10 Types of Transitions

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Writing is simply a matter of expressing ideas, but as we all know, it’s not so simple after all. One challenge is to coherently connect those ideas. This post lists ten categories of words and phrases one can employ to signal a transition, with several examples for each type.

These words and phrases can be used within a sentence as well as at the beginning. Note, too, that many can apply to more than one category. (These groupings are arbitrary, created for the sake of presentation; transitional terms can be organized in various ways.)

1. Addition
“Also, I have to stop at the store on the way home.”

“Besides, it would give me great satisfaction to help you.”

“First, I’d like to thank you for inviting me to speak tonight.”

2. Comparison
“In the same way, the author foreshadows a conflict between two minor characters.”

“Likewise, the sequel was very successful.”

“Similarly, we observed no differences in response rate.”

3. Concession
“Granted, you did not ask ahead of time.”

“Naturally, the final decision is up to her.”

“Of course, he will want to examine the documents himself.”

4. Contrast
“At the same time, what she said has some truth to it.”

“However, I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Otherwise, how can they expect us to comply?”

5. Consequence
“Accordingly, I have consulted with him for a second opinion.”

“As a result, I’m not sure what to do.”

“For this reason, we have decided to halt the project.”

6. Emphasis
“Above all, we must exercise discretion.”

“Certainly, he’ll find out for himself in time.”

“In fact, they’re on their way right now.”

7. Example
“For example, he could have asked for advice first.”

“In particular, I draw your attention to the stain on the carpet.”

“Namely, consider the consequences of your decision.”

8. Sequence
“Earlier, you had mentioned a report.”

“Eventually, we’ll see some improvement.”

“Meanwhile, I’ve been waiting for you.”

9. Space
“Below, you’ll find instructions for assembling the shelf.”

“In the distance, he could see the approaching figure.”

“Off to one side, she noticed a package wrapped in plain paper.”

10. Summary
“In conclusion, I see no reason to delay any longer.”

“In other words, they’re incompetent.”

“Therefore, your decision leaves me no choice.”

Terms for Time of the Day

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Many terms, practical and poetic, refer to various periods in the day or to related figurative senses. Here is a selection, ranging from regular to rare.

Dawn (from Old English dagian, “to become day”), a word for the beginning of the day, also figuratively describes beginnings in general, especially in the sense of renewal or second chances. Daybreak is a practical synonym.

A poetic variant is aurora, from the Latin name for the Roman goddess of dawn; the adjectival form is auroral. (The word is related to the Latin term auster, meaning “south wind,” from which the name of Australia is derived; the similar name Austria, by contrast, stems from the Germanic cognate of east, though auster and east are related.)

Aurora is usually associated with the aurora borealis and the lesser-known aurora australis, atmospheric phenomena occurring, respectively, in and near the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The name for Easter, derived from the name of a Germanic goddess, is associated with the brightness of dawn and is related to east.

Matutinal (from Matuta, an earlier Roman goddess later identified with Aurora) is an adjective referring to the morning; matins, the canonical term for the morning hours, and matinee, referring to an early performance, are related terms.

Twilight (from an Old English term probably meaning “half-light”) is the dim light of the early morning and late evening, as well as those times of the day, though the term almost invariably refers to the latter period. Figuratively, the word also refers to a vaguely defined intermediate state or a period of decline.

Gloaming (from Old English glom, meaning “twilight” — which, incidentally, is not related to gloom but is akin to glow, from glowan) declined in use in the eighteenth century except in certain dialects but is associated with Scotland and poetry because of its use by Scots poet Robert Burns and others.

Crepuscular (from Latin crepusculum, meaning “twilight, dusk”) is an adjective that refers to the margins of the day, especially in the evening, and might be used, for example, to refer to animal behavior. (Crepuscule and its variant crepuscle are rare noun forms.) Dusk (from Old English dox, and related to dun and dust) is the late evening twilight (and, rarely, the beginning of morning twilight); its adjectival form, dusky, refers to darkness or obscurity.

Terms for the beginning of the day other than dawn include sunrise and sunup, complemented by sunset and sundown; the archaic terms morn and eve survive as poetic alternatives to morning (from the Old English term morgen — the phrase to morgenne is the precursor of tomorrow) and evening (from even, in the sense of “equilibrium”). Other terms for morning include cockcrow, from the customary early-morning call of the rooster, while eventide and evenfall are poetic synonyms for evening.

