Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You ByWP Engine

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

Rainmaker.FM

The Digital Commerce and Content Marketing Podcast Network

  • Home
  • Shows
  • Hosts
  • About
  • Home
  • Shows
  • Hosts
  • About
  • Member Area
  • Log In
Menu
  • Log In
  • Free Training
7-Figure Small with Brian Clark
Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing
Get More Clients With Smarter Email Marketing
Hack the Entrepreneur
Members Only
Rainmaker.FM Elsewhere
Site Success: Tips for Building Better WordPress Websites
StudioPress FM
Technology Translated
The Digital Entrepreneur
The Missing Link
The Showrunner
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
Youpreneur with Chris Ducker
Zero to Book
Rough Draft
hosted by Demian Farnworth

031 226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know

  • Social:
  • Link:
  • Embed:
https://rainmaker.fm/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/rough-031.mp3
Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes
Previous Episode:030 The Great Paragraph Hoax More Episodes Next Episode:032 Use Internal Cliffhangers So People Never Stop Reading

All Episodes:

October 21, 2015

102 The Beautiful Message Joseph Campbell Was Really Trying to Tell Us

October 8, 2015

101 The Greatest Storytelling Guide This Side of Saturn

September 1, 2015

100 The Episode That Explains the Future of Rough Draft

August 31, 2015

099 A Better Way to Find Big Ideas (That Make You Stand Out)

August 27, 2015

098 How to Grab Great Ideas (Without Using Your Hands)

August 26, 2015

097 The Problem with the ‘Hell-For-Leather’ Writing Movement

August 25, 2015

096 Why These Famous Time-Management Techniques Are Ruining Your Productivity

August 24, 2015

095 Freaking Out Over the Thought of Writing a First Draft? Try Scaffolding

August 20, 2015

094 How to Avoid Obscurity by Misusing Language

August 19, 2015

093 A Creative Email Trick for Becoming a Plain Spoken Writer

August 18, 2015

092 Let This Stupid Machine Read Your Copy Out Loud

August 17, 2015

091 This Free App Will Help You Write Bold and Clear Copy

August 13, 2015

090 Four Writing Lessons I Learned from This Depressing Music Project

August 12, 2015

089 The Clear-Copy Rule of Writing for the Web

August 11, 2015

088 Three Ways Writers Must Adjust in a World Dominated by Social Media

August 10, 2015

087 How This Social Media Thing Kicked Web Writing Right in the Feels

August 6, 2015

086 An Elegant Story on Outsmarting Career Obsolescence

August 5, 2015

085 Raise the Stakes! 13 Writing Ideas That Really Work

August 4, 2015

084 The Two Things That Make a Dull Product Irresistible

August 3, 2015

083 Proof That Stories Can Increase the Value of Even ‘Worthless’ Items

July 30, 2015

082 Could Podcasting Make You a Better Writer?

July 29, 2015

081 When Do You Abandon the Editing Process?

July 28, 2015

080 Four Ways to Get Attention by Rocking the Boat

July 27, 2015

079 A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching Hell

July 23, 2015

078 Six Storytelling Lessons from a Famous Urban Legend

July 22, 2015

077 Vexed by Your Bankrupt Vocabulary? Listen to This

July 21, 2015

076 Why Writers Need to Develop a Sense of Humor

July 20, 2015

075 Listener Challenge: Could You Read 100 Books in a Year?

July 16, 2015

074 How to Get Massive Attention with a ‘High-Concept Pitch’

July 15, 2015

073 A Lesson in Swagger from a Wooden-Legged Civil War Soldier

July 14, 2015

072 Six Ways to Becoming a Completely Original Writer

July 13, 2015

071 The Oldest Writing Trick in The Book

July 9, 2015

070 Eight Things Every Writer Should Know about Landing Pages

July 8, 2015

069 The Fascinating Truth about Boring Topics

July 7, 2015

068 How to Craft an About Page That People Actually Read and Share

July 6, 2015

067 The Psychology Behind Winning Email Subject Lines

July 2, 2015

066 All Great Writing Boils Down to These Four Emotional Appeals

July 1, 2015

065 A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” Copy

June 30, 2015

064 A Mild Warning for All Headline Writers

June 29, 2015

063 How Every Creative Must Think about Marketing and Advertising

June 25, 2015

062 Do Millennials (Really) Hate Long Copy?

June 24, 2015

061 These 4 Sales Principles Can Improve Anyone’s Writing

June 23, 2015

