Being a super hero is hard work. I have many jobs to do. I fly over the city. I look for bad guys. I help people who are in need. It is hard work. It makes me happy. I see people’s happy faces. It makes all the hard work worth while. What do you think of this story?

That story didn’t have any flow which made it sound very choppy!

What do you think we could do to make it sound smoother?

If you said, “Add transition words,” then you are correct!

Transition words make connections within sentences, between sentences, and link paragraphs.

Be careful when you use them because transition words have different jobs and belong to different parts of speech!

Comparison Contrast Examples Cause and Effect Place Conclusion Sequence Time Transition words Show:

Comparison Sometimes we want to show how two ideas relate to each other. alsonot in the same waylikewise againonce more similarlyand

I fly over the city. I fight crime. Wow. These two sentences have the same subject and seem very repetitive. We need some transitions to make this more entertainment.

I fly over the city and fight crime. I combined the sentences removing the repeated subject and used the conjunction ‘and’ to show an addition. This shows that I value both things equally.

Contrast Every once in a while we want to show that two instances or items are opposite. althoughon the contrary buton the other hand despitestill even thoughthough howeveryet in contrastinstead

I fight crime, yet I still have time to fly around and see the sights. When I added the word ‘yet,’ I showed that there is a difference between fighting crime and seeing the sights. One is work and one is play. Two opposites. This would be a great sentence to use If I had a paragraph about how I fight crime and then I moved on to a paragraph about seeing all the good things in our city.

Examples Often in writing we need to give examples to give the reader a clear picture. These are some words we can use. after allto illustrate eventhe following example for examplesuch as for instancein fact specifically

I fly over the city fighting crime such as shoplifting. I’ve given you an example of the types of crime I fight when I fly around. Now I can talk more about how I stop shoplifters.

Cause and Effect When we write sometimes we want to show that one event caused another to occur. as a resulttherefore becauseto this end consequentlyso for this purposethen

I fly over the city fighting crime, consequently the town is a safe place to live. Can you see the cause and effect relationship that I have shown here? Since I am fighting crime it caused the city to be safe. Now, I can give details about how I keep the city safe.

Place We can often use prepositions and other words to define where in place we are writing about. Here are a few: aboveadjacent toto the right belowbeyond there closer toelsewhere to the left farfurther on nearby herenearopposite to

Below me, I see the city as I fly around fighting crime. You have a pretty clear picture of where I am as I am fighting crime. I can now tell my reader all about the things I see. You can see me in this place can’t you?

Conclusion When it is time to summarize or make a conclusion, transition words can really help. as I have said as we have seenas I mentioned earlier in any evenin conclusion in other wordson the whole thereforeto summarize

As a result of my time flying around the city fighting crime, the citizens feel much safer. This would be a great transition to add towards the end of my writing. Now I can tell the reader about the things the people of my town have told me about feeling safe. I hope when you hear my evidence you will come to the same conclusion.

Sequence Readers need to be able to keep events in order. Transition words can help promote the sequence of events. Here are a few. againalsothird alsoandnext and thenfinallystill firstsecondtoo

N N After a long night of flying around the city fighting crime, I am finally ready to relax. In a composition, this would be a great transition between my crime fighting activities and what I do when I am not fighting crime. It shows that I fight crime first and then relax.

Time In writing, it is important to help your reader see how things fit together in time. Transition words can help. These are just a few. after a few daysafter awhilemeanwhile afterwardsas long asin the meantime as soon asat lastsoon beforeearliershortly

N N As long as I am able to fly, I will be dedicating my life to fighting crime in my city. This would be a great transition and conclusion. I am showing how long I would like to fight crime.

Do you remember the story we started with? Being a super hero is hard work. I have many jobs to do. I fly over the city. I look for bad guys. I help people who are in need. It is hard work. It makes me happy. I see people’s happy faces. It makes all the hard work worth while.

Let’s look at it with some transitions. Being a super hero is hard work because I have many jobs to do. Not only do I fly over the city, I also look for bad guys. Everyday I help people who are in need. Though it is hard work, it makes me happy. After a day of crime fighting, I see people’s happy faces. Consequently, it makes all the hard work worth while.

Do you think this paragraph is better? Being a super hero is hard work because I have many jobs to do. Not only do I fly over the city, I also look for bad guys. Everyday I help people who are in need. Though it is hard work, it makes me happy. After a day of crime fighting, I see people’s happy faces. Consequently, it makes all the hard work worth while.

Can you find all the transitions? Being a super hero is hard work because I have many jobs to do. Not only do I fly over the city, I also look for bad guys. Everyday I help people who are in need. Though it is hard work, it makes me happy. After a day of crime fighting, I see people’s happy faces. Consequently, it makes all the hard work worth while.

Transition words and phrases turn ordinary compositions into works of art. Being a super hero is hard work because I have many jobs to do. Not only do I fly over the city, I also look for bad guys. Everyday I help people who are in need. Though it is hard work, it makes me happy. After a day of crime fighting, I see people’s happy faces. Consequently, it makes all the hard work worth while.

When I move from sentence to sentence or paragraph to paragraph, nothing beats a great transition word, phrase or sentence.