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What are the 5 signal words?

Common signal words show emphasis, addition, comparison or contrast, illustration, and cause and effect.

cpp.edu - Recognizing Transitions or Signal Words - Cal Poly Pomona

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Transitions or Signal Words

Transitions or signal words help you, the reader, follow the direction of a writer’s thought. They are like signposts on the road that guide the traveler.

Look at the following sentences:

I love drinking coffee. It keeps me awake at night.

These sentences imply that the writer loves drinking coffee because it keeps her awake at night. To add more specificity, the signal word “because” can be used. To change the relationship between the sentences, other transition words can be used. Transitions (or signal words) are words and phrases that show the connection between ideas. To show how transitions guide us, here are the same two ideas, but this time with a transition word:

I love drinking coffee even though it keeps me awake at night.

Now the writer loves coffee in spite of its keeping her awake at night. The relationship between the sentences’ ideas has changed. A transition has smoothed the way from one idea to the other. In Latin, trans means “across,” so transitions live up to their name – they carry the reader “across” from one thought to another. Common signal words show emphasis, addition, comparison or contrast, illustration, and cause and effect.

Emphasis Words

Among the most valuable signals for you to know are emphasis words, through which the writer tells you directly that a particular idea or detail is especially important. Think of such words as red flags that the author is using to make sure you pay attention to an idea. Look over the following list, which contains some typical words showing emphasis. important to note most noteworthy a vital force most of all remember that above all a significant factor a major event a central issue a primary concern the chief outcome a distinctive quality a key feature the principal item especially relevant the main value pay particular attention to should be noted especially valuable the chief factor the most substantial issue

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the emphasis words. Note the example.

Example

The safest and most effective solution to the various approaches to sex education is obviously a course of compromise. Certain sexual needs should be permitted expression; unadorned information about the physiological and psychological aspects of sex should be presented to all; and the Judeo-Christian traditions within which we live must be understood and dealt with sensibly in the framework of present-day society.

Exercises

Although the resources of our world are limited, the wants of people are not. Indeed, one of the most important assumptions of economics is that the total human wants can never be satisfied. No matter how much we have, we seem to want more. As people’s income increase, so does their desire for more and better goods and services. (1 signal word) Chronic air pollution is expensive to the American public, costing us dearly in terms of both money and health. Air pollution causes buildings and automobiles to deteriorate. Our poisoned air damages crops, livestock, roads, and metals and forces huge cleaning bills for everything from dusty draperies to soot-blackened buildings (Griffin, 1972). It is especially in terms of health, however, that pollution hurts. It is estimated that breathing the air of New York City is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. (1 signal word) To be happy, adolescents must be realistic about the achievements they are capable of, about the social acceptance they can expect to receive, and about the kind and amount of affection they will receive. Of the three, social acceptance is the most crucial. Well-accepted adolescents will automatically receive affection from those who accept them, and their achievements will win approval if not acclaim. (1 signal word) In practice, a deficiency of just one nutrient, such as protein, is not generally seen. More likely, a combination of protein and calorie malnutrition will occur. Protein and calorie deficiency go hand in hand so often that public health officials have given a name to the whole spectrum of disease conditions that range between the two–protein-caloriemalnutrition (PCM). This is the world’s most widespread malnutrition problem, killing millions of children every year. (1 signal word) Addition words tell you that the writer’s thought is going to continue in the same direction. He is going to add on more points or details of the same kind. Addition words are typically used to signal enumeration. Look over some addition words. also another finally first first of all for one thing furthermore in addition last of all likewise moreover next and second the third reason

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the major addition words. Note the example.

Example

A computer is often called a “thinking machine,” and in many ways it is just that. Computers perform difficult and timesaving mathematical computations, as well as problems in logic and reasoning. In addition, computers run other machines and answer questions. Also, they are used to guide astronauts on takeoff.

Exercises

1. Despite favorable surface conditions, there were throughout the 1920’s defects in the American economy. First, some major industries did not experience the general prosperity which characterized most of the economy. Meager farm income meant that farmers lacked purchasing power to buy their share of the increasing output of goods and services. Coal, textiles, and shoes were among other industries which suffered from low profit margins. Moreover, while employment rose during the 1920¹s, the biggest gains were in the low-paid service trades rather than in those industries where earnings were high. Furthermore, the condition of American foreign trade was not as healthy as it appeared. (3 signal words) 2. Here are ways to take some of the danger out of smoking. First of all, choose a cigarette with less tar and nicotine. The difference between brands (including those with filters) can be as much as two to one, even more. See how much you can reduce your tar and nicotine intake by switching. Also, don’t smoke your cigarette all the way down. You get the most tar and nicotine from the last few puffs because the tobacco itself acts as a filter. Smoke halfway and you get only about 40 percent of the total tar and nicotine. The last half of the cigarette will give you 60 percent. Another help is to take fewer draws on each cigarette. Just reduce the number of times you puff on each cigarette and you’ll cut down on your smoking without really missing it. In addition, you should reduce your inhaling. Remember, you’re not standing on a mountain gulping in fresh air; so don’t welcome it with open lungs. Don’t inhale as deeply; take short shallow drags. Practice on a big cigar. Finally, you should smoke fewer cigarettes each day. For some people this is easy, but for others it may be the most difficult step of all. Don’t think of it as cutting down; think of it as postponing. It’s always easier to postpone a cigarette if you know you’ll be having one later. Carry your cigarettes in a different pocket; at work, keep them in a desk drawer or a locker - any place where you can’t reach for one automatically. The trick is to change your habit patterns. (5 signal words)