060 How to Use the 5 Stages of Audience Awareness to Dominate Online

June 22, 2015

059 Why The Most Hated Headline Structures Work So Well

June 18, 2015

058 This is the Most Fun You’ll Ever Have “Explaining the Mechanism” …

June 17, 2015

057 The Doomsday Cult School of Specificity

June 16, 2015

056 How to Sweep Away Skepticism with a Dramatic Demonstration

June 15, 2015

055 Meet the Tragic Poster Boy for the Emotional Brain

June 11, 2015

054 A Straightforward Research Method for Finding a Potent Hook

June 10, 2015

053 What You Don’t Know about Your Product Can Kill Your Copy

June 9, 2015

052 Three New Ways to Write a Headline (and When to Use Each)

June 8, 2015

051 Want Copy That Actually Works? Start with Mass Desire

June 4, 2015

050 The Curious Secret to Building Trust and Credibility

June 3, 2015

049 My Second Most Favorite Copywriting Formula in the World!

June 2, 2015

048 How to Get Lazy People to Care about Your Ideas

June 1, 2015

047 My Favorite Copywriting Formula … Ever!

May 29, 2015

046 How to (Rapidly) Build an Audience with Content Syndication

May 28, 2015

045 Solve Your Online Proofreading Problems With This Simple Trick

May 27, 2015

044 The Profanity Princess on Finding Your Voice

May 26, 2015

043 The Oddest Story About Overcoming Obscurity You’ll Ever Hear

May 21, 2015

042 10 Odd Books That Will Improve Your Writing

May 20, 2015

041 How to Read a Book in 2 Hours

May 19, 2015

040 The Shocking Way to Master Any Book

May 18, 2015

039 Nine Copywriting Books for Web Writers

May 14, 2015

038 The 8 Rules of Ruthless Editing from David Mamet

May 13, 2015

037 Revealed: The Perfect Blog Post Length

May 12, 2015

036 The Aggressive Work Ethic of Highly Creative People

May 11, 2015

035 The 10 Rules of Rough Drafts

May 7, 2015

034 5 Ways to Create the Perfect Ending that Your Content Deserves

May 6, 2015

033 6 Simple Rules For Writing Effective Dialogue

May 5, 2015

032 Use Internal Cliffhangers So People Never Stop Reading

May 4, 2015

031 226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know

April 30, 2015

030 The Great Paragraph Hoax

April 29, 2015

029 5 Ways to Write a Seductive Sentence

April 28, 2015

028 How to Be Smart in a World of Dumb Verbs

April 27, 2015

027 How the Perfect Article Is Framed by White Space

April 23, 2015

026 The Best Articles Always Have This (and a Great Headline)

April 22, 2015

025 The Anatomy of a Hyperlink That Woos Readers

April 21, 2015

024 The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Bullet Points That Work

April 20, 2015

023 How to Create Exquisite Subheadlines

April 16, 2015

022 Four Safe Ways to Find Your Writing Voice (and One Dangerous One)

April 15, 2015

021 The Two Kinds of Knowledge Every Writer Needs

April 14, 2015

020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

April 13, 2015

019 How to Answer the Most Important Question About Becoming an Exceptional Writer

April 9, 2015

018 Four Things That Can Make Writers Famous

April 8, 2015

017 A Small Gift for Your Dark Days as an Obscure Writer

April 7, 2015

016 Steal This Episode

April 6, 2015

015 David Sedaris’ Guide to Writing Brilliant First Sentences

April 2, 2015

014 Six Proven Ways to Open an Article With a Bang

April 1, 2015

013 How I’ll Make You Read Every Single Line of This Article

March 31, 2015

012 The Ugly Truth About How People Read Online

March 30, 2015

011 The 3 Pillars of Great Web Writing

March 26, 2015

010 How to Use RSS to Write Better Headlines

March 25, 2015

009 How to Write Headlines that Get Results

March 24, 2015

008 Where Headlines Have Gone Horribly Wrong

March 23, 2015

007 A 12-Minute Crash Course on Link Building (Ugh)

March 19, 2015

006 An Idiot-Proof Guide to Writing Blog Posts That Google Loves

March 18, 2015

005 Keywords: Your Love Affair With the Language Your Audience Uses

March 17, 2015

004 How Search Engines Work, Part Two

March 16, 2015

003 How Search Engines Work, Part One

March 3, 2015

002 The Unbreakable Law of the Web

March 2, 2015

001 Two Challenges All Digital Content Must Conquer

May 4, 2015

031 226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know

Good writing uses transitional words and phrases to help the reader smoothly work through what you wrote. It’s strange how simple, but powerful, these words can be.

