ACT Preparation / Unit 6 ACT 0522 review, 2 to 3 minutes
One Passage, Put in Order
The idea
Organization asks where each part goes and how the parts connect. Ideas follow a pattern: time order, importance, general to specific or the reverse, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, or problem and solution. Transitions name the relationship between ideas: addition, similarity, contrast, example, cause and time. Each family makes a different logical claim, so the right transition is chosen by the relationship, and where the relationship is plain, the best transition can be none. Sentences connect by picking up something already said, and pronouns and pointing words fix a sentence's place after what they point to. Paragraphs connect through signposts and through sentences that look back or forward. An introduction catches attention and introduces the focus; a conclusion completes the point and leaves the reader something to consider. Tense, person and sequence stay consistent throughout.
In practice
Worked example: an invented four-paragraph passage on a community orchard. A question asks where to place "These first trees were donated by a local nursery." These first trees points back, so the sentence follows the one describing the first planting, not the opening question. The transition between the second paragraph, on planting, and the third, on the first harvest, is underlined as "For example." The third paragraph does not illustrate the second; it follows it in time, so "Three years later" is the right family. Asked for the best opening of the passage, the choice "What happens when a city lets residents plant fruit trees on empty lots?" introduces the orchard's story and draws the reader in, where "Fruit is healthy" introduces nothing in particular. And the best closing restates the point, that an empty lot became a shared harvest, instead of adding a fact about apple varieties.
Where people slip
Three habits carry forward. Name the relationship before choosing any transition. Find what pointing words point to before placing any sentence. And test openings and closings against the whole passage, not against the sentence beside them. This ends the English section; the next unit begins the mathematics, with numbers, ratios and percents.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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