Transition Words For Inserting Quotes

There used to be a time when neighbors took care of one another, he remembered. [Put “he remembered”first to establish reflective tone.] It no longer seemed to happen that way, however. [The contrast supplied by “however”must come first. Start with “But.”Also establish America locale.] He wondered if it was because everyone in the modern world was so busy. [All these sentences are the same length and have the same soporific rhythm; turn this one into a question?] It occurred to him that people today have so many things to do that they don’t have time for old-fashioned friendship. [Sentence essentially repeats previous sentence; kill it or warm it up with specific detail.] Things didn’t work that way in America in previous eras. [Reader is still in the present; reverse the sentence to tell him he’s now in the past. “America”no longer needed if inserted earlier.] And he knew that the situation was very different in other countries, as he recalled from the years when he lived in villages in Spain and Italy. [Reader is still in America. Use a negative transition word to get him to Europe. Sentence is also too flabby. Break it into two sentences?] It almost seemed to him that as people got richer and built their houses farther apart they isolated themselves from the essentials of life. [Irony deferred too long. Plant irony early. Sharpen the paradox about richness.] And there was another thought that troubled him. [This is the real point of the paragraph; signal the reader that it’s important. Avoid weak “there was”construction.] His friends had deserted him when he needed them most during his recent illness. [Reshape to end with “most”; the last word is the one that stays in the reader’s ear and gives the sentence its punch. Hold sickness for next sentence; it’s a separate thought.] It was almost as if they found him guilty of doing something shameful. [Introduce sickness here as the reason for the shame. Omit “guilty”; it’s implicit.] He recalled reading somewhere about societies in primitive parts of the world in which sick people were shunned, though he had never heard of any such ritual in America. [Sentence starts slowly and stays sluggish and dull. Break it into shorter units. Snap off the ironic point.]

November–December January–February March–April May–June Sentence Skills Punctuation / Capitalization of First Word – Capitalize first word, proper nouns; use commas in a list; and insert correct end punctuation. Sentences Versus Fragments – Distinguish between a sentence and a fragment. – Correct fragments. – Identify and correct fragments and run-ons in paragraphs. Scrambled Sentences – Rearrange sequences of words into sentences, adding correct capitalization and punctuation. Sentence Types – Write a statement, question, exclamation, and command about a picture, topic, or text. – Write questions about a topic, picture, or text. Conjunctions (because, but, so) – Complete sentence stems with because, but, and so. – Independently write sentences with because, but, and so. Continue previous sentence activities. Sentence Expansion – Expand kernel sentences with appropriate Q words: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Determine whether a specified part of a sentence tells who, what, when, where, why, and how. Sentence Combining – Combine sentences with compound subjects using pronouns, conjunctions (and, but, because, and so), and transitions when appropriate. Subordinating Conjunctions – Complete sentences beginning with subordinating conjunctions after, before, whenever, even though, since, and if. – Practice writing T.S.s with subordinating conjunctions. Continue previous sentence activities. Appositives – Identify an appositive in a sentence. – Match appositives to noun phrases. Transition Words and Phrases – Fill in correct transitions in paragraphs with blanks (time-sequence, illustration, change-of-direction, and conclusion). – Follow a given sentence with another one beginning with an illustration or cause-effect conclusion transition (Colonists needed transportation for their goods. As a result,________ Blacksmiths

January–February March–April May–June Sentence Skills Punctuation / Capitalization of First Word – Capitalize first word, proper nouns; use commas in a list; and insert correct end punctuation. Sentences Versus Fragments – Distinguish between a sentence and a fragment. – Correct fragments. – Identify and correct fragments and run-ons in paragraphs. Scrambled Sentences – Rearrange sequences of words into sentences, adding correct capitalization and punctuation. Sentence Types – Write a statement, question, exclamation, and command about a picture, topic, or text. – Write questions about a topic, picture, or text. Conjunctions (because, but, so) – Complete sentence stems with because, but, and so. – Independently write sentences with because, but, and so. Continue previous sentence activities. Sentence Expansion – Expand kernel sentences with appropriate Q words: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Determine whether a specified part of a sentence tells who, what, when, where, why, and how. Sentence Combining – Combine sentences with compound subjects using pronouns, conjunctions (and, but, because, and so), and transitions when appropriate. Subordinating Conjunctions – Complete sentences beginning with subordinating conjunctions after, before, whenever, even though, since, and if. – Practice writing T.S.s with subordinating conjunctions. Continue previous sentence activities. Appositives – Identify an appositive in a sentence. – Match appositives to noun phrases. Transition Words and Phrases – Fill in correct transitions in paragraphs with blanks (time-sequence, illustration, change-of-direction, and conclusion). – Follow a given sentence with another one beginning with an illustration or cause-effect conclusion transition (Colonists needed transportation for their goods. As a result,________ Blacksmiths needed certain tools. Specifically,__________) Continue previous sentence activities. Appositives – Match an appositive to a noun or noun phrase. – Fill in blanks with appositives. – Given an appositive, write a sentence. – Given a topic, write a T.S. using an appositive. Transition Words and Phrases – Insert transition words or phrases (time-sequence, illustration, change-of-direction, and conclusion) into given paragraphs. Single-Sentence Summary – Given the subject, use question words without a kernel

May–June Sentence Skills Punctuation / Capitalization of First Word – Capitalize first word, proper nouns; use commas in a list; and insert correct end punctuation. Sentences Versus Fragments – Distinguish between a sentence and a fragment. – Correct fragments. – Identify and correct fragments and run-ons in paragraphs. Scrambled Sentences – Rearrange sequences of words into sentences, adding correct capitalization and punctuation. Sentence Types – Write a statement, question, exclamation, and command about a picture, topic, or text. – Write questions about a topic, picture, or text. Conjunctions (because, but, so) – Complete sentence stems with because, but, and so. – Independently write sentences with because, but, and so. Continue previous sentence activities. Sentence Expansion – Expand kernel sentences with appropriate Q words: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Determine whether a specified part of a sentence tells who, what, when, where, why, and how. Sentence Combining – Combine sentences with compound subjects using pronouns, conjunctions (and, but, because, and so), and transitions when appropriate. Subordinating Conjunctions – Complete sentences beginning with subordinating conjunctions after, before, whenever, even though, since, and if. – Practice writing T.S.s with subordinating conjunctions. Continue previous sentence activities. Appositives – Identify an appositive in a sentence. – Match appositives to noun phrases. Transition Words and Phrases – Fill in correct transitions in paragraphs with blanks (time-sequence, illustration, change-of-direction, and conclusion). – Follow a given sentence with another one beginning with an illustration or cause-effect conclusion transition (Colonists needed transportation for their goods. As a result,________ Blacksmiths needed certain tools. Specifically,__________) Continue previous sentence activities. Appositives – Match an appositive to a noun or noun phrase. – Fill in blanks with appositives. – Given an appositive, write a sentence. – Given a topic, write a T.S. using an appositive. Transition Words and Phrases – Insert transition words or phrases (time-sequence, illustration, change-of-direction, and conclusion) into given paragraphs. Single-Sentence Summary – Given the subject, use question words without a kernel sentence to create a summary sentence. Continue previous sentence activities. Sentence Combining – Combine sentences using appositives, pronouns, and conjunctions.