Transitional Elements
A transition is not only a word
- Transitional elements are words or other elements — phrases, clauses, sentences or paragraphs — that assist in creating coherence between sentences and paragraphs by showing relationships between ideas.
- The CED's list runs from a single word all the way up to a whole paragraph.
- So a transition can be as large as you need it to be.
Select all the forms a transitional element can take.
The CED's list runs from a single word up to a whole paragraph.
Size the transition to the distance
- Two closely related sentences need a word.
- Two paragraphs making different moves need a sentence that names the relationship.
- A genuine change of direction in the argument may need a short paragraph of its own.
The purpose of a transitional element is...
A connective that could sit anywhere is not doing that.
Show the relationship, do not just mark a seam
- The CED's purpose clause is by showing relationships between ideas.
- Furthermore marks a seam without saying what the relationship is.
- Because the praise is confined to the past, the present-tense lines must do something else shows it.
Size the transition to the ____ travelled between the two ideas.
A word for close sentences; a sentence for a real change of direction.
"Furthermore" marks a seam without showing a relationship. The CED's definition makes showing the relationship the whole purpose of a transitional element — so a connective that could sit between any two paragraphs is doing nothing the paragraph break was not already doing.
Does this transition show a relationship?
Sort each by whether it names the move between ideas.
A transition that names no relationship should be kept for smoothness.
Deleting it costs nothing — the paragraph break was already doing its job.
Cutting a bad transition improves the essay
- A transition that does not name a relationship is doing nothing that a paragraph break was not already doing.
- Deleting it costs nothing and saves a reader's attention.
- Replace it with a clause that names the move, or delete it — never keep it as decoration.
Put the transition pass in order.
Writing the relationship first is what exposes an empty connective.
A transition pass
- At each paragraph seam, write in plain words what the relationship is.
- If your transition already says that, keep it. If it does not, replace it with what you wrote.
- Then check the size: a word, a clause, a sentence — matched to the distance travelled.
Seam version: Furthermore, the poem uses the present tense. Relationship version: Because the praise is confined to the past, the poem's few present-tense lines have only absence left to describe. The second is a clause-sized transition that also advances the argument.
Transitional elements can be words, phrases, clauses, sentences or paragraphs, and their purpose is showing relationships between ideas. Size the transition to the distance travelled, and replace any connective that marks a seam without naming a relationship — or delete it.