Various terms derive from noon (ultimately from the Latin term nona hora, meaning “ninth hour,” though the sense shifted to “midday”): These include noontime, the poetic noontide, afternoon, and the rare forenoon.

Diurnal (from the Latin word diurnalis, also the precursor of journal), refers to daytime or daytime activity; the antonym is nocturnal (from the Latin term nocturnus).

5 Words That End in the Excrescent “-st”

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Somewhere along the way, a very small group of English words, through dialectical divergence, acquired spelling and punctuation variants in the form of an odd appendage: the letters -st. Three of these terms are acceptable (but declining in use) in British English but deemed nonstandard in American English, while two others, strangely, have prevailed over earlier forms.

The phonological term for this type of change is excrescence, which although it simply means “outgrowth” is a word with unpleasant associations that should help writers (and speakers) of American English to remember to think twice before using one of the following three words:

1. Amidst: The preposition amid, meaning “among” or “during,” or “with the accompaniment of,” is often written (but rarely said as) amidst, even in American English, but it is considered colloquial and unsuitable for formal writing.

2. Amongst: The excrescent form of the preposition among, in some senses synonymous with amid(st), is perhaps even more frequently employed in informal American English writing (and speaking). However, amongst, like amidst, should be avoided in formal writing.

3. Whilst: Alone among these three words, the conjunction whilst is rarely used in American English, perhaps because it sounds especially affected; many users of British English also favor while. Its relative unpopularity, however, is counterintuitive in that it is relatively easy to pronounce, while amidst and amongst involve some mandibular gymnastics.

Though they have the same ending as amidst, amongst, and whilst, these words ending in the excrescent -st are standard:

4. Against: Anomalously, though against followed a path similar to those of the three words listed above, forming from the alteration of again to againes and then to againest before settling into its current form, the nonstandard variant prevailed. Again, as a preposition, has been relegated to dialect used for comic effect; indeed, in this context, it is often spelled agin to emphasize the drawled pronunciation, as in “I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ agin ya” (translation: “I’m not saying anything against you”).

5. Midst: This variant of the noun middle (from the Middle English term middest, an alteration of middes, which in turn is short for amiddes, meaning “amid”) is correct, though its survival is curious, considering that middle is easier to pronounce. The truncated form mid is acceptable only as a prefix in a hyphenated (mid-Atlantic) or closed (midafternoon) compound.

There’s a Word for That

Why is that despite the fact that the English language has hundreds of thousands of words, we have no single-word term for many emotions and other concepts that are specifically represented in other languages and that would be beneficial for everyday use?

For example, English has no word equivalent to gianxi, a Chinese term akin to but not the same as goodwill. (It refers to the social stock one accumulates by doing favors and bestowing gifts.) Nor is there any succinct translation of forelsket, the Norwegian word for the ecstasy of love in its early stages. (A concise definition is “the state of being enamored,” but even if enamoration were a word — and why isn’t it? — it doesn’t incorporate the context. Infatuation comes close but is not quite equivalent.)

My conclusion, after a bit of research, is that English speakers just aren’t trying hard enough. It’s true that the parent language of English, Anglo-Saxon, lets us down in matching single words to concepts, but English is very receptive to new vocabulary. (One comment attributed to a dictionary, though I couldn’t identify the specific source, is that “English acquires new words with the delicacy of a vacuum cleaner.”)

It is this adaptability that we must, for the most part, rely on. (I write “for the most part” because formation of new words is effortless: See enamoration above.) All we have to do is “borrow” from other languages. (I enclose borrow in raised eyebrows of irony because steal would be more accurate; we don’t give the words back.)

Turn to any page of a dictionary, and you’ll find at least one word acquired from a foreign language: Souvenir, from French. Contort, from Latin. Gymnast, from Greek. More recent acquisitions abound as well: Honcho, from Japanese. Cafeteria, from Spanish. Trek, from Afrikaans.

But our loanword word-hoard is woefully incomplete. From German, we have schadenfreude, referring to the enjoyment of other’s misfortunes. But why hasn’t English appropriated pena ajena, an expression from Mexican Spanish that denotes embarrassment about another person’s humiliation? That would certainly come in handy.

