Down and Dirty Tips: Narrative and Descriptive Essays: Narrative Transitions

Helpful Transitional Expressions

Transitional expressions can help tie ideas together and show relationships. They also reveal organization patterns to help your reader follow along.

Try out a few in your paper. Be sure that any transition you use makes logical sense.

Time Transitions & Phrases

• before
• meanwhile
• afterward
• at the same time
• to begin with
• subsequently
• previously

• at last
• at present
• briefly
• currently
• at that time
• in the meantime
• eventually

• finally gradually
• immediately
• in the future
• then
• now
• later

• suddenly
• earlier
• formerly
• shortly
• until now
• in the past