Transition Words

The way for writers to allow readers recognize connections between the ideas in their stories, is the use of transition words.

Transition words help you to present the information in your story in an effective manner, like signaling connection between a main idea and supporting ideas. Besides this, transition word also works to show contrasts and comparisons, or to identify concepts that are related.

Transition words can be used within and between paragraphs, but always be careful not to use too many of them, as it can make your story harder to read.

Some sentences in a story can stand alone without any transitions, but other sentences might need transitions to make it clear to your reader how the sentences relate or connect. Paragraph transitions also help to connect ideas in your story, and also to maintain the logical flow.

Simply said, transition words help to fill the gap between your ideas.

(Please note that many of the words in the tables below are more suitable for factual, technical and business writing, than for fictional writing, but it gives you an idea of the different words you can use.)

Kinds of transition words are:

• To compare and/or contrast;
• To show addition;
• To show time and sequence;
• To conclude or summarize;
• To elaborate;
• To show cause and effect,

To compare and/or contrast

after all	however	otherwise
although	in contrast	simultaneously
although this is true	in spite of	still
at the same time	in the meantime	to the contrary
but	meanwhile	when in fact
conversely	nevertheless	whereas
even so	nonetheless	while
even though	notwithstanding	while this is true
for all that	on the other hand	yet

To show addition

actually	besides	lastly
additionally	equally important	let alone
again	finally	moreover
also	further	next
alternatively	furthermore	nor
and	in addition	not to mention
and then	in all honesty	too
as a matter of fact	indeed	to say nothing of
as well as	in fact	what’s more

To show time and sequence

after a few hours	formerly	presently
afterwards	in the meantime	previously
and then	in the past	since
at last	later	soon
at length	next	then
finally	now	thereafter
first, second, third, etc.	of late	while

To conclude or summarize

all in all	given these points	in summation
as noted above	in brief	in the end
eventually	in conclusion	on the whole
finally	in short	to conclude

To elaborate

additionally	in addition	likewise
as an illustration	incidentally	namely
as well as	including	notably
being that	indeed	specifically
equally important	in fact	such as
for example	in other words	to demonstrate
for instance	in particular	to illustrate

To show cause and effect

accordingly	for	in that case
as a result	forthwith	therefore
because	hence	thereupon
consequently	in effect	thus

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