Basically, these words and phrases are used to connect one idea to the next.

Look at the word “Consequently” for example. Consequently means “as a result.” So when X happens, as a result, or “consequently,” Y happens.

So, “Demian Farnworth, the most unlucky mime in the world, performed the one routine you should never perform in a prison. Consequently, he was thrown out a window.”

If you take the word “consequently” out of that paragraph, you get, “Demian Farnworth, the most unlucky mime in the world, performed the one routine you should never perform in a prison. He was thrown out a window.”

While it’s possible to live without the second version of the paragraph, the transitional word “consequently” makes it unmistakably clear the relationship between the two ideas.

And that’s what we are after: unmistakably clear, concise, and compelling copy.

In this 8-minute episode you’ll discover:

  • The four types of transitions — and when you should use each
  • The one error about writing clearly even educated people fall for
  • Demian’s embarrassing admission about his struggles with transitions
  • The one book that “turned on the light” for him about writing clearly
  • A simple print out of 226 transitions

Listen to Rough Draft below ...

031 226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should KnowDemian Farnworth
  • Social:
  • Link:
  • Embed:
https://rainmaker.fm/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/rough-031.mp3
Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes

The Show Notes

  • Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
  • Transition Words from Michigan State University
  • Transitional Words & Phrases from Study Guides and Strategies
  • Transitions Print Out
Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You ByWP Engine

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

The Transcript

226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know

Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, a digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com.

Demian Farnworth: Howdy friend, this is Rough Draft, your daily dose of essential web writing advice. I am Demian Farnworth, your host, your muse, your digital recluse, and the Chief Content Writer for Copyblogger Media.

And thank you for spending the next few minutes of your life with me.

So this is episode 31. And we are calling this episode “226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know.”

Now, I’m NOT going to tell you all 226 words you should know in this podcast … that alone would take me ten minutes. I will tell you a few of those transitional words and phrases during the course of this episode … but

I’ve got a little present for you …

But before I share the present with you, let’s talk about the nature of transitional words and phrases.

The Four Types of Transitions — and When You Should Use Each

See, good writing uses transitional words and phrases to help the reader to work through what you wrote smoothly.

Basically, these words and phrases are used to connect one idea to the next. The writer helps the reader travel from one significant idea to the next with transitional words and phrases. But these words and phrases also demonstrate the relationship between one paragraph, one section, one idea.

Take the transitional word “Consequently” for example. Consequently means “as a result.” So when X happens, as a result, or “consequently,” Y happens.

For example, take this sentence: “Demian Farnworth, the most unlucky mime in the world, performed the one routine you should never perform in a prison. Consequently, he was thrown out a window.”

Take “consequently” out of that paragraph and you get, “Demian Farnworth, the most unlucky mime in the world, performed the one routine you should never perform in a prison. He was thrown out a window.”

Why it’s possible to live with that second version of the paragraph, the transitional word “consequently” makes it unmistakably clear the relationship between the two sentences. And that’s what we are after: clear, concise, and compelling copy.

But different transitions do different things …

Transitional words or phrases can be additive, meaning they add, clarify, or introduce something. “Indeed,” “such as,” and “I mean.”

They can also be adversative. In other words, these words are setting up a conflict or an unequal relationship. They are showing a difference between two ideas. Think “but,” “However,” and “in any case.”

Then you have causal transitions (not casual): where you have purpose being shown, effect and cause between ideas being shown, reason and results flowing from ideas. “For the simple reason,” “because,” and “as a result.”

Finally, you have sequential transitions, these are numerical or digressive or continue a string of ideas. Think “In the first place,” “Subsequently,” and “to change the topic.”

