Conjunctions and Transitional Devices Will Enhance Your Writing Skills

    Have you ever tried to read an article that has no conjunctions or transitions? How do you feel if you read a paragraph that has full of basic sentences? Do you feel lost? It is just like going on a hike with no tour guide and lost in the middle of the mountain.

    In writing an article, you should guide your readers on what your articles were all about. You should tour your readers the flow of its ideas, and the purpose of its articles. To obtain these, writers must use conjunctions and transitional devices.

  Conjunctions are words that connect two phrases or clauses while Transitional Devices are words or phrases, that connect ideas between two sentences or paragraphs. They have their differences but are useful tools in enhancing your skills.

Conjunctions

  Conjunctions have three types namely; Coordinating Conjunctions that connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal grammatical values or rank (e.g. and, for, or, yet, but, nor, so), Correlative Conjunctions that join grammatically equal sentence elements (e.g. both-and, either-or, neither-nor, not-but, etc.), Subordinating Conjunctions that join unequal sentence elements (e.g. after, although, even though, if, etc.)

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Transitional Devices

    Transitional Devices, in my point of view, are the most important tool because it connects two paragraphs and sentences. It emphasizes the idea of the sentences or paragraphs, answers you of what is the true intention of the writers to say, and achieves its coherence and unity. However, you must carefully choose the correct transitional devices so that your readers do not misinterpret your writings because every term can be fitted into sentences but it has a different meaning. Listed below are some common transitional devices that can be used to cue readers:

• To Add: And, again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly
• To Compare: Whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison
• To Prove: Because, for, since, for the same reason, obviously, evidently, furthermore, moreover, besides
• To Show Exception: Yet, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, of course, once in a while
• To Show Time: Immediately, thereafter, soon, after a few hours, finally, then, later, previously, formerly
• To Repeat: In brief, as I have said, as I have noted, as has been noted
• To Emphasize: Definitely, extremely, Obviously, in fact, indeed, in any case, absolutely, positively, naturally
• To Show Sequence: First, second, third, and so forth. A, B, C, and so forth. next, then, following this.
• To Give an Example: For example, for instance, in this case, in another case, on this occasion
• To Summarize or Conclude: In brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude, in conclusion

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Exercise: For every item, choose the correct sentence.

1.    (a) Nadine filled the order, and James prepared the invoice. 

       (b)  Nadine filled the order and James prepared the invoice.

2.    (a) Try Gmail if your business requires real-time communication. 

       (b) Try Gmail, if your business requires real-time communication.

3.    (a) We are posting the job announcement online, and we are also asking for employee referrals. 

       (b) We are posting the job announcement online and we are also asking for employee referrals

 4.    (a) The individual who represents Cisco Systems will give the software demonstration. 

        (b) The individual, who represents Cisco Systems, will give the software demonstration.

5.    (a) Malware not only includes viruses but also spyware.

       (b) Malware includes not only viruses but also spyware.

Answer is in this video:

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