Comparison or Contrast Words

Comparison words signal that the author is pointing out a similarity between two subjects. They tell you that the second idea is like the first one in some way. Look over the following comparison words. like likewise just like equally in like manner in the same way alike similarity similarly just as as in a similar fashion Contrast words signal a change in the direction of the writer’s thought. They tell you that the author is pointing out a difference between two subjects or statements. Look over the following contrast words. but however in contrast yet differ difference variation still on the contrary conversely otherwise on the other hand

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the comparison or contrast words. Note the example.

Example

The sex of the instructor affected the extent of active student participation. In classes taught by men with roughly equal proportions of male and female students, male students were responsible for about 75% of all class discussion. Similarly, with women as instructors, female student participation rose from 25% to 42%; in contrast, male participation slipped from 75% to 58%.

Exercises

1. In the half century between 1860 and 1910, some 23 million foreigners migrated to America. Just as had been the case before the Civil War, most of them came in search of better economic opportunities. But there were new forces at work in both the United States and Europe which interacted to attract ever-increasing numbers of immigrants. (2 signal words) 2. Ellen tells a friend that she saw a Bob’s TV Repair truck in her neighbor’s driveway for the fifth time in the last two weeks. Ellen is reporting only what she saw; she is relating a perception of fact. A fact is a verifiable statement - usually a statement about something that can be or has been directly observed. If, however, Ellen adds, “She’s having a terrible time getting her TV fixed,” she is making an inference - a conclusion about what has been observed. (1 signal word) 3. Sleep has always been a fascinating topic. We spend about one-third of our adult lives sleeping. Most animals sleep in a similar fashion - they collapse and relax their muscles. In contrast, birds and horses sleep upright, with their antigravity muscles at work. Most of us complain when we have not gotten several hours of sleep. Yet some people sleep for an hour or less a day and lead otherwise healthy and normal lives. (3 signal words)

Illustration Words

Illustration words tell you that an example or illustration will be given to make an idea clear. Such words are typically used in textbooks that present a number of definitions and examples of those definitions. Look over the following illustration words.

for example to illustrate specifically once for instance such as

Activity

Read the selections below and circle the illustration words. Note the example.

Example

Black English used to be considered simply poor English until linguists realized that the so-called errors were actually consistent alternative grammatical forms, some of which originated in African linguistic patterns. For example, the word “be” in standard English is primarily used as part of the infinitive “to be.” But in Black English, “be” can also be used to indicate a repeated action or existential state (Labov, 1972). To illustrate this, in Black English one can say “I am sick” or “I be sick.” The first means “I am sick at this present moment.” The second includes the recent past as well as the present; to express the second concept in standard English, one might say, “I have been sick for a while.”

Exercises

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1. One purpose for incorporating sexual themes or pictorial material in advertisements is to attract consumers’ attention to the ad. However, evidence suggests that use of such material may not always have an easily predictable or desired effect. For example, one study found nonsexual and sexual-romantic themes to have a greater influence on consumers’ attention than did nudity. (1 signal word) 2. An interesting point about role playing is the way middle-years and adolescent youngsters play the role of being their age. One eight year old boy, for instance, avidly collected baseball cards and kept track of games and team standings in sports pages in accordance with the mores of his neighborhood, even though he had never seen a baseball game or expressed the slightest interest in attending one. (1 signal word)

Cause-and-Effect Words

Cause-and-effect words signal that the author is going to describe results or effects. Look over the following cause-and-effect words. because therefore so that cause reason effect thus consequently since as a result if . . . then result in

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the cause-and-effect words. Note the example.

Example

Atherosclerosis is the result of the buildup of fat, fibrin, parts of dead cells, and calcium on the inside of the arteries. No one knows what causes this disease, but a number of things can speed its development. These include smoking cigarettes and eating animal fat and cholesterol. Others include age, hypertension, diabetes, stress, heredity, and sex (males have more heart attacks).