The answer to my thesis question is this: There’s a word for almost everything, but it isn’t necessarily in the English lexicon — yet. English is constantly enriched by the accumulation and integration of vocabulary from other languages, but the only reason you wouldn’t say to me, expecting others to understand, “You’re such a pochemuchka” — that Russian word means “a person who asks too many questions” — is because we haven’t (yet) decided that the word’s useful enough to assimilate. Start introducing more foreign words into your writing, and you’ll build gianxi with me.

“Avenge” vs. “Revenge”

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What’s the difference between avenge and revenge? They can be used interchangeably as verbs, though avenge is more common and revenge is used more often as a noun.

Both avenge and revenge, which share the Anglo-French root venger, meaning “to avenge” (ultimately from Latin vindicare, whence also vindicate and vindication), mean “to take vengeance, to retaliate for a wrong.” (The former is slightly more exalted in tone than the latter, implying righteous retribution rather than mere payback.) Unlike revenge, however, avenge is not used in noun form to mean “vengeance, retaliation.” In addition, one who avenges is an avenger, but there is no parallel form based on revenge.

Venge, an obsolete variant, is the basis of the noun vengeance, which has a literal meaning nearly synonymous with revenge (as with avenge and the verb revenge, vengeance has a more elevated connotation than the noun revenge), but in the idiomatic phrase “with a vengeance,” it means “excessively” or “vehemently.” The adjective vengeful (and the adverb vengefully and the noun vengefulness, meaning “the quality of feeling vengeful”) also stems from the archaic form.

One can also be said to be revengeful, and to act revengefully or to feel revengefulness, but these are needless variants of the simpler forms described above.

Compound Words in Technological Contexts

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“Cell phone,” or cellphone? “Home page,” or homepage? “Touch screen,” or touchscreen? Should such compounds be open, or closed? We see them both ways, so it’s difficult to know how to treat them — unless you use one simple test: Choose the form based on the context.

The natural progression for styling compound words is open to closed, often (but not always) with a hyphenated form as an interim phase. No ruling body authorizes the transformation, and no pattern or logic regarding the time frame applies from one compound to another. Some compounds stubbornly resist closing (“real estate”) or cling to their hyphens (mind-set), but closure is almost invariably inevitable.

Thus, for example, “sea water” at some arbitrary point transformed into seawater, with a transitional period in which both forms were commonly used, followed by preponderant use of the new form (though the old form nearly always persists to some extent).

Technological terms are a special case, for various reasons, including that they are coined by technologically minded people, who are not necessarily concerned about adherence to grammatical norms, and that, in the case of programming vocabulary, the practical issue of having a single string of characters to enter into a program is integral. Therefore, compounds referring to technological devices and procedures are likely to begin life as closed compounds or to be adopted in technological contexts in closed form.

And that’s the key to knowing how to treat them: In general-purpose publications, you’ll likely see “file name” and “screen saver” and “voice mail,” whereas in high-tech periodicals and on high-tech websites, you’ll probably find filename and screensaver and voicemail. (There are exceptions of course; note that on this site, I have reluctantly adopted website in place of “Web site,” and I have always preferred email to e-mail.) Consider your audience, and style technological terms as appropriate. And when in doubt, depending on the context in which you are writing or editing, consult mainstream or specialized publications for models.

30 Problem Words and Phrases

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Tried-and-true words and phrases are convenient, but they are also truly trying — as with clichés, when a writer relies too heavily on stock usage, the resulting prose is tired and uninspired. Watch out for the following deadly usages.

1. After having: “After looking around, I chose a seat” is fine, and so is “Having looked around, I chose a seat,” but “After having looked around, I chose a seat” is redundant. “Having” means that the action has already been performed, so the context is clear that the writer is writing after the fact.

2. Aged: Identifying the age or age range of a person or a group with this word puts the subject(s) in a category with cheese or wine. Write “50 years old,” for example, instead of “aged 50 years,” or “ages 21–34” rather than “aged 21–34.”

3. Aggravate: To aggravate is to make something worse, not to bother, annoy, or irritate.

4. And also: And and also are redundant; use one or the other.

5. Anticipate: To anticipate is to foresee (and perhaps act on that foresight), not to expect.

6. Anxious: To be anxious is to feel distressed or worried, not eager.

7. Approximately: How about using about instead? Save three syllables. For scientific or technical references, approximately is fine, but it’s a bit much in most other contexts.

8. As to whether: “As to” is extraneous; use whether only.

9. At this point in time: Omit this meaningless filler.

10. Basically, essentially, totally: Basically, these words are essentially nonessential, and you can totally dispense with them.

