Perhaps no single thing distinguishes great writing from mediocre writing as surely as the frequent, effective use of transitions. Just open any recent opinion piece from your favorite columnist and note how many sentences start with a transition word or phrase. In many paragraphs, nearly every sentence will start with some kind of transition. Transitions take many forms and perform many functions. They can show order: First, Second, Next, Lastly. They can compare and contrast: On one hand, Similarly, By contrast, However. They can show causes or results: Because, Thus, Therefore. They can emphasize: Indeed, Importantly, Still.' Transitions let us construct complex ideas from short, simple sentences. Think of a sentence as a brick-a small, modest building block. On its own, a brick isn't that impressive, and it can't do much. But you can stack a bunch of them together to build fantastic and complicated structures. Of course, to do that, you need something to connect them: mortar. In the same way, transitions link our sentences and hold them together. So if you're looking for one concrete way to improve your writing this year, consider your use of transitions.