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One of the most common weaknesses I see in day-to-day writing is poor logical flow from one idea or point to the next. This usually takes the form of a bunch of seemingly unrelated phrases thrown together with little or no sense of sequence, continuity, or relativity.
Although the overall subject may be obvious, the words to describe it seem to be scattered on the page like an almost random set of unconnected thoughts. On a regular basis, I see letters and reports in which each phrase seems to be independent of the one before and the one after, when in reality there is an actual sequential and/or logical flow.
Consider the following three sentence example:
1. The entire building had to be searched.
2. They started the search on the third floor.
3. It took three hours to complete the search.
Notice that the three separate statements are all valid sentences. They convey the bare essential facts of the situation, but nothing more. In fact, they raise almost more questions than they answer. For example:
- Was it a serious incident? - Had it ever happened before? - Why did they start on the third floor? - What about the first two floors? - Is three hours a long time for that? - How long does it usually take?
These are all logical (and obvious) questions that the average person might ask when reading a paragraph made up of the three sentences above.
Now, let's transform these three statements, using transition phrases, as follows:
UNLIKE the previous minor incident, this time the entire building had to be searched. BECAUSE the fire was still smoking on the first two floors, they started on the third, working upwards, covering the first two last. CONSEQUENTLY, it took them a full three hours before they finally completed the typical two-hour job.
Notice the use of the transition words: UNLIKE, BECAUSE, and CONSEQUENTLY. Using these three words has allowed us to easily connect the three independent sentences and give them a sense of chronological order and logical flow. They also allow us to answer ALL of the obvious questions, either with the transition word itself, or by adding a couple more words. In short, transition words/phrases have turned three dry independent phrases into a little story that makes sense to the reader.
These types of words/phrases are ideal for allowing one to easily connect thoughts, and create logical sequences between sentences and paragraphs. They are usually inserted at the beginning of a sentence and normally refer directly back to the previous sentence and/or paragraph without repeating the specific subject.
The following paragraphs list some of the more common transition words and phrases that will help make your text more understandable and interesting to the reader. For each one, I have included a typical example of how the word/phrase might be used in a typical sentence. Note that I have capitalized the transition words/phrases for emphasis and easy identification.
