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Transition Statements Examples

This document provides examples of effective speech transitions and advice on how to use them properly. It lists various types of transitions such as those between similar ideas, contrasting ideas, and numbered points. Examples are given for transitions when introducing a quotation, concluding a speech, passing to another speaker, and returning to an earlier point. The document warns against three faulty transitions: miscounting points, using incompatible transitions, and tangential transitions that divert from the topic.

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Lalit Kumar Thakwani
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139 views2 pages

Transition Statements Examples

This document provides examples of effective speech transitions and advice on how to use them properly. It lists various types of transitions such as those between similar ideas, contrasting ideas, and numbered points. Examples are given for transitions when introducing a quotation, concluding a speech, passing to another speaker, and returning to an earlier point. The document warns against three faulty transitions: miscounting points, using incompatible transitions, and tangential transitions that divert from the topic.

Uploaded by

Lalit Kumar Thakwani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EXCEL COMMUNICATION CENTER

Creating Effective Transition Statements


WHAT ARE SPEECH TRANSITIONS?
Speech transitions are words and phrases that help your argument flow smoothly.
EXAMPLES OF SPEECH TRANSITIONS
Transition between Similar Ideas or Points: Transition to a Supporting Quotation:
• Likewise … • X said: …
• Similarly … • In 1968, X said: …
• This is just like … • This idea was expressed clearly by X who said …
• In a similar way … Transition from Introduction into Speech Body:
Transition between Contrasting Ideas or Points: • Let’s begin …
• However … • To get started, let’s examine …
• Conversely … • Let’s get started by talking about …
• On the contrary … Transition from Speech Body into Conclusion:
• On the other hand … • For a short speech, you might conclude with a
• Yet, we cannot ignore … single statement:
• If we examine the opposite side, we see … • In short …
Transition to elaborate upon an idea: • In summary …
• Also … • In conclusion …
• Moreover … In a longer presentation, your conclusion might
• In addition … include a review of the key points:
• Furthermore … • Let’s summarize the key lessons …
• In other words … • Let’s recap what we’ve covered today …
Transition to Numbered Ideas or Points (or Process Transition to Another Speaker:
Steps): In a team presentation, it is necessary to transfer
• First … (The first step is…) control between speakers.
• Second … (The second step is…) The abrupt way to do this is to simply have one
• Third … (The third step is…) person stop talking, and then have the other person
• Last … (The last step is…) start talking. It is much smoother, however, to pass
Transition to show Cause-Effect Relationship: the verbal baton to the next speaker (X):
• Therefore … • To talk about our next topic, we have X …
• As a result … • I’ll pass the microphone to X who will describe
• Consequently … …
• For that reason … • To guide us through a demonstration of this, we
Transition to a Supporting Example: have X …
• For instance … Transition Back to an Earlier Point:
There are many occasions when you need to jump
• For example …
back to an earlier idea to add additional information
• To illustrate this …
(e.g., after a break, following an exercise, or returning
Transition to a Supporting Demonstration:
from an unplanned interruption)
• Now that we’ve covered the theory, let’s see it
• Let’s return …
in action …
• Let’s revisit …
• To reinforce what we’ve learned, let’s see a
• Let’s go back to …
demonstration …
• We introduced X earlier; let’s explore that
• I’ve prepared a demonstration to show how
further now.
this works.

Revised/Updated: August 2017 Approved by: ENA


Adapted from: Allgood, E., & Ebersole, T. (Eds.). (2017). COMM 2100 public speaking: A workbook for student success.
Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press.
AVOID FAULTY TRANSITIONS

Beware of these three types of faulty transitions:

1. Miscount Transition

This faulty transition occurs when a speaker begins counting main points, but
does not do so consistently. (e.g., First, Second, Next, Next, Third, Third…) Faulty
counting can also occur when a speaker tries to number both the main points
and the sub-points and gets mixed up.

2. Incompatible Transition

This faulty transition occurs when a speaker uses a transition word or phrase
that does not match the relationship. (e.g., they start with the word “however”,
but they follow it with an example)

3. Tangential Transition

Transitional phrases like “That reminds me…”, or “As an aside…” are dangerous
because they often lead to an off-topic diversion which blurs the focus of the
speech and wastes time for you and your audience.

Dugan, A. (2013, August 26). Speech Transitions: magical words and phrases. Retrieved from
http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-transitions/

Revised/Updated: August 2017 Approved by: ENA


Adapted from: Allgood, E., & Ebersole, T. (Eds.). (2017). COMM 2100 public speaking: A workbook for student success.
Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press.

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