If you're writing an article or a book, you can use subheads, bullets, or other typographical devices to tell the reader you're changing subjects. In a speech, you must find other ways to make your transitions. Sometimes a slightly exaggerated pause or emphasis of a word or phrase serves as a transition. An even longer one might be equated with a typographical bullet. Without transitions, your speech can seem choppy or jarring.
Transitions help ensure clarity by helping the listener shift mental gears.
They also signal the listener that a change of position, a contradiction, or an example is coming. A transition can be a single sentence, a phrase, a word, or even a number, as in a list of numbered points. Some common and simple transitions are nevertheless, for example, let's examine that, and however. The list is almost endless. The repetition of a word, sentence, or phrase can be a transition.