Transition Words in Sentences: Examples

Transition words are commonly used in writing because of their benefits to connect ideas from one sentences/ paragraphs to another. Sometimes, you may read certain articles or books and feel like you cannot stop reading it. Or, you may encounter some articles that are difficult to follow the authors’ ideas. Probably, that is because the sentences are too long, and there is lack of using transition words signaling you whether the author wants to contrast or support earlier concepts. Using transition words in your writing does enhance the quality of your writing. Different transition words are used differently in writing. There are many types of transition words, and some of them are provided as example below.

Category#1: Causes and Effects

Causes and effects are used to show the consequence, results or reasons. Here are example of them in sentences.

” Since”, “As” and “Because” indicate the reasons why something happens.

Example1: Since today is raining, many students are absent. Or, many students are absents since today is raining.
Example2: Because today is raining, many students are absent. Or, many students are absent because today is raining.
Example3: As today is raining, many students are absent. Or, many students are absent as today is raining.

All above examples are correct. Please note that when “since”, “As” or “Because” is used at the beginning of the independent clause, there is a comma “, ” used at the end of the dependent clause.

Unlike “Since”, “As” and “Because”, transition words like “Thus”, “Hence”, “For this reason”, “Consequently “and “Therefore” are transition words emphasizing on the effect and can be placed at the beginning of a sentence, in the middle.

Example1: Today is raining. Therefore, many students are absent. Or, today is raining; therefore, many students are absent.
Example2: Today is raining. Thus, many students are absent. Or, today is raining; thus, many students are absent.
Example3: Today is raining. Consequently, many students are absent. Or, today is raining; consequently, many students are absent.

All above examples are correct. Please note the way you can replace period with semicolon and use small letter afterward.

“As a result”, “As a consequence”, “As a result of” basically have the same meaning. However, while ” As a result ” follow by a comma and a full sentence, ” As a result of” “Owing to” and “Because of “must follow by a noun phrase or a noun or a gerund.

Example1: Today is raining. As a result, many students are absent. Or, today is raining; as a result, many students are absent.
Example2: Many students are absent as a result of raining today.
Example3: Many students are absent because of raining today.
Example4: Many students are absent owing to raining today.

“Lead to” refers to when something causes something to happen. This transition word usually follows by a noun phrase or gerund phrase.

For example: The bad weather leads to the absence of many students in class.

Category#2: More Information

Transition words/ Transition phrases are used for adding more information are “Furthermore”, “Plus”, “Moreover”, “Then”, “And”, “In addition”, “Besides”, “Additionally”, “Also”, “Then”, “Again”, “Finally”, “Along with”, “Apart from”, “Last but not least”.

Example1: Since today is raining, many students are absent. Furthermore, most of them go for a farewell trip.
Example2: Since today is raining, many students are absent. Plus, most of them go for a farewell trip.
Example3: Since today is raining, many students are absent. In addition, most of them go for a farewell trip.
Example4: Apart from/Besides raining today, students are absent because they go for a farewell trip.

“Not only…. but also…” emphasizes two things happen simultaneously. You can use it when you want to add another information in the same sentence.

Example1: Not only is today raining but also very cloudy.
Example2: She is not only beautiful but also really smart.

Please note that when you place “Not only” at the beginning of the sentence, you must put modal auxiliary verb before subject.

You can use “Alternatively” and “Or” to indicate choice or options.

Example1: we can go out tonight, or we can go out tomorrow.
Example1: customers can use our one-time supporting service. Alternatively, they can also choose our one-year supporting service.

Category#3: Emphasis

For more emphasis, you can use certain transition words namely, “Indeed”, “In fact”, “Actually”, “Of course”, “Especially”, “In particular”, “Particularly”, “Absolutely”, “Importantly”, “Seriously”, “Basically”, “Significantly”, “Essentially”.

Example1: Indeed, it is raining and cloudy today.
Example2: She looks absolutely gorgeous.
Example3: The restaurant, particularly, provides a very good service. Or, particularly, the restaurant provides a very good service.

