As we discussed last month, writing seamless paragraphs requires use of transitions, or logical connectors. The ones that appear most frequently in legal writing are moreover, additionally, however, furthermore, and nevertheless.
The problem is that these words get old fast, as legal writing expert Ross Guberman notes in Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates (2d ed.) They’ve been so overused that they’ve become all-encompassing and nonexclusive in nature. Lawyers often write moreover, furthermore, and additionally merely to introduce a new point—regardless whether it’s related to the one they’ve just made. Similarly, they rely on nevertheless and however as “catch-alls for all sorts of vague contrasts, counterarguments, and exceptions.”
To improve our use of transitions and liven up our writing, Guberman advises us to “broaden and deepen [our] repertoire.”
To help us achieve that, he has come up with what he claims is “the most comprehensive list available of transitions for lawyers and other advocates.” He’s arranged them according to our “goal for the sentence” and tells us to “favor the shorter options in each category.”
Here is the first half of his list of 135 transition words and phrases. Next month, we will present the second.
| To Provide Another Point | |
| Additionally | Further |
| Along with | Furthermore |
| Also | In addition |
| And | Moreover |
| Another reason | Nor |
| As well (as) | To X, Y, adds Z |
| Besides | What is more |
| To Conclude | |
| Accordingly | In summary |
| All in all | In the end |
| Consequently | Then |
| Hence | Therefore |
| In brief | Thus |
| In conclusion | To summarize |
| In short | |
| In sum | |
| To Extract the Essence | |
| At bottom | |
| At its core | |
| In effect | |
| In essence | |
| In the end | |
| The bottom line is that | |
| To Show Cause and Effect | |
| And so | On that basis |
| And therefore | So |
| And thus | That is why |
| As a result | To that end |
| Because | To this end |
| For | With that in mind |
| For that reason | |
| In consequence | |
| To Draw an Analogy or Comparison | |
| As in X, Y | In the same way |
| As with X, Y | Just as X, so Y |
| By analogy | Like X, Y |
| By extension | Likewise |
| Here | Similarly |
| In each case | So too here |
| In like manner | So too with |
About the author:
Attorney Savannah Blackwell is a former news reporter who covered government and politics for more than a decade, mostly in San Francisco. She can be reached at savannah.blackwell@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SavannahBinSF