Using Transitions to Show the Sequence of Events

Using Transitions to Show the Sequence of Events

What are transition words and how do we use them to show the sequence of events in narrative writing? Learn all about transition words and phrases through our video, transition words and phrases worksheets and an article on narrative writing transition words!

Transition words and phrases – Definition

To make their writing more cohesive and coherent, authors often use transitions.

Transition Words for Narrative Writing

A narrative is a form of writing that focuses on telling a story. Narratives can describe either personal experiences, or fictional events and characters.

Stories in narrative texts usually have a beginning, a middle and an end, which means they describe events in a sequence. In order to show this sequence, we can use transitional words like first, next and last. However, we often need to show not only the beginning, middle and end of a narrative, but also movement within the main parts of the story. We can show the reader how the story moves from one event to another, and connect events together with the help of transitions of place and time. Let’s take a look at some sequence transition words that we can use to do so. Here is an example of transition words and phrases in a paragraph:

It all started when Sally and Tim decided to help their parents with gardening. They were digging holes to plant bushes when, all of a sudden, Sally’s shovel hit something hard. Tim immediately dropped his shovel and ran to see what Sally had found.

There are three events described in the paragraph: Sally and Tim decided to help their parents, Sally’s shovel hit something hard, and Tim dropped his shovel and ran to see what Sally had found. The author used transitional phrases to connect these events and put them in a clear order. The first phrase, ‘It all started’ lets the reader know that this was the first thing that happened in the story. ’All of a sudden’ shows an unexpected event that happened next. ‘Immediately’ signals the time frame and shows that the next event happened right after the previous event. These transitions let us know that the events in the story happened quickly, and help move the story forward.

Let’s read the second paragraph of the story and look for more transitions:

”It’s probably a treasure chest!” Tim shouted with excitement. He started helping Sally to dig, and eventually, they took an old wooden box out of the ground. At that very moment, Tim and Sally knew that they had to open the box straight away!

What are some transitions the author used in this paragraph? ’Eventually’ is a transitional word that tells us that some time had passed before Tim and Sally took the box out. ’At that very moment’ is a transitional phrase signals when they wanted to open the box.

Let’s finish reading the story and identify transitions.

Sally and Tim saw some old photos of two children in the box, together with a pop-band poster, a ball and two friendship bracelets. Just then, Sally and Tim’s parents came to see what their children were so excited about. “I can see, you have found our time capsule!” - said their dad. “Your mum and I put it in the ground many years ago and completely forgot about it! We are so glad you’ve found this box!” Sally and Tim had never seen a time capsule before. They spent the rest of the day thinking about creating one of their own! In the end, their mum and dad helped them find a new box and the whole family created their new time capsule together!

There are two transitional phrases in this paragraph. The phrase ’just then’ connects two events: Sally and Tim looking at the insides of the box and their parents coming to see what they are excited about. ’In the end’ tells us that this is how this story ends and wraps up the events into a conclusion.

Transitional Words and Phrases for Narrative Writing – List

If you are an aspiring writer and you are wondering what are some good transitional words and phrases that you can use for your narrative, take a look at our list of transitional words and phrases for narrative writing.

Using Transitions to Show the Sequence of Events – Summary

• Transitional words and phrases connect thoughts and ideas in writing to one another, making the content of the text easier to follow for the readers.
• A narrative is a form of writing that focuses on telling a story.
• Narratives need transitions of time and place to connect the events. They are used to indicate beginning, middle and end of a narrative, as well as the movement inside the story.

Now you know how to use transition words or phrases to show the sequence of events. If you want more practice, check out our video, transition words and phrases worksheet and activities!

Frequently Asked Questions about Transition Words