English: Order, Flow and Transitions

This is Unit Six of ACT Preparation: order, flow and transitions, the last English unit. Unit five asked whether each part serves the passage; this unit asks where each part goes and how the parts connect. One rule governs it: name the relationship before you choose the connection. By the end you will be able to order a paragraph's sentences. To choose a transition by the relationship, including no transition at all. To place a sentence or a paragraph by its links. To choose the best opening and closing. And to fix a paragraph's flow.

Three entries on the patterns ideas follow, and on putting sentences in order.

Ways to order ideas.

ACT 0501 Patterns of Order

Ideas can be ordered by time, by importance, from general to specific or the reverse, or by comparison and contrast. Recipe steps go in time order; an argument may lead with its strongest reason. One sentence out of sequence breaks the pattern for every sentence after it.

Two patterns built on logic.

ACT 0502 Cause and Effect, Problem and Solution

Cause and effect names causes and then results, or the reverse; problem and solution describes a problem and what might be done. A flood paragraph moves from heavy rain to drowned fields. In these patterns order carries logic, so a result needs its cause nearby.

Putting sentences in order, step by step.

ACT 0503 Ordering a Paragraph's Sentences

Find the opening that introduces the subject, name the pattern the content suggests, and place each sentence where it follows from the one before. In the bread example, starts opens the process, and then, the rested dough and finally give the order: mixing, resting, shaping, baking. Time words do much of the work, but content checks them: a shaped loaf cannot come before the dough exists.

Six entries on transitions: the families, choosing among them, and when none is best.

Words that connect ideas.

ACT 0504 Transitions Show Relationships

Transitional words and phrases show how one idea relates to the next, between sentences and between paragraphs. However signals a turn; for example, an illustration; as a result, a consequence. A transition is a claim about logic, and the wrong one misstates the relation.

Addition, similarity, contrast.

ACT 0505 Addition, Similarity and Contrast

Addition transitions such as also and furthermore add a point; similarity transitions such as likewise show likeness; contrast transitions such as however and yet turn against what came before. "The plan is cheap. Furthermore, it is fast. However, it is untested." Swapping addition and contrast reverses the meaning.

Example, cause, and time.

ACT 0506 Example, Cause and Time

For instance introduces a case; therefore and consequently introduce a result; first, then and finally mark sequence. "Prices rose. Consequently, sales fell." Therefore needs a real cause before it; a mere sequence does not earn it.

Choosing a transition, step by step.

ACT 0507 Choosing a Transition by the Relationship

Cover the transition, name the relationship between the two sentences in plain words, and choose from that family only. After "the new library opened in March," visits to the old branch falling by half is a result: as a result, or consequently. After "the trail is steep," a view that rewards the climb turns against it: still, or however. A question asking which choice is not acceptable is solved by finding the one from the wrong family.

Too many signals.

ACT 0508 Not Too Many Transitions

Transitions should not crowd a paragraph; they work best at real shifts. "Also, the park is clean. Additionally, it is safe. Furthermore, it is quiet" signals three times what one also could carry. Where the relationship is already plain, the best transition can be none.

When to remove the transition.

ACT 0509 When No Transition Is Best

Name the relationship, check whether any choice fits without forcing a relation the sentences lack, and if every connector misstates the link, choose none. "The museum opens at nine. The first tour starts at ten": therefore claims a cause, however a contrast, for example an illustration; the plain sequence needs nothing. Omitting is not automatically safe: where a turn or result is real, the reader needs the signal.

Six entries on placing sentences and paragraphs by their links.

How one sentence picks up another.

ACT 0510 Something Old, Something New

A sentence connects to the one before by picking up something already said, then adding something new. "The town built a dam. The dam created a lake." A sentence that picks up nothing reads as a jump, whatever transition it carries.

Words that point back.

ACT 0511 Pointing Words Fix a Sentence's Place

Pronouns and words such as this, these, such, also and another point back to something already named, so a sentence containing them must come after it. "These delays cost the city millions" must follow a sentence that names the delays. Pointing words are placement clues.

Placing a sentence, step by step.

ACT 0512 Where Does the Sentence Belong?

Find the sentence's backward links and its forward links, then test each position so that what it points to comes before and what it introduces comes after. "This change cut the wait to ten minutes" needs a change before it, the doubled buses, and explains the rising ridership after. A sentence can sound fine in several positions; only the pointing words and the logic settle it.

