Making effective paragraph transitions - 5 (Last of the series)

[Joe Carillo]

3. Using Deep-Hook Paragraph Transitions

We will now look into “deep-hook” paragraph transitions, which subtly work out their bridging logic by making themselves an intrinsic part of the idea being developed by the whole exposition.

To see how they work, let’s use the same prototype first paragraph we earlier used to illustrate the other types of paragraph transitions:

“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 8: Use the last word or phrase of the preceding paragraph as the first word or phrase of the next paragraph, then make it the takeoff point for developing another idea. The simplest of the deep-hook paragraph transitions, they are most effective when limited to one or at most two words, such as “Palawan”:

“…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.

“Palawan was farthest from my mind at the time because I was so in a hurry to get back to Manila...” 

When it uses too many words, this type of paragraph transition still works but tends to be repetitive and clunky:

“An unplanned trip to Palawan was farthest from my mind at the time because I was so in a hurry to get back to Manila...”

Strategy 9: Use an earlier word or phrase in the last sentence of the preceding paragraph as the first word or phrase of the next paragraph, then make it the takeoff point for developing another idea.

“…At the last minute, however, on the insistence of my friend and egged on by our tour guide, I reluctantly broke my own rule and agreed to join her on an unplanned trip to Palawan.

“Our tour guide had apparently spared no effort in foisting the outrageous idea on my friend's impressionable mind...”

Strategy 10: As the next paragraph’s takeoff point for developing another idea, use a word or phrase in a sentence other than the last sentence of the preceding paragraph. To establish its logic, this type of paragraph transition usually needs a multiple hook—perhaps two or more operative words or phrases from the preceding paragraph:

“…At the last minute, however, on the insistence of my friend and egged on by our tour guide, I reluctantly broke my own rule and agreed to join my friend on an unplanned trip to Palawan.

“That my friend should specifically insist on Palawan after already visiting several vacation resorts in the Visayas was terribly upsetting to me...”

Strategy 11: Use an “idea hook,” one that distills into a single phrase an idea expressed in the preceding paragraph, then use it as takeoff point for developing the next paragraph. This is the subtlest and most sophisticated form of paragraph transition of them all.

Here are two idea hooks for a paragraph that can follow our prototype first paragraph:

“Giving in to my friend’s utterly capricious idea upset all of my well-laid plans for the remainder of that month...”

Alternative succeeding paragraph:
“That spur-of-the-moment decision led to an experience so delightful that I vowed never again to so doggedly take the well-beaten path in my travels...” 

Keep in mind that while desirable, deep-hook paragraph transitions shouldn’t be overused to the total exclusion of the conventional conjunctive adverbs and transitional phrases. Expositions that judiciously use a wide variety of paragraph transitions flow better and are generally more readable than those that use only one type.
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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, 2,131st of the series, appears in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the December 29, 2022 digital edition of The Manila Times, ©2022 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Read this essay in The Manila Times:
Making effective paragraph transitions - 5

(Next week: Parallelism as a mark of good writing)          January 5, 2023

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