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The Importance of Transition Words
HSPA Preparation
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Transition Words are….
• Transition words and phrases are vital to the success of any essay.
• They are the bread and butter of writing. • They are the glue that holds all essays
together. • Think of bricks building a house without
mortar. Lack of mortar would cause the house to fall apart without it.
• Transitions hold the same importance. We need these words and phrases to join sentences and thoughts together in a coherent fashion.
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How and When to Use Transition Words
• Always use a transition phrase at the beginning of a new body paragraph.
• Always use a transition word in between thoughts within a paragraph.
• Never use a transition word to begin an essay.
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What are some common Transition Words you use?
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Remember….
• Transitions bring ideas together.
• They are leaving one thought and entering a new one.
• If you think of these words as ending the old and opening the new, it will help you organize your thoughts and your essays.
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Signs that you might need to work on your transitions
• How can you tell whether you need to work on your transitions? Here are some possible clues:
• Your instructor has written comments like "choppy," "jumpy," "abrupt, “awkward,” "flow," " or "how is this related?" on your papers.
• Your readers (instructors, friends, or classmates) tell you that they had trouble following your organization or train of thought.
• You tend to write the way you think—and your brain often jumps from one idea to another pretty quickly.
• You wrote your paper in several discrete "chunks" and then pasted them together.
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As another little tip from the inside, transition words are excellent cues on standardized tests.
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Transition Words
• They often tell you what will be coming next (either positive or negative), and indicate a change.
• Which transition words are examples of change?
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Transition Words…
• They are great words to stick into essays in high school and college.
• Teachers look for these words, as they indicate structure within an essay.
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• If you use these words, then you know you have structured a strong essay, as you are building on an issue or are comparing two different issues well.
•
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Which is the best paragraph?• Which is the better paragraph?
– "I have several good reasons for not going to work today. I was stung several times in the foot by bees while walking in my yard last night. I cannot get my shoe on. My son is staying home from school. He has a bad cold. The computer is being repaired at work. I won't be able to get much done anyhow." OR:
– "I have several good reasons for not going to work today. First, I was stung several times in the foot by bees while walking in my yard last night. As a result, I cannot get my shoe on. Also, my son is staying home from school because he has a bad cold. Finally, the computer is being repaired at work, so I won't be able to get much done anyhow."
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Paragraph # 2
• As can be easily seen by the examples above, using transitional words and phrases to tie the essay's ideas together makes for a more easily understandable written work.
• Without the transitional elements, each sentence almost sounds as though it is an island unto itself, as though it is unrelated to the other sentences in the paragraph.
• Good writers use transition!
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Remember to….
• Use transition words!
• Also put a comma following a transition word.
• Make sure you use a proper transition word in your essay. Do not use a transition word that does not make sense in that particular part of your essay.