The One Error About Writing Clearly Even Educated People Fall For

What this is all about goes back to something the author, literary critic, and legal scholar Stanley Fish said about writing clearly:

…there is only one error to worry about: the error of being illogical, and only one rule to follow: make sure that every component of your sentences is related to the other components in a way that is clear and unambiguous.

Transitional words and phrases helps you build those relationships. Gives you that logical clarity.

The other day I had an interesting conversation with a professor friend. We’d gotten on the topic of writing and the level of writing he was seeing in colleges and universities.

And he exclaimed, and he was very exercised when he was talking, so it clearly impacted him, but he said “You would be amazed at the lack of transitions in the papers I get. These are bright kids with bright ideas but they have no clue how to connect the ideas. So their papers are sloppy and awful.”

I mean think about that. What kept these students from becoming good writers was their inability to connect ideas coherently, orderly. In a meaningful way.

That’s all.

Demian’s Embarrassing Admission About His Struggles With Transitions

I’ve got to confess, though, I’ve been in their shoes. I was that student at one time. Handing in papers that amounted to sound ideas scattered in jarring positions across the page. And of course as an English Lit major I thought I was the genius, and my professors the dorks for missing that genius …

The One Book that “Turned On the Light” For Hime About Writing Clearly

But it wasn’t until I was out of school and read Joe Sugarman’s book Advertising Secrets of the Written Word that I understood that my copy needed to slide smoothly from one idea to the next.

And that lesson came home when I learned a few transitional words like “Therefore,” “however,” “as a result,” and “by the way.”

Yes, I went to public school. I graduated from college. But somehow I’d missed these all important words.

Once I started using these words to move smoothly from one idea to the next, from one sentence to the next, my articles, and emails and sales letters started taking on a quality not unlike water: fluid. seamless. One.

Then I started building that vocabulary of transitional words. Add a few more here and there. Words like “indeed” and phrases like “That is to say.”

It took me a long time. I mean, I picked up these words slowly. Perhaps that was the proper way to do it. This allowed me to master those specific words before I was introduced to another set.

Whether that’s the appropriate way we should approach the study of transitions, I don’t know.

A Simple Print Out of 226 Transitions

What I do know, is that I wish I had a list of all the transitional words and phrases available. I don’t know you, you know, like in one, handsome downloadable PDF.

Sort of like the one we designed for you. Which you can download and print … just go to the show notes. It will be there waiting for you.

With 226 transitional words and phrases to help you transition smoothly between your ideas, paragraphs, and sentences.

Go download it when you get a chance.

And let me end by saying this, good copy uses transitional words, but it also uses psychological connectors to persuade and keep the reader engaged.

And that’s exactly what we will talk about in the next episode of Rough Draft.
Until then, take care.

Never Miss New Shows and Episodes on Rainmaker.FM

Get the best of the Rainmaker.FM network in a single weekly email, along with two weeks
of free training that will change the way you think about online marketing ...

Free Registration

You might also like...

Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing

Here’s How to Answer the Most Important Question in Life (and Make a Living from It)

Listen to episode
The Missing Link

Why LinkedIn is an Essential Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

Listen to episode
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing

Why The Phrase ‘Leaders Are Readers’ Should Die

Listen to episode
The Mainframe

The Critical Importance of Customer Onboarding

Listen to episode
The Showrunner

No. 056 How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews

Listen to episode
Editor-in-Chief

A Productive, 3-Step Path to Follow When an Editor Rejects Your Writing

Listen to episode

Comments

  1. Terrence says

    October 12, 2015 at 2:08 PM

    Hey Demian,
    True, the right transitional word does make our writing more clear and concise. As a result, I’ve got to work on incorporating transitional words in my writing.

    Looks like I just did: “As a result.”

    Thanks for this great episode.

    Terrence

    Reply
  2. Maury Brooks says

    August 16, 2016 at 11:08 PM

    Perfect timing to discover this talk.

    Looking forward to putting it to the test as I fly through the creation of a new web site I am bring to the light of computer screen readers across the world.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You ByWP Engine

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

Copyright © 2023 Rainmaker Digital, LLC. Powered by the Rainmaker Platform.

Privacy Policy  ·  Refund Policy  ·  Cookie Policy  ·  Terms of Service  ·  Contact