Authors provide clues to their organizational text structures through the use of special transition words and phrases. If you watch for them as you read, they can help you analyze the text more efficiently and effectively.
As you read, circle, underline, or highlight the transition words and phrases to see what they tell you. Use the list below to review the most common ones. First list some transition tags for each organizational pattern--then click the pattern to compare your list to ours.
| Organizational Pattern | Transition Words and Phrases |
| chronological order | first, second, then, next, later, soon, before, finally, earlier, afterwards, meanwhile, eventually, during, preceding, initially, now |
| descriptive text | behind, next to, above, below, outside, underneath, in the middle, above, between, outside, across, behind, over, along, onto, for example, for instance |
| comparative structure | similarly, likewise, both, in common, in contrast, unlike, as opposed to, compared with, different from, on the other hand, yet |
| cause and effect | since, because, thus, therefore, as a consequence, if . . . then, as a result, is caused by, finally, for this reason, effects of |
| problem and solution | one idea, the result will be, to improve, to reverse, to change, in order to |
Question
How do transition words and phrases help you analyze text?
They help you identify relationships among ideas.
