2. Implicit or intrinsic transition hooks (Continuation)In Parts 2 and 3, we looked into several intrinsic or implicit strategies for making a transition to a new paragraph from the one preceding it. This time we’ll take up the use of the words “it,” “such,” and “there” as implicit paragraph transitions.
To illustrate how they work, let’s use the same prototype first paragraph that we used in last week’s column:
“As a traveler, I am a stickler for schedules and will adamantly resist any change in my itinerary, no matter how attractive that change might be. This was my cardinal rule until I accompanied a longtime friend from Paris on a five-day visit to several vacation resorts in Luzon and the Visayas, and for which Boracay Island was to be our final stop. At the last minute, however, on her insistence and egged on by our tour guide, I reluctantly broke my own rule and agreed to join her on an unplanned trip to Palawan.”
Strategy 5: Use
the anticipatory pronoun “it” to begin the new paragraph.
“…At the last minute, however, on her insistence and egged on by our tour guide, I reluctantly broke my own rule and agreed to join her on an unplanned trip to Palawan.
“
It was past midnight at our Boracay cottage when my friend suddenly sprung the Palawan idea on me…”
Alternative succeeding paragraph:It was farthest from my mind that my friend would even think of a Palawan trip just when we were ready to fly to Manila…”
Strategy 6: Use
the pronoun “such” in the first sentence of the new paragraph to echo an operative idea in the preceding paragraph:
“…At the last minute, however, on her insistence and egged on by our tour guide, I reluctantly broke my own rule and agreed to join her on an unplanned trip to Palawan.
“Such was what happened to my best-laid plans after my friend chanced upon a Palawan tour brochure…”
Some grammarians recommend as better semantic options the use of “such” as an adjective or adverb:
“Such” as adjective: “Such a radical departure from our travel plans was very unpalatable, but my friend was so headstrong about it…
“Such” as adverb: “Such was my consternation about the Palawan idea that I actually considered going back to Manila without my friend…”
Strategy 7: Use
the pronoun “there” to begin the new paragraph to effect a shift in time, place, scene, or subject:
“…At the last minute, however, on her insistence and egged on by our tour guide, I reluctantly broke my own rule and agreed to join her on an unplanned trip to Palawan
“There was a time when I would summarily reject unplanned trips like that…
Alternative succeeding “there” paragraph:
“There was a very compelling reason why I didn’t want to make that Palawan trip, but my friend would hear nothing of it…”
Many grammar teachers argue that the habitual usage of “it,” “such,” and “there” could encourage lazy writing. They thus caution that for short compositions, more than one paragraph beginning with these hooks would probably be too much.
3. Paragraph transition hooks that exhibit both explicit and implicit properties These are prepositional phrases that begin the first sentence of a succeeding paragraph to set off events in the order of occurrence or indicate changes in position, location, or point of view:
Transitions marking the sequence of events: “At 8:00 in the morning…”, “By noon…”, “At 6:00 in the evening…”
Transitions marking changes in position: “At sea level…”, “Below sea level…”, “Above sea level…”
Transitions marking changes in location: “In Manila…”, “In Rome…”, “In London…”
Transitions marking changes of point of view: “As a private citizen…”, “As a professional…”, “As a public official…”
We’ll take up for last the “deep-hook” paragraph transitions—the type that subtly works out its bridging logic by making itself an intrinsic part of the idea being developed.
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This reprises and updates the author’s 2006 series in his English Plain and Simple
columns on making effective paragraph transitions. This essay, 2130th of the series, appears in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the December 22, 2022 digital edition of The Manila Times
, ©2022 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.Read this essay in
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Making effective paragraph transitions - 4(Next week:
Making effective paragraph transitions - 5) December 29, 2022
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