ShmoopTube

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Sometimes, people get lost.

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Like that one time we were hiking in the woods and got super lost for ages. By the time we [Footage of someone running through woodland]

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were finally found, we were naked, eating bark, and leading a small colony of squirrels [Naked man in front of a colony of squirrels]

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to greatness.

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…It was a strange forty minutes.

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But seriously, who made these trees look so similar, anyway? A few bright pink ones with

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directional arrows wouldn't hurt… [Pink trees appear in a forest]

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Anyway, people don't just get lost outside: they can get lost in a piece of writing, too. [Man falling into a book]

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So how can we avoid that problem? Simple. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs throughout your [Boy studying with breadcrumbs all over his work]

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paper.

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…Or just use some transition words.

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Transition words are words that signal the relationship between different parts of a

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text, and help the reader make sense of how the different bits relate to each other.

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We don't want the folks reading our work to feel like they're caught in an idea tornado. [Man looking confused as words fly around]

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Though on the bright side, there are probably less cows inside of a idea tornado… [Man stuck in a tornado]

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There are different transition words for different tasks. Some transition words show the order,

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or sequence of thoughts.

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These are words like "first," "second," "next," "finally," "previously," and "subsequently."

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So let's say we wanted to tell someone how to make mud. Sure, we could say, "dirt, water, [Man writing on a blackboard]

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mix."

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Or, we could use some transition words to liven things up. [Woman dancing in a club]

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Like…"first, grab some dirt. Next, get a pail of water. Finally, mix them together."

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See? That sentence sparkles. [Sparkle appears on the writing]

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The mud, not so much. We also use transition words to move between

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similar thoughts or ideas.

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These are words like "also," "similarly," "additionally," and "furthermore," which help

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similar ideas get super cuddly.

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Ugh…so obnoxious. [White rabbit]

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So if we happened to have two sentences lying around that both touched on facts about nocturnal

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animals…

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…we could smoosh them even closer together with a transition word like "additionally."

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Oh, but fair warning: these transition words won't help you see nocturnal animals. For [Spotlight on an owl]

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that, we recommend a flashlight. There are also transition words that help

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us move between contrasting thoughts or ideas.

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Words like… "but," "however," "whereas," "in contrast," and "while," which all basically

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say: "Hey, these things? These things are different." [An ugly blob and an otter]

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So if you find yourself writing about two people who are very different, say….someone

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loves birds, and someone who's terrified of 'em… [Woman holding a bird on her hand and a man looking scared]

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…why not mark that difference with a transition word?

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And why not, oh, we dunno….send them bird watching?

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…What? We like watching people sob in the fetal position. [Man curled up terrified on the floor as a bird flies around]

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