Transitions List

Transitions List

A- Continuers

I- Addition

• Purpose: Adding further or extra information or details on the same idea.

• Examples:

  1. And

  2. Both…and

  3. Not only…but also

  4. Also

  5. Besides

  6. In addition

  7. Moreover

  8. Further

  9. Furthermore

  10. Additionally

II- Comparison / Similarity

• Purpose: Talking about two different items or ideas that have the same characteristics.

• Examples:

  1. Similarly

  2. Likewise

  3. Comparatively

  4. In the same way

  5. Just as…so

  6. Equally

B- Emphasis

• Purpose: Repeating the same idea with different wording.

• Examples:

  1. Indeed

  2. In fact

  3. Of course

  4. Even

  5. Truly

  6. In other words

C- Definition

• Examples:

  1. That is

D- Sequence

• Purpose: Actions happening in a chronological order.

• Examples:

  1. First

  2. Second…

  3. Then

  4. Next

  5. Finally (last)

  6. Lastly

  7. Later

  8. After

  9. Afterwards

  10. Subsequently (afterwards)

E- Conclusion / Summary

• Examples:

  1. In conclusion

  2. To conclude

  3. Thus

  4. In summary

  5. In short

  6. In any case

  7. Finally

  8. To sum up

  9. All in all

  10. After all

  11. Overall

  12. In general

  13. Briefly

F- Example

• Purpose: Giving examples and moving from general to specific.

• Examples:

  1. For example

  2. For instance

  3. Namely

  4. Particularly

  5. In particular

  6. Specifically

  7. In specific

  8. Such as

Page 4: Contradictors

A- Contradicting or Unexpected Result

• Purpose: The second sentence gives a result that contradicts what would be expected from the first sentence.

• Examples:

  1. However

  2. But

  3. Yet

  4. Although

  5. Though

  6. Even though

  7. Despite

  8. In spite of

  9. Even so

  10. Still

  11. While

  12. Nonetheless

  13. Nevertheless

  14. Notwithstanding

B- Contradicting or Different Action

• Purpose: The second sentence gives an action that is different from the action in the first sentence.

• Examples:

  1. However

  2. Meanwhile

  3. While

  4. Whereas

  5. On the other hand

  6. On the contrary

  7. Conversely

  8. In contrast

  9. But

• Example Sentence:

  • Johnny wanted to play football tonight; however, his injury kept him on the sidelines.

  • Steve's favorite sport is football; in contrast, his friend Jason's favorite sport is basketball.

C- More Contradictors

• Examples:

  1. Alternatively

  2. Alternately

  3. Instead

  4. Rather

D- Cause & Effect

I- (+) Cause / Reason

• Purpose: Introducing the cause or the reason.

• Examples:

  1. Because

  2. Because of

  3. Owing to

  4. Due to

  5. Since

  6. For

II- (+) Effect / Result

• Purpose: Introducing the effect or the result.

• Examples:

  1. Accordingly

  2. Thus

  3. Hence

  4. Therefore

  5. As a result

  6. So

  7. So that

  8. Consequently

  9. Subsequently

  10. Thereby

E- Other Transitions

• Examples:

  1. Fortunately + unexpected good thing happened

  2. Unfortunately + unexpected bad thing happened

F- Further Details or Clarification

• Notes on usage:

  • "Besides" is an informal transition word.

  • "Finally" can mean "last" (sequence) or "in conclusion" (summary).

  • "Subsequently" can mean "afterwards" (sequence) or "as a result" (cause & effect).

  • "Thus" can mean "as a result" (cause & effect) or "in conclusion" (summary).

  • "Notwithstanding" means "in spite of" or "nevertheless".

  • "Meanwhile" and "While" can function as time transitions meaning "at the same time".

  • "So that" is often followed by a modal verb and a result to be avoided or attained.

  • "Instead" is preceded with "not" and followed by an affirmative.

  • "Rather" is also preceded with "not" and followed by an affirmative.