Being Cohesive: What Are Transitions?
In this section, you're going to look at the next feature of cohesive paragraphs: transitions.
Do you know what transitions do?
In business writing, transitions
l link sentences together and
l show the relationships between sentences.
l
What does this mean?
Read the following paragraph, which has NO transitions. What do you think of this paragraph?
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The customer had proper identification. Her records showed that her account was overdrawn. She didn't have a pre-arranged overdraft facility. The counter service officer couldn't make the withdrawal for her. |
This is NOT an effective paragraph.
The ideas don't flow smoothly. The writer "jumps" from one idea to another. The ideas are not linked together. It's difficult to guess what's coming next.
Being Cohesive: Different Types Of Transitions
Look at the paragraph again. This time, you will see that three types of transitions are used.
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The customer had proper identification. However, her records showed that her account was overdrawn. In addition, she didn't have a pre-arranged overdraft facility. Therefore, the counter service officer couldn't make the withdrawal for her. |
The use of However at the beginning of the second sentence signals a change in direction. It suggests a comparison / contrast is about to follow. If a customer has the proper identification, you would expect everything to be okay. But, in this case, everything is not okay and the word However tells you this.
In addition tells you of the other problem the writer wants to mention (ie, no overdraft facility). It highlights the fact that there are two problems: the customer's account is overdrawn and the customer has no overdraft facility. The transition also shows you that these two problems are of equal importance.
Therefore draws your attention to the cause and effect relationship between the ideas contained in this paragraph. The two problems mentioned above were the cause. The final effect was that the counter service officer was unable to make the withdrawal for the customer.
Can you see how transitions make a paragraph cohesive? Without them your reader may get confused or misunderstand what you're trying to say.
Being Cohesive: 5 Types of Transitions
In the table below, five types of transitions are listed with some examples.
|
When you want to |
you can use |
Transition category |
|
Give specific examples |
For example, Such as, To illustrate, Namely |
Example |
|
Show the sequence of actions or events, giving instructions |
First, Then, Finally, Earlier |
Sequence |
|
Introduce additional information of equal importance |
In addition, Also, Moreover, Furthermore, Similarly, Likewise
|
Equal weight
|
|
Show similarities or differences |
However, Yet, On the other hand, But |
Comparison/Contrast
|
|
Show results of actions
|
Therefore, As a result, So, Consequently |
Cause-effect
|
In the previous screen, you saw how to use three types of transitions:
1) comparison / contrast
2) equal weight
3) cause-effect
Look at the following sentence to see how the other two categories of transitions are used.
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Then you can write an opening sentence, such as, "Thank you for your letter of 14 February 2000," ... |
