The Conjunction Trap: The Illusion of Creating Flow with "Also"

For years, I relied on a massive arsenal of transition words like "however," "on the other hand," and "in addition" to make my prose flow. Little did I know that each conjunction left behind a crude suture mark, visibly stitching sentences together in the reader's mind.

We were always taught that words like "furthermore," "consequently," and "moreover" lent professionalism and gravitas to our writing. For a long time, I took refuge in these crutches whenever I pivoted to a new idea. But one day in the workshop, we tried stripping the word "also" from our drafts and reading the text bare. We realized something crucial: the ideas weren't actually building on one another; they were merely piling up. The conjunction was simply masking a flaw in the underlying structure.

Mechanical vs. Organic Flow

Conjunctions act like traffic lights in a text—they halt, caution, and steer the reader. Yet an organic narrative that moves under its own momentum needs no traffic lights. According to Roy Peter Clark's writing principles, a sentence's strongest words belong at the beginning and the end. Placing the key element at the end of one sentence allows it to become the subject or springboard for the next, entirely eliminating the need for band-aid transitions like "also."

For instance, instead of writing, "We developed a new marketing strategy. Also, this strategy increased customer loyalty," write: "We developed a new marketing strategy. This strategy increased customer loyalty." Picking up the object of the previous sentence and turning it into the subject of the new one establishes a natural, organic link.

The Exception: Contrast and Pivot Points

Naturally, we are not throwing out every conjunction. When signaling a sharp contrast ("however," "despite"), transitional words serve a distinct purpose. They are essential only when there is an actual contrast, a shift in time, or an unexpected turn in logic. But leaning on "in addition" merely to tag on a new piece of information is just papering over a disconnected sequence of thoughts.

Transferable Rule: Once you finish your first draft, delete every instance of "also," "in addition," and "furthermore." If two sentences fall apart without them, the problem is not a lack of conjunctions—it is a broken sequence of ideas.