Transitional Words and Devices

Transitions for purpose

For this purpose In order to To that end
In order that So that To this end

Transitions for argument or proof

Accordingly Despite In addition Nevertheless Therefore
Admittedly Even so In any case Nonetheless Thus
Although Even though In conclusion Obviously To be sure
At this level Evidently Indeed Of course Truly
Because For In fact On the one Whatever the
Besides For the same In light of this hand… On case may be
But reason evidence the other hand What’s more
Certainly Furthermore In summary Regardless
Clearly, then Granted Meanwhile Since
Consequently However Moreover That is

Transitions for exemplification, illustration, addition or clarification

Additionally For instance More importantly Specifically The next part
Again Further Moreover Such as To add
Also Furthermore Most importantly Take the case of To clarify
And then Generally One characteristic… That is to say To demonstrate
As an illustration speaking Another characteristic The final type To explain
Besides i.e., (that is) One example… The first To illustrate
Besides that In addition another (second, third) To put it another
Case in point In another case example category way
Equally In general One kind… another The last group To rephrase it
important In other words kind The most What’s more
Finally In particular One way… Another important
First In the same way way component
Following this In this case On this occasion The most important
further In this situation Point in fact example… The
For example Like Pursuing this further next example

Transitions for emphasis or repetition

Absolutely Certainly In brief Obviously To repeat
Always Definitely Indeed Of course Undeniably
As I have noted Emphatically In fact Perennially Undoubtedly
As I have said Eternally Naturally Positively Unquestionably
As has been noted Extremely Never Surely Without a doubt
Assuredly Forever Nobody denies Surprisingly Without reservation
By all means In any case No doubt To be sure

Transitions for comparison and contrast

Although Despite Likewise hand…. On the Vis à vis
After all Even though Meanwhile other hand Where
As However Nevertheless Otherwise Whereas
Balanced against In comparison Nonetheless Similarly While
But In contrast Of course Still Yet
By comparison In the same way Once in a while Though
Compared to In spite of On the contrary Unlike
Conversely Like On the one Up against

Copyright© 2008, The CAC (formerly TWC), University of Victoria. This copy is solely for the use by a student,
1 staff, or faculty member. Any other use may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the
permission of the copyright owners.
 Transitional Words and Devices

Transitions for concession and exception

Admittedly Granted Nevertheless Once in a while Though
Although this However Nonetheless Perhaps To be sure
may be true In spite of Of course Regardless True
Certainly It is true that Of course, it is Sometimes Yet
Despite Maybe true that Still

Transitions for cause and effect

Accordingly Because For this reason The first important cause
Another cause Consequently On account of (second, third) / effect
Another effect For Since cause / effect Therefore
As a result For that reason So The most

Transitions for narration and process

After At first third Meanwhile (second, third)
After a few hours At last Firstly… Nearly step
(days, months, At the same time secondly… thirdly Never The next step
years) Before Formerly Next The last step
After that Before long Frequently Now Then
Afterwards By this time Immediately Once Thereafter
Almost Earlier In the first place Previously Two hours
Always Eventually In the meantime Soon (days, months,
As Finally Later Subsequently years) later
As soon as First… second… Later on The first When/While

Transitions for description

Above Beyond Inside On one side… On the The least important
Behind In Nearby other side The most important
Below In back of Next to Outside Under
Between In front of On Over

Transitional chains
Basically... similarly... as well In the first place... pursuing this further... finally
First(ly)... second(ly)... third(ly)... In the light of the... it is easy to see that
Generally... furthermore... finally In this case… in another case
In the first place... also... lastly To be sure... additionally... lastly
In the first place... just in the same way... finally

Transitions for conclusion or summarization

Accordingly Finally In final analysis In summary To summarize
As a result Hence In final Lastly To sum up
As I have said In brief consideration On the whole Therefore
As I have shown In conclusion In general Summing up Thus
Consequently Indeed In sum To conclude

Kirszner, L.G. & Mandell, S.R. (2006).Writing first: Practice in context (3rd ed.). Boston , MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
The OWL at Purdue (n.d.). Transitional devices. Retrieved from
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/transitions_and_transitional_devices/transitional_devices.html
Transition words (n.d.). Retrieved from from http://larae.net/write/transition.html
The Writing Centre at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (2019). Transitional words and phrases. Retrieved from
https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/style/transitions/

Copyright© 2008, The CAC (formerly TWC), University of Victoria. This copy is solely for the use by a student,
2 staff, or faculty member. Any other use may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the
permission of the copyright owners.