Why is transition important

They are signals that help readers follow the direction of your thoughts as a writer. Transition words and phrases in academic writing. Transition words and phrases, also called linking or connecting words, are used to link together different ideas in your text. They help the reader to follow your arguments by expressing the relationships between different sentences or parts of a sentence. Transition signals act like bridges between parts of your writing.

They link your sentences and paragraphs together smoothly so that they flow and there are no abrupt jumps or breaks between ideas. Transition signals also act like signposts making it easier for the reader to follow your ideas. What are transition signals? Transition signals are linking words or phrases that connect your ideas and add cohesion to your writing.

All young people who attend and eventually leave school go through some kind of transition. For many people, the transition from school to adult life is smooth. They go to college, get a job and an apartment, and so on. Some people find the transition more difficult. Young people with disabilities are at greater risk of being unable to attend college or university and of being unemployed or uninvolved in the life of their communities. And I applaud it.

I write that way myself, as you can see. But it takes some serious thinking to make it work. Feels like torture, if you ask me. Like writing my life story in iambic pentameter. Transitions are words or phrases that carry the reader from one idea to the next.

They help a reader see the connection or relationship between ideas and, just as important, transitions also prevent sudden, jarring mental leaps between sentences and paragraphs. To illustrate: Do you know anyone who tends to change the subject suddenly during a conversation? It seems like a sudden thought pops into their head, and they blurt it out without any sort of closure to the original topic or introduction to the next.

Writing presents the same challenge. As one subject or idea concludes, the next subject or concept must be introduced smoothly. Transitions indicate time, examples, exceptions, comparisons, and sequences plus a whole lot more. Some of the most common or obvious are words or phrases like first, second, then, later, afterward, suddenly, at this point, a few days later, nevertheless, however, and so on.

Even simple words like and or but serve as transitions. The word even at the beginning of this paragraph is a transition, too. So is too. By adding a few transitions to those 21 short sentences that short-circuited my already busy brain, that email could have been so much better. But writing something in a format of one sentence per line is no easy task for even the best writer, and I recommend combining sentences into short paragraphs of sentences each when ideas are related.

Varying the length of the sentences also makes reading more enjoyable. I actually read every single word when I expect the message has something to offer. Or at least I try. And maybe some readers skim easily over the same writing that bogs me down.

Without a doubt, using some transitional words or phrases would change that frustrating email from, well, an exercise in frustration to an interesting minute or two of reading. When I look back at some of my earlier posts I always edit them to include transitions.

Thanks for this! And I know what you mean about cringing! I have to own up to the same reality in placing words in a manner that provoked unlimited frustrations. Internet writing is very challenging with not only including transitions but doing so with the least number of words.

Sounds like a good plan. And keeping our writing concise is always a good thing. Then again, the length depends on the topic.