Tone, transitions, verbs & sentence stems
Choose language that clarifies your thinking. A more elaborate word is not automatically a more accurate one.
SIGNALName tone precisely
Tone is an attitude conveyed through choices; mood is the atmosphere or feeling a text may create. Identify what the attitude is directed toward and the words that establish it.
Anger and objection
accusatory · belligerent · bitter · disappointed · disgusted · furious · incredulous · indignant · inflammatory · insulting · irritated · outraged · petulant · querulous · savage · sullen · threatening · wrathful
Happiness and enthusiasm
amiable · amused · cheery · contented · ecstatic · elated · enthusiastic · exuberant · hopeful · jovial · joyful · jubilant · lighthearted · optimistic · sanguine
Humor, irony and mockery
belittling · caustic · comical · cynical · facetious · flippant · ironic · irreverent · mock-heroic · mocking · ribald · ridiculing · sarcastic · scornful · taunting
Superiority and judgment
boastful · condescending · contemptuous · critical · disdainful · haughty · insolent · judgmental · mordant · patronizing · pompous · pretentious · supercilious
Sadness and unease
apprehensive · concerned · despairing · elegiac · foreboding · gloomy · hopeless · melancholy · morose · mournful · pessimistic · regretful · sober · solemn · somber · tragic
Calm and reflection
calm · hopeful · meditative · nostalgic · optimistic · peaceful · relaxed · reminiscent · sentimental · serene · soothing · staid
Affection and intimacy
affectionate · amorous · compassionate · fanciful · intimate · loving · lyrical · reflective · sensual · tender · whimsical
Distance, explanation and reasoning
apathetic · argumentative · authoritative · candid · cautionary · ceremonial · clinical · detached · didactic · distant · doubtful · erudite · factual · formal · forthright · informative · instructive · matter-of-fact · persuasive · rational · restrained · thoughtful
These are possibilities, not fixed positive/negative boxes. “Urgent” can accompany hope or fear; “ironic” names a relationship between what is said and what is meant, not simply an unpleasant attitude.
Try a precise shift: “The tone moves from reassurance to caution as the direct promise gives way to conditional language.” Then identify the actual words that support the shift.
Choose the writer’s action
Address and persuade
urges · cautions · reassures · challenges · appeals · concedes
Choose a verb that identifies the relationship with the audience.
Arrange and emphasize
juxtaposes · contrasts · repeats · frames · withholds · foregrounds
Use these when you can point to the arrangement that creates the effect.
Suggest and complicate
implies · evokes · questions · undermines · qualifies · exposes
Match the strength of the claim to what your evidence can support.
Chris Drew · Helpful Professor: the extended analysis-verb list ↗
A short selection from Chris Drew’s analysis-verb resource, grouped here for practical use. Follow the link for the extended list.
Transitions: show the relationship
Choose the relationship first, then the connector. “Furthermore” cannot fix an unrelated point; “therefore” should not introduce a claim that does not follow.
Add a related point
furthermore · in addition · also
Use when the next point develops the same direction.
Introduce a contrast
however · by contrast · whereas
Name the actual difference; the connector alone does not explain it.
Acknowledge a complication
although · nevertheless · even so
Concede something that your argument must account for.
Draw an inference
therefore · consequently · this suggests
Use only when the second claim follows from the evidence or reasoning.
Offer an example
for instance · specifically · in particular
Move from a general claim to a precise detail.
Trace development
initially · subsequently · by the end
Explain change across a text or argument.
Weak link: “Furthermore, the ending is different.”
More useful: “Where the opening promises certainty, the final unanswered question leaves that confidence unresolved.” The second version names what connects the two parts.
Using Transitions Effectively · full handout (PDF) ↗
Odegaard Writing & Research Center, University of Washington; adapted from the UW Expository Writing Program and Edmonds Community College Writing Center. The linked handout is the original source of your classroom copy.
Sentence stems for explaining and connecting ideas
Connect choice to meaning
By [specific choice], [writer] presents [subject] as…
Explain which word, arrangement or contrast supports that reading.
Explain an inference
The detail suggests… because…
Make the reasoning visible; do not repeat the quotation.
Qualify a reading
Although… initially suggests…, the later… complicates this by…
Account for a detail your first claim cannot fully explain.
Evaluate a choice
This choice matters here because…; without it…
Explain its contribution to the text’s purpose or meaning, not whether you liked it.
Compare meaningfully
Both works explore…, but their different uses of… lead to…
Use in Paper 2. The IO does not require a comparative argument.
Trace development
At first…, whereas by the end…; this shift…
Follow a change instead of listing isolated devices.