Transition Words

• Personal opinion: • To add more points on the

• To list advantages and same topic,
disadvantages: • To refer to other sources:
• To list points in a specific • To express purpose:
sequence: Sequence.
• To express cause and
effect
The Functions of Transition Words
• Transitions function to connect words, phrases, and
clauses.
1. Java and Linux are my favorite programs
2. Not only John likes computers but also he designs security
programs
3. Jane stopped writing so that she could listen to her friend.
Personal opinion:

• In my opinion, / In my view, / To my mind, / To my way

of thinking, / Personally I believe that / It strikes me
that / I feel very strongly that / I am inclined to believe
that / It seems to me that / As far as I am concerned, / I
think that the world would be a much better place without
nuclear power.
To list advantages and disadvantages:

• One advantage of / Another advantage of / One other

advantage of / A further advantage of / The main advantage
of / The greatest advantage of / The first advantage of
travelling to work by bicycle is that it is cheap; you don't have
to pay for fuel.
• One disadvantage of / Another disadvantage of / One other
disadvantage of / A further disadvantage of / The main
disadvantage of / The greatest disadvantage of / The first
disadvantage of travelling to work by bicycle is that you have
no protection from the rain.
To list points:

• Firstly, / First of all, / In the first place, / Secondly, / Thirdly,

/ Finally, / To start with, people who live in the country suffer
fewer health problems than those who live in the city.
To list points in a specific sequence
• BEGINNING - First, / To start with, / To begin with, / First
of all, wash the wound with cold water. CONTINUING -
Secondly, / After this/that, / Afterwards, / Then, / Next, wrap
a bandage around the cut. CONCLUDING - Finally, / Lastly, /
Last but not least, place the patient in a comfortable position
and allow them to rest.
To add more points on the same topic:

• What is more, / Furthermore, / Apart from this/that, / In

addition (to this), / Moreover, / Besides (this), / … not to
mention the fact that cars are extremely expensive to maintain.
• Cars are also extremely expensive to maintain. Cars are
extremely expensive to maintain too. Not only are cars harmful
to the environment, but they are extremely expensive to
maintain as well. Cars are both harmful to the environment and
expensive to maintain.
Transitions of Addition

• Common Words • Power Terms

1. And 1. Moreover
2. Also
2. Furthermore
3. Besides
3. In Addition
4. Too
5. First
6. Next
7. Last
To refer to other sources:
• With reference to / According to the article in yesterday's
Guardian, the unemployment rate is falling in Britain
To express cause and effect
To express cause: To express effect:

• The government decided not to • He passed his exams; thus, /

fund the scheme because
/owing to the fact that / due therefore, / so /
to the fact that / on the consequently, / as a result, /
grounds that / since / as it as a consequence, / for this
seemed likely to fail.
• In view of / Because of /
reason, he was able to go to
Owing to the scheme's high university.
chances of failure, the
government decided not to
fund it. The scheme is likely to
fail; for this reason the
government has decided not to
fund it.
To express purpose:

• The government decided not to introduce the death penalty for

avoiding killing innocent people.
• The government decided not to introduce the death penalty so
that innocent people would not die.
• The government decided not to introduce the death penalty so
as to / in order to avoid the deaths of innocent people
To emphasise what you say:
• Clearly, / Obviously, / Of course, / Needless to say, if
everyone were allowed to carry a gun, the crime rate would rise
considerably
Transitions of Contrast
 Simple Contrast  Complex Contrast
1. But 1. Although
2. Yet 2. At the same time
3. Still 3. Despite that
4. Even so 4. In contrast
5. Instead 5. In spite of
6. Otherwise 6. Nevertheless
7. Regardless 7. Notwithstanding
8. On the other hand
Transitions of Example
• Simple Example • Complex Example
1. For example 1. As an illustration
2. For instance 2. In other words
3. Indeed 3. In short
4. In fact 4. That is
5. Of course 5. To illustrate
Transitions of Summary
 Simple Ones  Complex Ones
1. Altogether 1. In brief
2. Finally 2. In conclusion
3. In other words
4. In particular
5. In short
6. In summary
7. On the whole
8. That is
Sequence Transitions

 Simple Ones  Complex Ones

1. Afterward 1. as long as
2. again 2. at last
3. before 3. at length
4. finally 4. at that time
5. last 5. in addition
6. lately 6. in the past
7. meanwhile 7. So far
8. Next 8. Until now
9. soon
10. then
DEAR CLASS,
THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION
 Choose ‘however’, ‘although’ or ‘despite
• 1. ___________ the rain, we still went to the park.
• 2. ___________ it was raining, we still went to the park.
• 3. It was raining. ___________, we still went to the park.
• 4. John bought the watch, ___________ the fact that it was expensive.
• 5. John bough the watch. ___________, it was expensive.
• 6. ___________ it was expensive, John bought the watch.
• 7. I finished the homework. It, ___________, wasn’t easy.
• 8. I finished the homework, ___________ it wasn’t easy.
• 9. ___________ the fact that it wasn’t easy, I finished the homework.
• 10. She went for a long walk, ___________ being cold.
• 11. ___________ she was cold, she went for a long walk.
• 12. She was cold. She went for a long walk, ___________.
• 13. The restaurant has a good reputation. ___________, the food was terrible.
• 14. ___________ the restaurant’s good reputation, the food was terrible.

• 15. ___________ the restaurant has a good reputation, the food was terrible .
as well as / during / because / either ….. or /neither …. Nor/ when / although
/unless /which / so that / then /so / despite / while / such as // however

• 1. __________________ Dad comes home from work he lies down on the sofa
__________________ he is tired.
• 2. Max had a headache yesterday, __________________ he didn’t come to basketball practice.
• 3. This is Toby’s new mountain bike, __________________ he got from his parents. He locks it up
every evening, __________________ nobody can take it.
• 4. __________________ Samantha was very tired, she watched TV until well after midnight.
• 5. First, cut out the pictures, __________________ glue them into your album.
• 6. I would like to learn Japanese, __________________ , I don’t know anyone who can teach me.
• 7. __________________ we were driving through the countryside we saw many nice villages.
• 8. The Hemingways are our neighbours __________________ our friends.
• 9. You can have __________________ tea __________________ coffee for breakfast.
• 10. __________________ being a well-known politician, John Smith can also play the piano very
well.
• 11. __________________ his injury, the boy desperately wanted to play for his team in the finals.
• 12. __________________ the hike up the mountains we saw a lot of deer.
• 13. __________________ you finish that essay you won’t get anything to eat.
• 14. __________________ my mother __________________ my father will be able to attend the
meeting.
• 15. He likes all kinds of sports, __________________ skiing, hockey and volleyball.