Transition Words - Definition, Uses and Examples

Transition words play a significant role in English communication. They amalgamate two sentences and provide a coherent structure to the text. Transition words help individuals to convey information clearly and precisely by establishing logical connections between the sentences. Such words are usually used to link words, phrases or sentences. They help the reader or listener to understand the connection between the different ideas that the speaker or writer is trying to convey, thus maintaining the flow of the text.

Transition Words – Meaning, Definition and Uses
Commonly Used Transition Words and Phrases in the English Language
Frequently Asked Questions on Transition Words in the English Language

Transition Words – Meaning, Definition and Uses

Transition words, as the name suggests, are words that help a writer or speaker to transition smoothly from one thought or idea to another. Writing or speaking plain sentences one after the other might not make complete sense. There definitely has to be a connection, right? You cannot just put sentences together randomly. This is what transition words will help you with.

A transition, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is defined as “a link between ideas or sections in a work of literature or music”, so a word that is used as a link between different ideas or sections of thoughts and to indicate a continuation of a thought or an idea previously discussed. The Collins Dictionary defines the idea of transition as “a word, phrase, sentence, or group of sentences that relates a preceding topic to a succeeding one or that smoothly connects parts of a speech or piece of writing.”

The use or function of a transition word is, as the dictionaries define, the process of transition. They can be used to relate and provide a link between phrases, sentences and paragraphs throughout the writing or speech. Knowing the right transition words can help you a lot more than you think. It will help you structure your thoughts and ideas and make them clear and sensible. So, what are you waiting for? Check out the most commonly used transition words and phrases given below and use them to make your ideas meaningful and coherent.

Commonly Used Transition Words and Phrases in the English Language

Transition words and phrases provide a natural flow to the text by setting a strong link between two or more ideas. The usage of such words reduces the complexity of expressions and helps individuals to slide through the texts without facing many challenges. The list of commonly used transition words and phrases used in the English language will help you expand your vocabulary as well. The following list is categorised on the basis of the logical relationships that the writer or speaker wishes to establish between two or more sentences while presenting an idea.

Transition Words/Phrases Connecting Similar Thoughts

Transition words and phrases that are used to connect similar sentences are given below.

Also	In the same fashion	Just as
So	Similarly	Too
In like manner	Likewise	Like

Transition Words/Phrases Connecting Contrasting Thoughts/Alternatives

Transition words and phrases that are used to connect contrasting sentences or point out alternatives are given below.

But	Still	After all
However	Unlike	Yet
In spite of	While	Although this may be true
On the one hand	Different from	Regardless
On the other hand	Of course …, but	Despite
Nevertheless	Or	At the same time
Nonetheless	Albeit	Be that as it may
Notwithstanding	Then again	Rather
In contrast	Besides	Above all
On the contrary	In reality	Even though
Instead	As much as	Whereas
Conversely	Although	Otherwise

Transition Words/Phrases Connecting Sequential Sentences

Transition words that are used to connect sentences sequentially are given below.

First	Second	Third
Next	Then	Finally

Transition Words/Phrases Connecting Sentences by Defining, Limiting and Restricting Time

Transition words and phrases that are used to connect sentences by defining, limiting, and restricting time are given below.

After	To begin with	Now
Afterward	Recently	After
At last	In due time	Simultaneously
Before	As soon as	Subsequently
Currently	Then	After
During	As long as	At the present time
Earlier	In The Meantime	From time to time
Immediately	Sooner or later	Then
Later	At this instant	At the same time
Meanwhile	Up to the present time	Until
Quickly	In a moment	Finally
Later	Without delay	Last
Till	In the first place	Since
Before	All of a sudden	Hence
When	Suddenly	Once
Occasionally	Formerly	Since
Shortly	About	Whenever
Henceforth	Further	Straightaway
Eventually	During	Now that
Forthwith	By the time	Meanwhile
Whenever	Until now	In time
Instantly	Presently	Prior to

Transition Words/Phrases Representing Results or Consequences

Transition words and phrases that are used for connecting sentences by expressing the results or consequences of the action mentioned in the preceding sentences are given below.

