>therefore<\/em>, <em>as a result<\/em>, and <em>since<\/em>. If I go to bed late, I might be tired in the morning. &#8220;I went to bed late, therefore, I was tired in the morning.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Steps_in_a_Process\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Steps in a Process<\/h2>\n<p>\nAnd our last example for transitional words and phrases are steps in a process. &#8220;First, you&#8217;ll gather up all your ingredients. Second, you&#8217;ll mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Last, you&#8217;ll take the cake out of the oven.&#8221; So these steps are telling you exactly what&#8217;s happening. They may throw in <em>next<\/em> or <em>after that<\/em>\u2014they may not want to just put numbered all the time. <em>Last<\/em> isn&#8217;t telling you the tenth step, it just uses the transitional word, but it still is giving you an idea of what step that is in the process. <\/p>\n<p>So, make sure you use your transitional words and phrases where they will orient your reader and illuminate the structure of your composition. You want to let your readers know where they are in your paper.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re writing a contrast and comparison essay, the comparing and contrast transitional words are going to help highlight that that&#8217;s what type of essay you&#8217;re writing. If you&#8217;re writing a persuasive essay, you might see a lot of examples. If you&#8217;re writing an instructional essay, you might see a lot of steps in a process. If you&#8217;re writing an informational essay, you may have some logical relationships.<\/p>\n<p>So using these transitional words and phrases you can help your reader know what the purpose of your writing was. So, please always use transitional words and phrases in your writing because you want to guide your reader through the text and let them know what your purpose is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-4031","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"page_category-parts-of-a-sentence-videos","6":"page_type-video","7":"page_domain-english"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4031"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266179,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4031\/revisions\/266179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}