Category#4: Compare & Contrast

Transition words for contrasting ideas or information are “However”, “On the other hand”, “Anyways”, “Nonetheless”, “Nevertheless”, “But”, “Yet”, “Although”, “Even though”, “Differently”, “In contrast”, “Contrary to”, “Conversely”, “Unfortunately”, “In spite of”, “Despite”, “While”, “Whereas” and “Unlike”,

Example1: The restaurant provides a good service. However, the food is very expansive. Or the restaurant provides a good service; however, the food is very expansive.
Example2: The restaurant provides a good service. On the other hand, the food is very expansive.
Example3: The restaurant provides a good service, but the food is very expansive.
Example4: The restaurant provides a good service. Nevertheless, the food is very expansive.
Example5: The restaurant provides a good service, yet the food is very expansive.
Example6: Although/Even though the restaurant provides a good service, the food is very expansive. Or, the food is very expansive although/even though the restaurant provides a good service.
Example7: While/Whereas the service is good, the food is very expansive.

Note that for “However”, “On the other hand”, “Nevertheless”, ” Unfortunately”, “Conversely”, “In contrast” can be also used with semicolons. Please check how it works in category#1.

Remember that “In spite of” and “Despite” must follow by a noun or gerund or a noun phrase. Add ” the fact that” if they are used with a full sentence.

Example1: In spite of /Despite the good service, food in the restaurant is very expansive.
Example2: In spite of/ Despite getting sick, she is teaching today.
Example3: In spite of the fact that she does not feel well, Jessica is still teaching today.
Example4: Despite the fact that he comes from a poor family background, John has managed to be a bachelor graduate.

The term “Unlike” is used for differentiating.

Example1: Unlike her brother, who is naughty, Jenny is a gentle girl.
Example2: David is a caring child unlike his brother, who is careless.

Category#5: Order

In order to clarify the order of the procedure of doing something. We like to use “Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly… “Or “First, Second, Third…”. They can be also used when you want to divide or express your ideas in several points. The idea is to help your readers understand the flow of your ideas more easily. Other transition words in this category are “After”, “that”, “After”, “Then”, “Lastly”, “Finally”, “Eventually”, “First and foremost”, “Last but not least”, “Above all”, “the most importantly”, “Previously”, “Subsequently”, “Before”, “To begin”, “At last” and “Afterward”.

Example1: To use google drive, you will need to create a Gmail account first. Second, after you sign up for an Gmail account, you can then sign in Google account using your Gmail address. Lastly, you can choose google drive from the menu icon at the upper right corner.

Category#6: Illustration

To demonstrate ideas with example or more clarification, we can transition words such as “Namely”, “Such as”, “For example”, “For instance”, “In other words”, “As an example”, “Demonstrate that…”, “To demonstrate”, “To illustrate”, “To show”, “To present”, “According to”, “This means…”, “As revealed by…”

Example1: There are four different types of writing namely, expository writing, persuasive writing, descriptive writing and narrative writing.
Example2: Teachers should not apply the same teaching methods with every student because different students may learn different ways. For instance, some students can learn better by listening, while others learn better by vision.
Example3: According to BBC weather, hurricane is heading to our country soon.

Category#7: Conclusion

We usually finish our writing with a conclusion paragraph. Transition words great for conclusion are “To conclude”, “In the conclusion”, “To sum up”, “Briefly”, “Lastly”, “In a nutshell”, “In short” and “Overall”

Example1: In short, teachers need to develop different types teaching methods with different students in class.
Example2: To sum up, learning online is as effective as learning in campus due to the above-mentioned reasons.

Category#8: Opinion

Transition words for expressing opinion are “I think”, “I believe”, “I feel like”, “I assume that”, “From my point of view”, “In my view”, “From my experience”, “It seems to me that…”

Example1: From my experience, the effectiveness of learning online depends on how much effort students put and their learning environment.
Example: In seems to me that the article is useful and reliable enough for an academic purpose as it provides enough reference.

Category#9: Persuasion

Transition words for persuasion are ” Clearly”, “Definitely”, “Surely”, “Certainly”, “Undoubtedly”, “Expectedly”, “Unquestionably”, “Obviously”

Example1: Clearly, we can use different transition words in one more paragraph.
Example2: Transition words are, unquestionably, useful for students to improve their writing quality.