Links between paragraphs.

ACT 0513 Transitions Between Paragraphs

Paragraphs link through signposts such as first and finally, a forward-looking sentence at one paragraph's end, or a backward-looking sentence at the next one's start. "Trees clean the air. They also cool the streets" looks back. The link joins main points, not stray details.

Placing a whole paragraph.

ACT 0514 Where Does the Paragraph Belong?

Name the passage's pattern, read the paragraph's first and last sentences for links, and place it where its backward link is introduced and its forward link answered. In the invented bike-share passage, "before any bikes could be rented, the town had to choose station sites" belongs between the traffic problem and how the program works. Read the opening sentence as a transition first.

The sentence that joins two paragraphs.

ACT 0515 Choosing a Sentence That Links Two Paragraphs

State the main point before and after, and choose the sentence that refers to the first and leads into the second. Between bike-share cutting traffic and the program's cost, "traffic fell by a fifth" only repeats and "the bikes come in three colors" has no link; "less traffic came at a price, though" does both. A choice that only summarizes or only previews is half a transition.

Seven entries on openings, closings, coherence, and the whole unit in one passage.

What an introduction must do.

ACT 0516 What an Introduction Does

An introduction catches the reader's attention and introduces the focus and purpose, with a fact, an anecdote, a question or a conflict. "Why do some city blocks feel hotter than others?" points to the topic. An opening that grabs attention but points away fails its second job.

Choosing an opening, step by step.

ACT 0517 Choosing the Best Opening

State the focus of what follows, test each choice against it, and among those that fit, prefer the one that draws the reader in without overpromising. For a paragraph on volunteers restoring a creek, "creeks are found on every continent" is too broad and "willows grow quickly" too narrow; "five years ago, Mill Creek was choked with trash; today it runs clear" opens it. The broadest choice introduces nothing in particular.

What a conclusion must do.

ACT 0518 What a Conclusion Does

A conclusion reinforces the point and leaves the reader something to think about: it may restate the thesis, draw a conclusion, speculate, or recommend action. "Plant one tree this spring" recommends action. A conclusion that opens a new topic fails its job.

Choosing a closing, step by step.

ACT 0519 Choosing the Best Closing

State the main point of what came before, keep the choice that completes it, and reject a new topic, a single repeated detail, or a contradiction. For a later school start that brought fewer absences and better grades, the new gym is a new topic and math grades one detail; "starting an hour later, it seems, gave students more than sleep" concludes it. A closing looks back over the whole paragraph.

What holds a passage together.

ACT 0520 Coherence: Tense, Person and Sequence

A passage holds together when its tense, its point of view and its sequence of events stay consistent, connected by transitions. A past-tense, first-person narrative keeps both throughout. Unit three's rules on tense and person apply across sentences, too.

Fixing a paragraph's flow, step by step.

ACT 0521 Fixing a Paragraph's Flow

Check the order, check each transition against the relationship it claims, remove repeated signals, and hold tense and person steady. In the invented track paragraph, therefore claims the training caused the cold, so it becomes "on the day"; additionally misstates a contrast, so "even so"; and run slides into the present, so ran. Fixes interact, so reread the whole paragraph after each change.

The whole unit in one passage.

ACT 0522 One Passage, Put in Order

Organization asks where each part goes and how the parts connect. Ideas follow a pattern; transitions name the relationship, chosen by family, and where the relationship is plain the best transition can be none. Pointing words fix a sentence's place; paragraphs connect by looking back or forward; introductions focus and conclusions complete. In the invented orchard passage, "these first trees were donated" follows the first planting; "for example" becomes "three years later," because the harvest follows in time; the question about letting residents plant fruit trees opens the passage; and the best closing restates that an empty lot became a shared harvest. Name the relationship before choosing any transition. This ends the English section.

Look at what you can now do. You can order a paragraph's sentences by its pattern, letting content check the time words. You can choose a transition by the relationship it names, and choose none when nothing fits. You can place a sentence or a paragraph so that what it points to comes first. You can choose an opening that focuses and a closing that completes. And you can fix a paragraph's flow, rereading after each change. Unit seven begins the mathematics, with numbers, ratios and percents.