11. Being as/being that: Replace these phrases with because.

12. Considered to be: “To be” is extraneous; write considered only, or consider deleting it as well.

13. Could care less: No, you couldn’t. You want to convey that it’s not possible for you to care less, so you couldn’t care less.

14. Due to the fact that: Replace this phrase with because.

15. Each and every: Write “Each item is unique,” or “Every item is unique,” but not “Each and every item is unique.”

16. Equally as: As is superfluous; write equally only.

17. Was a factor, is a factor, will be a factor: If your writing includes one of these phrases, its presence is a sign that you’re not done revising yet; rewrite “The vehicle’s condition is a factor in performance,” for example, to “The vehicle’s condition affects its performance.”

18. Had ought: Had is redundant; use ought only.

19. Have got: Got is suitable for informal writing only; if you’re referring to necessity, consider must rather than “have got,” and if the reference is to simple possession, delete got from the phrase “have got.”

20. In many cases/it has often been the case: Reduce the word count in statements containing these verbose phrases by replacing “in many cases” with often, for example.

21. In the process of: This extraneous phrasing is acceptable in extemporaneous speaking but unnecessarily verbose in prepared oration and in writing.

22. Is a . . . which/who: If you find yourself writing a phrase like this, step back and determine how to write it more succinctly; “Smith is a man who knows how to haggle,” for example, can be abbreviated to “Smith knows how to haggle.”

23. Kind of/sort of: In formal writing, if you must qualify a statement, use a more stately qualifier such as rather, slightly, or somewhat.

24. Lots/lots of: In formal writing, employ many or much in place of one of these colloquialisms.

25. Of a . . . character: If you use character as a synonym for quality, make the reference concise. “The wine has a musty character” is better rendered “The wine tasted musty, and “He was a man with a refined character” can be revised to the more concise statement “The man was refined,” but better yet, describe how the man is refined.

26. Of a . . . nature: Just as with character, when you use nature as a synonym for quality, pare the phrasing down: Reduce “She had a philosophical nature,” for example, to “She was philosophical.”

27. Oftentimes: An outdated, unnecessary complication of often.

28. On account of: Replace this awkward phrase with because.

29. Renown: Renown is the noun (as well as a rarely used verb); renowned is the adjective. Avoid the like of “the renown statesman.”

30. Thankfully: In formal usage, this word is not considered a synonym for fortunately.

Word of the Year 2012

Each year, the major dictionary companies trot out their choice for Word of the Year and its runner-ups, based partly on search frequency and partly on staff consensus. Note that these words are selected not for their staying power — Words of the Year often fade into obscurity — but for the significance of their usage in a given year. Merriam-Webster’s 2012 Word of the Year is a toss-up between capitalism and socialism, reflecting the controversy and debates about universal health care and discussion about the comparative government systems in the United States and in much of Europe.

These words are straightforward — except that they’re not: Capitalism is fraught with negative connotations (and not just by those who oppose the system), and many Americans, as an unfortunately lingering artifact of the Red Menace of the mid-twentieth century, confuse socialism (the concept, not the word) with communism and fear both even though the US government system, like many European ones, is irrevocably infused with socialistic components.

Dictionary.com’s choice is bluster, which means ‘loud, swaggering, often empty boasts, threats, or other comments’ — an appropriate term, considering the unusually contentious political climate in the United States over the last year. The American arm of the Oxford Dictionaries chose GIF (pronounced ‘jif’ and standing for ‘graphics interchange format’), thanks to the ubiquity of GIFs, simple animations consisting of a looped series of images, employed to humorous effect but also in scientific models and other contexts. They’re not new, but their place in popular culture has recently been elevated by the ease with which they are created.

The selection by editors at Oxford University Press’s UK headquarters is omnishambles, which denotes a thoroughly mismanaged situation notable for a chain of errors. The sense is similar to the American English acronyms fubar and snafu, which originated among service personnel inspired with an ironic nod toward the military’s propensity for describing bureaucratic phenomena with abbreviations. (For the record, fubar stands for ‘fouled up beyond all recognition,’ and snafu is an acronym for ‘situation normal — all fouled up’ — except that I’ve substituted fouled for another word starting with f, as do many others who cater to their own or others’ delicate sensibilities when they spell these terms out.)