As a result	Under those circumstances	In effect
In that case	For this reason	So
For	Because the	Thus
Then	Consequently	Hence
Therefore	Thereupon	Forthwith
Accordingly	Henceforth	In conclusion

Transition Words/Phrases Providing Emphasis, Showing Support and Illustrations

Transition words and phrases that are used to emphasise, support, and illustrate ideas in sentences are given below.

In other words	To put it differently	To be sure
As an illustration	Especially	In this case
To put it another way	Expressly	That is to say
By all means	Important to realise	Surely
The first thing to remember	Must be remembered	Most compelling evidence
Point often overlooked	Chiefly	To point out
On the negative side	Certainly	With this in mind
Including	Like	For one thing
Namely	On the positive side	For this reason
Indeed	Notably	With attention to
Markedly	Such as	Another key point
Explicitly	Specifically	In general
Particularly	In fact	To emphasise
In particular	In detail	For example
For instance	To demonstrate	To explain
To repeat	To clarify	Frequently
To enumerate	Surprisingly	Truly

Transition Words/Phrases Defining Places. Positions and Spaces

Transition words and phrases that are used to define the places, positions or spaces of objects mentioned in the preceding sentences are given below.

Above	Down	Amidst
Beyond	Here	Adjacent
Back	Below	Behind
In the middle	To the left/right	Nearby
On this side	In the distance	In the centre of
In the foreground	In front	In front of
Adjacent to	Opposite to	Here and there
There	In the background	Across
From	Wherever	Next
Above	Before	Over
Up	Among	Below
Beyond	Nearby	Under
Around	There	Where
Alongside	Amid	Between
Beneath	Beside	Near

Transition Words/Phrases to Provide Additional Information and Express Agreement

Transition words and phrases that are used to provide additional information and express agreement with preceding sentences are given below.

In the first place	In addition	Not only … but also
In like manner	Not to mention	As a matter of fact
In the light of	And	Moreover
Equally important	Equally	By the same token
To	Again	Coupled with
Then	Like	To say nothing of
Uniquely	Similarly	Likewise
Too	Of course	As
Together with	Correspondingly	As well as
Comparatively	Additionally	Also
Furthermore	To add to	Identically

Transition Words/Phrases to Conclude Your Thoughts and Ideas

Transition words and phrases that are used to conclude sentences are given below.

Finally	In brief, Briefly	In the end
In conclusion	In a word	Thus
On the whole	To conclude	In sum
To summarise	To sum up	As can be seen
In summary	In the long run	In short
All things considered	On balance	As shown above
Given these points	In either case	As has been noted
For the most part	Ultimately	After all
In fact	In essence	In any event
Altogether	Ordinarily	Obviously
Usually	Eventually	Overall
On the whole	By and large	Generally speaking
All in all	In the final analysis	Definitely

Frequently Asked Questions on Transition Words in the English Language

What are transition words, and why are they important in the English language?

Transition words are words that help a writer or speaker to transition smoothly from one thought or idea to another. They amalgamate two sentences and provide a coherent structure to the text. Transition words help individuals to convey information clearly and precisely by establishing logical connections between the various sentences. They help the reader or listener to continue with the idea that the speaker or writer is trying to convey.

List some transition phrases in the English language.

In the same fashion / way, in like manner, on the other hand, at the same time, on the contrary, in the meantime, the first thing to remember, from time to time, all of a sudden, under those circumstances, must be remembered, at the present time, in a moment, by all means, important to realise, another key point, most compelling evidence, point often overlooked, to point out, on the positive side, in the middle, to the left/right, in front of, on this side, in the distance, here and there, in the foreground, in the background, in the centre of, in the final analysis, all things considered, as shown above, etc.

List 10 transition words in the English language.

Regardless
Prior to
After all
However
On the other hand
Including
Eventually
Meanwhile
Furthermore
Instead

ENGLISH Related Links
Kinds Of Noun With Example

ENGLISH Related Links

Kinds Of Noun With Example