ACT Preparation / Unit 6 ACT 0503 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Ordering a Paragraph's Sentences
The idea
To put a paragraph's sentences in order, work in three steps. First, find the topic sentence or the opening that introduces the subject. Second, identify the pattern the content suggests: steps in time, causes leading to results, or general claims leading to examples. Third, place each remaining sentence where its content follows from the one before, using time words, causes and examples as clues.
In practice
Worked example, sentences out of order: "Then the dough rests for an hour. Bread making starts with mixing flour, water and yeast. Finally, the loaf bakes until golden. The rested dough is shaped into a loaf." The second sentence introduces the process with starts. Then, the rested dough, and finally mark the sequence. The order is mixing, resting, shaping, baking.
Where people slip
Time words do much of the work in process order, but content checks them: a shaped loaf cannot come before the dough exists.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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