Exercises

1. “The hamburger end of the fast-food industry is facing the long-awaited problem of saturation,” says analyst Michael Culp at the brokerage firm of Bache Halsey Stuart Sheilds. “It’s increasingly difficult to open more restaurants, and it’s harder to sell more hamburgers.” Thus, to maintain their growth momentum, the industry’s big names are moving aggressively to steal each other’s customers, enlarge their menus, and spawn new fast-food concepts. (1 signal word) 2. Changes in social ideas about acceptable health result in changes in the problems of illness. Twenty years ago, coal miners and workers in cotton mills accepted cancer of the lung as part of life. In a vague way they knew longtime workers got short of breath and coughed up blood, and they wrote folk songs about brown lung disease. But as a consequence of a new awareness about occupational diseases and a social movement against cotton dust and coal dust, an accepted fact of life was transformed into an unacceptable illness. (2 signal words) 3. There are several possible reasons why retail prices are set to end on certain odd or even numbers. The practice is supposed to have started many years ago when retailers priced products so that clerks were forced to record the sale and make change. This discouraged the clerks from pocketing the money from sales. Some people believe that the practice of odd-even pricing continues today because consumers view these prices as bargains. If the price of the shirt is only $14.95, then they are able to spend “less than $15 for a shirt.” (4 signal words)

Practice in Recognizing Signal Words

Activity 1

Below are some of the signal words that are most often used by writers. Place each word under its proper heading below. for example therefore moreover most important but also differ alike as a result in addition for instance just as consequently most significant however such as similarly especially valuable

Activity 2

Circle the main signal words in the selections that follow. The number in parentheses tells you how many signal words to look for in each case. Also write in the margin beside each signal whether it shows emphasis, addition, comparison, contrast, illustration, or cause-and-effect. 1. Many of the restless and dissatisfied sons and daughters of these middle, upper-middle, and upper class homes had never known poverty. Consequently, they could not understand their parents’ emphasis upon money, status, and work. Parents, on the other hand, could not understand how some of their children could be indifferent, even hostile, to such practical things as formal education and preparation for work. (2 signal words) 2. The greatest value of play technique is in the study of personality. Children often cannot or will not explain themselves in the first person. However, they may reveal much of their inner lives in play. The child who will not tell about his or her own fears and conflicts may readily project these feelings into dolls. Feelings of rejection, insecurity, ambivalent attitudes toward parent, repressed hatred, fears, and aggressions may all be freely revealed in play. As a result, the play technique, when properly handled, offers opportunities for understanding the child that are otherwise difficult to create. (3 signal words) 3. One of the most persistent desires of human beings has been to indulge in mood-changing and pleasure-giving practices. For instance, diverse cultures have engaged in the drinking of alcoholic beverages of all descriptions. But as with most pleasure, overindulgence can be harmful to oneself and others. Also, not everyone agrees that drinking or using other mood modifiers should be an accepted pleasure. (4 signal words) 4. Energy is used to cause chemical changes. For example, a chemical change occurs in the electroplating of metals when electrical energy is passed through a salt solution in which the metal is submerged. A chemical change also occurs when radiant energy from the sun is utilized by plants in the process of photosynthesis. Moreover, as we say, a chemical change occurs when heat causes mercuric oxide to decompose. Chemical changes are often used to produce energy rather than new substances. The heat or thrust generated during the combustion of fuels is more important than the products formed. (5 signal words) 5. Along with food production, human beings found time to develop the arts and sciences. Some hunter-gatherers, as was already pointed out, must have had considerable leisure without making any notable movement toward civilization. A difference between the hunter-gatherers and farmers that is important to note is that the former are usually nomadic whereas the latter are sedentary. But even those pre-agricultural people who had fairly stationary living sites did not develop in civilizing ways comparable to the farmers. Agriculture probably required a far greater discipline than did any form of food collecting. Seeds had to be planted at certain seasons, some protection had to be given to the growing plants and animals, harvests had to be reaped, stored, and divided. Thus we might argue that it was neither leisure time nor a sedentary existence that produced great changes in human culture. The cause was rather the more rigorous demands associated with an agricultural way of life. Humanity was changing plants and animals to suit its needs, and living in close relation with plants and animals was changing humans’ way of life. (9 signal words)

Answer Key

Emphasis Words

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the emphasis words. Note the example.

