50+ Transition Words For English Conversations

In this video, you're going to add 50  plus transition words to your advanced  

English vocabulary. Of course, I'm Jennifer from  JForrestEnglish.com And this channel is dedicated  

to helping you feel confident speaking English in  public so you can take your career and your life  

to the next level. Now, before we go any further,  make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon  

so you're notified every time I post a new  lesson. Now, let's get started with this lesson.  

So what exactly are transition words? Well,  transition words are individual words or groups of  

words, phrases, that you can use to organize your  ideas and to show connection between your ideas.  

They are commonly used in academic or formal  writing, but you shouldn't limit their use to  

just that because you can absolutely use them in  your spoken English. And you should use them in  

your spoken English to sound very advanced and  professional. And if you watch to the end of  

this video, I'm going to share how you can  use transition words to expand your ideas.  

And to take a really simple idea and be able to  talk on that idea for longer using transition  

words. So stay right to the end. So let's get  started. You're going to learn over 50 transition  

words in this lesson. Don't feel overwhelmed, just  add them to your vocabulary as you go. Our first  

group of transition words are used to show cause  and effect, causation. So here I have two separate  

ideas. I spilled my coffee. I changed my shirt.  Now this is where we can use a transition word  

to combine these ideas together and to show the  relationship between them. I spilled my coffee.  

As a result, I changed my shirt. Cause and effect.  Here are the transition words in this category,  

and they're listed from most formal to least  formal. So you can take a screenshot of this.  

Consequently, hence, accordingly, thus, for that  reason, as a result, therefore, and so, since,  

because, due to. Now the example I gave you,  I spilled my coffee. As a result, I changed my  

shirt. This is a casual statement. It might sound  a little odd perhaps, out of place, to use a very  

formal transition word, such as consequently,  in such a common everyday speech. I spilled my  

coffee. Consequently, I changed my shirt. You  could absolutely say it. It's grammatically  

correct. But the choice of transition word is  just a little too formal. So do not think that  

formal is the best, and you absolutely should use  formal. You should use formal when your ideas are  

more formal. They're more academic. They're more  professional, in a business context. Let's look at  

a business context. The project is over budget.  We have to cut costs. So again, we'll show our  

cause and effect. We'll use a transition word  to combine these ideas. And because it's a more  

formal context, I can use a more formal transition  word. The project is over budget, hence,  

consequently, thus, we have to cut costs. Our next  group of transition words is chronology. This is  

how events are related based on when they occur.  So think of time. Here are three events. I went  

to the store. I worked out. I made dinner. Now of  course, we can add first, second, third, first,  

next finally. That's chronology. And it instantly  sounds more organized, and more advanced, when  

you add the transition words. So let's review the  transition words in this category. First, firstly,  

to start, to begin, at the beginning, at the  start. Second, secondly, after, afterwards, next,  

then, subsequently, later. Third, thirdly, after,  afterwards, next, then, subsequently, later,  

finally, lastly, last but not least. Now  notice that for the second and third events,  

many of the transition words are the same. You can  use after, after for the second and third event.  

Or you can use the next, next for the  second and third and fourth and fifth event.  

But you might want to avoid that so you don't  sound repetitive using the same transition word  

again and again. So you can use next  then. Then subsequently. Subsequently  

finally. So you can use the different transition  words just to show off your advanced vocabulary.  

Our next category of transition words is to  show contrast, when you have two opposing ideas.  

Let me give you two ideas. I love ice cream. I'm  lactose intolerant. So can you see how these two  

ideas are in opposition? I love ice cream is  great. It's a really positive thing. But I'm  

lactose intolerant, that's negative and it also  means that I can't eat ice cream. So those ideas  

are in opposition. So we can use our contrasting  transition words. However, although, though, but.  

I love ice cream, but I'm lactose intolerant. Same  thing, the transition words are listed from most  

formal to least formal. Again, you could say, I  love ice cream. However, I'm lactose intolerant.  

But again, these ideas are quite simple. So you  probably want a more simple transition work. Our  

next category of transition words is addition  on similar ideas, I love ice cream. I love cake.  

It's adding a similar idea because they're both  in the same category, which is desserts or sweets.  

The most common transition words, from most formal  to least formal, in this category are Furthermore,  

moreover, further, additionally, in addition,  also, and. I love ice cream, and I love cake.  

Obviously you know that one, so why not try to  advance your vocabulary by using, in addition.  

I love ice cream. In addition, I love cake.  Now let's talk about generality. This is when  

things are true most of the time. The most common  transition words in this category are, in general,  

generally, generally speaking, by and large, for  the most part, most of the time, more often than  

not, usually, typically, mostly. So let's take  an example. Our meetings are very productive.  

Now of course I'm sure there's one or two meetings  that aren't very productive. But most of the time,  

in general, generally speaking, our meetings are  very productive. Now let's look at the category of  

examples. There are really only three main  transition words. For example, as an example,  

for instance. This software has really helped us.  Now it can make your points a lot stronger or help  

you expand on your idea by adding an example.  This software has really helped us. For example,  

as an example, for instance, it reduced our  error rate by 40%. Our next category is emphasis.  

This category is used to make a point stronger by  adding more supporting information. Let's take a  

simple example. I love pie. Now what if I wanted  to make this point stronger? I can say, it's  

my favorite dessert. I love pie. In fact, it's my  favorite dessert. I love pie. As a matter of fact,  

it's my favorite dessert. These are the only two  transition words that are commonly used to add  

emphasis. And finally, conclusion transition  words. Notice I just use a transition word,  

and finally. That is a conclusion transition  word. Now of course, in this category, we use  

transition words when we want to end what we're  saying. End our speech, end our presentation.  

Here are the most common transition words listed  from most formal to least formal. In conclusion,  

to conclude, to summarize, in sum, all things  considered, finally, overall, ultimately,  

in the end, to wrap up, to sum up, all in all.  So let's say I'm ending my presentation at work  

and I want my colleagues to remember one very  important fact. And that fact is, if we want  

to remain competitive, we have to invest in  automation. Now to let my colleagues know  

that this is the last point I'm going to make,  my final point, I'm going to add a conclusion  

transition word. Ultimately, if we want to remain  competitive, we have to invest in automation. So  

now you have 50 plus transition words to help you  communicate your ideas in a very professional and  

organized way. Before you go, let me share a bonus  tip with you. You can use transition words to help  

you expand on your ideas. So let's take one idea.  In general, our meetings are very productive.  

Now I can pick any category of transition words  to expand on this idea. I could add a contrast.  

However, they usually run over time. So this is  an opposing idea. Now, let me give an example of  

my last point to add emphasis and to expand even  more. For example, today our meeting was scheduled  

to end at 11 and it went until 11:17. So let's  expand on this even more. What was the effect  

of the meeting running over by 17 minutes? As a  result, I was late for a meeting with a client.  

Were there any other effects? If there were, I  could use an addition of a similar idea transition  

word. Additionally, I had to work through lunch to  catch up. As you can see, transition words are an  

excellent way to expand on your ideas. So  now it's your turn. In the comments below,  

why don't you take three or more transition  words and start with one idea and then just  

pick any other category and expand on that idea  with three or more transition words. So you can  

do that in the comments below. And if you found  this lesson helpful, please hit the like button,  

share it with your friends and of course  subscribe. And before you go, make sure you  

head on over to my website JForrestEnglish.com  and download your free speaking guide. In this  

guide I share six tips on how to speak English  fluently and confidently. And until next time,  

which is my conclusion transition word,  and until next time, happy studying!