Transitions, Inversions, Variation

Fri, Nov 10

Every sentence is a transition from what came before to whatever comes next. Thus as writers we must always consider where our reader has been and where they are going, and use our language both to orient them along their journey, and also hold their attention. A sudden shift -- and the reader is awake again.

One way writers create “sentence perspective” is with their opening words, which look both forward and backward. Perhaps around 60% of English sentences being with the subject: “Donna went home.” About 25% of our sentences begin with an adverbial modifier, such as “After he ate, he left the house,” or “When Uncle Ruskin came to visit he always brought his coffin.” Less frequent but nonetheless useful openers are verbal groups, conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, and inversions.

Some Useful Transitions

• ADDITION also, and, besides, furthermore, in addition, indeed, in fact, moreover, so too
• EXAMPLE after all, as an illustration, for example, for instance, specifically, to take a case in point
• ELABORATION actually, by extension, in short, that is, in other words, to put it another way, to put it bluntly, to put it succinctly, ultimately
• COMPARISON along the same lines, in the same way, likewise, similarly
• CONTRAST although, but, by contrast, conversely, despite the fact that, even though, however, in contrast, nevertheless, nonetheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, regardless, whereas, while yet
• CAUSE AND EFFECT accordingly, as a result, consequently, hence, since, so, then, therefore, thus
• CONCESSION admittedly, although, it is true, granted, naturally, of course, to be sure
• CONCLUSION as a result, consequently, hence, in conclusion, in short, in sum, therefore, thus, to sum up, to summarize

Goals

• Identify and understand dangling modifiers
• Use sentence openers and inversions to vary sentence flow
• Understand and practice transitions