Use Transition Words

Read more at http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/list-transition-words.html#lvWck0ixkSJYmYth.99

List of Transition Words

Anyone has ever received criticism about a written assignment has quite possibly been told to use more transition words, which is where a list of transition words come in handy.

List of Transition Words

While you do not want your paper or other written piece to sound like a long string of transition words, consider adding some of these suggestions from our list of transition words when appropriate in order to spice up your work and to make the sections flow more smoothly from one to another.

What follows is a list of transition words which you might want to use in your writing from time to time. Note that some of them are phrases and not singular words.

• Therefore
• However
• Moreover
• Lastly
• Next
• Also
• Furthermore
• In addition to
• Similarly
• Likewise
• Accordingly
• Hence
• Consequently
• As a result
• Thereby
• Otherwise
• Subsequently
• Thus
• So then
• Wherefore
• Generally
• Usually
• For the most part
• As a rule
• Ordinarily
• Regularly
• In particular
• For instance
• Particularly
• Especially
• Such as
• Including
• Namely
• For example
• As an example
• In this case
• Above all
• Singularly
• Likewise
• Coupled with
• Compared to
• In comparison to
• Together with
• Besides
• In brief
• In short
• In conclusion
• In the meantime
• Soon
• Later
• In the meanwhile
• Afterward
• Earlier
• In summary
• To summarize
• Finally
• Before
• After
• By the way
• Incidentally
• As a result of
• Accidentally
• Here
• There
• Over there
• Opposite
• Under
• Beyond
• In the distance
• To the left
• To the right

Exceptional Senior Essay on Utopia

I discovered a writer among us today. Senior,  Larry Zumwalt. Silent,  just a slip of a fellow who is in PODS--he sits up straight and he seems to be smiling to himself, mildly amused by the rest of us, kindly, but not necessarily open to long conversations. With his permission I will print his essay here, for your enjoyment. 

Larry has given me permission to share

Larry Zumwalt

12/06/2015

Senior English Essay

Unfortunately, this world is a far cry from paradise. One man will lay into his bed for a warm night of rest, while another searches for a dry shelter from the rain. Another man will wipe the sweat from his brow, admiring his perfect yard, damning the weeds that sullied it. His neighbor wipes the blood from his lip, admiring the red portrait that he's coughed into the sink, damning the cancer that caused it. The flaws in our world lie behind a clouded window for most well-off people. And for those who can discern the silhouette behind the window, they are simply ignorant of it. If it's not my problem, then why worry about it, right? That's a question that most would ask themselves, and a question that reveals one of the many flaws in human nature. The main problems on this planet are due to people's interactions with each other, our interactions with nature (and it's interactions with us), and the imperfections in general human essence. A true Utopia would be void of such inadequacies.

It really is an anomaly how severely we humans contradict ourselves in our interactions with one-another. Some of us demonstrate altruism in ways such as founding or participating in non-profit organizations to help the needy. Others, possessed by hate, power, or some other folly, devote their lives to war and genocide. In my Utopia, such a deviation would be non-existent. Altruism would be an innate quality that all humans possess. Rather than kicking those who are down, they would help them up.

They say that we've been blessed with the "perfect planet". That means we should take care of it. Even worse than not taking care of it, we hinder it. The Mississippi river dumps 1.5 million metric tonnes of nitrogen pollution into the gulf of Mexico yearly.(www.conserve-energy-future.com) The garbage dumped into the ocean every year is roughly around 14 billion pounds.(www.conserve-energy-future.com) The "Great Smog" that happened in London, 1952 killed approximately four hundred thousand, people in just a few days.(www.conserve-energy-future.com) These facts here aren't much more than a cup scooped out of an ocean polluted with countlessly many more facts. This would not be a problem in my Utopia. It's people would realize that their houses are not their home. Their planet is their home. Would you dump your waste into your home? Similar to treating nature poorly, nature treats us poorly as well. Disease, plague, famine, and more debase the quality of life for extremely large amounts of people. This Utopia would be unburdened by these issues, because of their altruistic values, they'd have dedicated enough effort into curing most diseases, and evenly distributing wealth and food for all.

Greed, hate, lust, these and a myriad of other immoralities fill the essence of the humans on our planet today. From stingy crooks out to steal from the vulnerable, to perverts prowling the streets for hapless victims, the souls of our world are sadly filled with vice. Changing the being of so many people is a nearly inconceivable prospect, but the corruption that nearly all humans have in some form would need to be expunged in order to achieve Utopia.

Our world is not paradise, undoubtedly. A true Utopia, which is nearly impossible to imagine, would include better interactions in between its people, better interactions with nature, and a perfection in general human nature.

An Observation on the Recurring Mass Shootings

I have a theory.  Humans feel isolated, as a rule. They feel that no one faces the problems that they do, and that they are alone in their special situation. And THAT is why we must read.  Literature is evidence that the human condition is universal.  There is NO NEW feeling. No new condition--we are more alike than we are different. And literature is our proof.

Every day I hear students say "I hate reading.  I hate poetry."

what I hear is "I hate discomfort".

A great writer once said that she knows she is reading  poetry when it feels like the top of her head has been ripped off.  

I don't always want to work out my body, but I am ALWAYS glad when I did. Similarly, students do not always want to read, but I am always glad when they did...

And therein lies the problem.  THEY are not glad, I am. And this, I believe, is at the heart of the school shootings.

 This English teacher has a theory:

Reading leads to the discovery that we are not alone. Which leads us to compassion for others. NOT reading, or reading reluctantly, works the "I AM COMPLETELY UNIQUE IN MY PAIN" muscle, which leads us to anger towards others.

The human condition, as shown in every book, is part love, part hate, part victim, part monster, but all, and I mean ALL, a shared experience.  We are not human in isolation, we are human together.

I believe that these campus shooters are among those who don't willingly, hungrily, openly read.

 And so my purpose is clearer than ever--

Read, read read.

Write write write

 Enchant the discouraged into seeing that they are the protagonist in stories like  "The Little Engine that Could".

And hope to  encourage those who feel alone to publish their manifestos instead of shooting.

This is how I learn

Hello students!  I am taking a 'leap of faith' here and showing you the first step in my learning.  I am your 12th grade English teacher, I have earned a Master's Degree in Education, a Bachelor's degree in Language Arts with a minor in Reading, and an Associates of Arts and Science. I have twenty years of experience reading with, to and for students like yourself, and guess what? THIS IS MY FIRST (first. yes, I said FIRST) introduction to Gilgamesh!

As always, in order to be able to teach it, I must learn it, and THIS is my first step--I do this before I read the actual text because for me, I will understand the text MUCH better with the background. If you would like it read aloud to you with perfect pronunciation, by a teacher who already understands the story, DON'T listen to this.

I am posting this so you can understand that no matter how much you learn, there is always more; and it is always a little awkward when you first interact with it. So, if you dare to hear me learning, and you need help with Gilgamesh, listen!