Example

Exercises

1. Although the resources of our world are limited, the wants of people are not. Indeed, one of the most important assumptions of economics is that the total human wants can never be satisfied. No matter how much we have, we seem to want more. As people’s income increase, so does their desire for more and better goods and services. (1 signal word) 2. Chronic air pollution is expensive to the American public, costing us dearly in terms of both money and health. Air pollution causes buildings and automobiles to deteriorate. Our poisoned air damages crops, livestock, roads, and metals and forces huge cleaning bills for everything from dusty draperies to soot-blackened buildings (Griffin, 1972). It is especially in terms of health, however, that pollution hurts. It is estimated that breathing the air of New York City is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. (1 signal word) 3. To be happy, adolescents must be realistic about the achievements they are capable of, about the social acceptance they can expect to receive, and about the kind and amount of affection they will receive. Of the three, social acceptance is the most crucial. Well-accepted adolescents will automatically receive affection from those who accept them, and their achievements will win approval if not acclaim. (1 signal word) 4. In practice, a deficiency of just one nutrient, such as protein, is not generally seen. More likely, a combination of protein and calorie malnutrition will occur. Protein and calorie deficiency go hand in hand so often that public health officials have given a name to the whole spectrum of disease conditions that range between the two–protein-caloriemalnutrition (PCM). This is the world’s most widespread malnutrition problem, killing millions of children every year. (1 signal word)

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the major addition words. Note the example.

Example

Exercises

Comparison or Contrast Words

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Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the comparison or contrast words. Note the example.

Example

Exercises

Illustration Words

Activity

Read the selections below and circle the illustration words. Note the example.

Example

Exercises

Cause-and-Effect Words

Activity

Read the selections that follow and circle the cause-and-effect words. Note the example.

Example

Exercises

Practice in Recognizing Signal Words

Activity 1

Activity 2

Circle the main signal words in the selections that follow. The number in parentheses tells you how many signal words to look for in each case. Also write in the margin beside each signal whether it shows emphasis, addition, comparison, contrast, illustration, or cause-and-effect. 1. Many of the restless and dissatisfied sons and daughters of these middle, upper-middle, and upper class homes had never known poverty. Consequently (cause and effect), they could not understand their parents’ emphasis upon money, status, and work. Parents, on the other hand (contrast), could not understand how some of their children could be indifferent, even hostile, to such practical things as formal education and preparation for work. (2 signal words) 2. The greatest value (emphasis) of play technique is in the study of personality. Children often cannot or will not explain themselves in the first person. However (contrast), they may reveal much of their inner lives in play. The child who will not tell about his or her own fears and conflicts may readily project these feelings into dolls. Feelings of rejection, insecurity, ambivalent attitudes toward parent, repressed hatred, fears, and aggressions may all be freely revealed in play. As a result (cause and effect), the play technique, when properly handled, offers opportunities for understanding the child that are otherwise difficult to create. (3 signal words) 3. One of the most persistent (emphasis) desires of human beings has been to indulge in mood-changing and pleasure-giving practices. For instance (example), diverse cultures have engaged in the drinking of alcoholic beverages of all descriptions. Bu (contrast)t as with most pleasure, overindulgence can be harmful to oneself and others. Also (addition), not everyone agrees that drinking or using other mood modifiers should be an accepted pleasure. (4 signal words) 4. Energy is used to cause chemical changes. For example (illustration), a chemical change occurs in the electroplating of metals when electrical energy is passed through a salt solution in which the metal is submerged. A chemical change also (addition) occurs when radiant energy from the sun is utilized by plants in the process of photosynthesis. Moreover (addition), as we say, a chemical change occurs when heat causes mercuric oxide to decompose. Chemical changes are often used to produce energy rather than (contrast) new substances. The heat or thrust generated during the combustion of fuels is more important (emphasis) than the products formed. (5 signal words) 5. Along with (addition) food production, human beings found time to develop the arts and sciences. Some hunter-gatherers, as was already pointed out, must have had considerable leisure without making any notable movement toward civilization. A difference (contrast) between the hunter-gatherers and farmers that is important to note (emphasis) is that the former are usually nomadic whereas (contrast) the latter are sedentary. But (contrast) even those pre-agricultural people who had fairly stationary living sites did not develop in civilizing ways comparable to the farmers. Agriculture probably required a far greater discipline than (contrast) did any form of food collecting. Seeds had to be planted at certain seasons, some protection had to be given to the growing plants and animals, harvests had to be reaped, stored, and divided. Thus (cause and effect) we might argue that it was neither leisure time nor a sedentary existence that produced great changes in human culture. The cause (cause and efffect) was rather (contrast) the more rigorous demands associated with an agricultural way of life. Humanity was changing plants and animals to suit its needs, and living in close relation with plants and animals was changing humans’ way of life. (9 signal words)

Broderick, Groundwork for College Reading, Townsend Press, Inc., PA, 1990.

Langan, Reading and Study Skills, McGraw-Hill Book Co., NY, 1989.

Return to Techniques for Skillful Reading page

cpp.edu - Recognizing Transitions or Signal Words - Cal Poly Pomona

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