1. Transitions

2. What are they?
• Transition words and phrases help
establish clear connections between
ideas.
• They ensure that paragraphs flow
together smoothly, making them easier to
read.

3. Transitions between paragraphs
• Transitions between paragraphs should:
– Summarize the previous paragraph
– Give a hint about the topic of the next
paragraph
– Be a word or two, a phrase, or a sentence
– Be at the end of the first paragraph,
beginning of the second paragraph, or both

4. Example: transitioning between
paragraphs
• If I want to transition from my first body
paragraph about Walt Disney’s rough
childhood to the second paragraph about
his rise to fame, my transition may look
something like this:
• Although Walt Disney’s childhood was no
fairytale, it didn’t take long for him to find
fame by creating the fairytales he always
wished he could experience.

5. Transitions within paragraphs
• Transitions within paragraphs:
– Act as cues
– Help readers anticipate what is coming before
they read it
– Tend to be single words or short phrases

6. Example: Transitioning within
paragraphs
• His home life provided meager comforts because
his father, Elias, showed no affection to any of his
five children. In fact, Brad. A Smith and Chris
Wingert, historians, reveal that Walt’s
disciplinarian father delivered daily beatings to
Walt and his older brother, Roy (2). Yet, small
incentives in Walt’s bleak life granted him some
form of escape. Walt’s mother, Flora, captivated
his imagination with sensational fairy tales
(Harmon, par. 5). Consequently, enchanted lands
and mystical creatures from these fairy tales
served as foundations for his future films.

7. Transitional words and phrases

8. Practice #1
• I went to biology class,
________ I went to lunch.

9. Practice #2
• I was going to take out
the trash when I got
home, ______ I didn’t
because Jersey Shore
was on!

10. Practice #3
• There are many reasons
why freshmen think they
should never have
homework. ________,
many students play sports
after school and don’t
have the time.

11. Practice #4
• Freshmen aren’t the only
ones who don’t like
homework. __________,
teachers don’t like it
either.

12. Practice #5
• Sally had an eventful
Saturday. ______ she went
to the mall, ______ she got
her hair done, and
_________ she went to
Prom.