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📘 A wiggly line down the margin

Your homework comes back with a wiggly line down the side of one block. The teacher did not write “bad ideas.” The line means the sentences inside that block do not hold. Read them aloud and you can hear the trip: the pond, then a football

6
lessons
~30 min
to learn
Adults
level
Start the course →

What you’ll learn

  1. One idea, walkingTell a paragraph from a jumble by naming one controlling idea and dropping sentences that do not serve it.A paragraph is one idea walked across several sentences, not a length. Membership comes before joins. If a sentence cannot help the first line, it belongs in another block.
  2. The same thing, said twiceUse pronouns, determiners, and deliberate repetition so a reader can follow the same thing without fog or a hammered name.She, it, this, and the point back. Repeat the noun when two things are in the room. Year 6 names that repetition as a cohesive device, not a fault.
  3. Joining words that tell the truthPick and, but, so, because, although, or when only when the word names the real relationship between two ideas.A conjunction is a coupling, not decoration. And adds, but turns, so follows, because gives a reason, although holds a surprise. The wrong join is a friendly lie.
  4. Then, nearby, secondlyLink sentences with adverbials of time, place, and number, and front a time or place chunk when the glue belongs at the start.Then is a clock. Nearby is a place you already know. Secondly is a stair in a list. Year 4’s fronted adverbial moves that glue to the front and follows it with a comma.
  5. Also, however, thereforeTreat also, however, and therefore as promises — more of the same, a turn, or an earned result — and take down any sign that lies.Transitions tell the reader what to do next. They cannot invent organisation. A quiet paragraph with two honest joins beats a noisy one stuffed with however.
  6. Reading the glueCheck a real draft for one idea, clear pointing words, honest joins, and given-then-new order, then read it aloud for trips.Start with what the reader already holds and end with the new fact. Circle every joining word and test its claim. Your voice finds the missing step.

Questions this course answers

Which block is a paragraph rather than a jumble?

A paragraph is one idea walked across several sentences. The first block stays on the pond. The others mix leftover ideas, a fragment, or a crash.

Match each pointing problem to the honest repair.

Pronouns avoid a hammered name. A foggy it needs the noun back. The plus a repeated noun is already doing the pointing.

Put these checks in order for a jumpy paragraph.

Membership first, then the joins, then the ear. Signs cannot invent a road that was never built.

Which joining word tells the truth in “The path was short, ___ it was steep”?

Short and steep pull against each other. But is the turn. And would pretend they simply add. Because would invent a reason.

Name the Year 5 word for parts of a text fitting together.

The glossary says a text has cohesion if it is clear how the meanings of its parts fit together. Cohesive devices help do that.

How many coordinating conjunctions does the FANBOYS set contain?

There are seven: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. At this age, and, but, and so do most of the everyday work.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study
  • Department for Education, English Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335190/English_Appendix_2_-_Vocabulary_grammar_and_punctuation.pdf
  • Department for Education, Glossary for the programmes of study for English (non-statutory), cohesion and cohesive device, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244216/English_Glossary.pdf
  • Common Core State Standards Initiative, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2.c and W.4.3.c, https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4/
  • Common Core State Standards Initiative, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2.c, https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/5/2/c/
  • The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Transitions, https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/transitions/
  • The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Paragraphs, https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/paragraphs/
  • Lumen Learning, 16.2 Cohesion: What do People Mean When They Say My Writing Doesn’t “Flow”, Humanities LibreTexts, https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Advanced_Composition/Book%3A_English_Composition_II_-_Rhetorical_MethodsBased_(Lumen)/16%3A_Final_Drafts/16.02%3A_Cohesion-_What_do_People_Mean_When_They_Say_My_Writing_Doesnt_Flow

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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